Stephen Warbeck is reteaming with director Richard Eyre on the upcoming new film adaptation of King Lear. The TV movie based on the classic Shakepeare play is written and directed by Eyre (Notes on a Scandal, Iris) and stars Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, Emily Watson, Florence Pugh, Christopher Eccleston, Jim Broadbent and Andrew Scott. The drama is set in a fictional version of present-day England and tells the story of the eponymous ruler, presiding over a totalitarian military dictatorship in England. Colin Callender (Wolf Hall, Howards End) is executive producing the project for Playground, alongside Sonia Friedman. Warbeck has previously collaborated with Eyre on The Other Man, and BBC’s The Dresser, The Hollow Crown installment Henry IV, as well as The Children Act, which premiered at last year’s Toronto Film Festival and is currently awaiting a domestic release. King Lear will premiere in the UK later this year on BBC Two and in the U.S. on Amazon Prime.
As reported earlier this year, Warbeck also has Adrian Noble’s drama Mrs. Lowry and Son starring Timothy Spall and Vanessa Redgrave coming up.
