Ralph Fiennes brings the Bard to the present day for his visceral directorial debut.
Release date: 20 January, 2012.
The cast: Ralph Fiennes, Gerard Butler, Brian Cox, Jessica Chastain, Venessa Redgrave, James Nesbitt.
The pitch: Fresh from his shouting match with Harry Potter,Ralph Fiennes rocks up with his directorial debut to breathe new life into the classic Shakespearean tragedy 'Coriolanus'.
The buzz: Since premiering out of competition at the Berlin International Film Festival in February, the film has gathered a number of glowing reviews, especially in reference to Mr Fiennes work behind the camera.
Reasons this could be good: Everyone loves the ye olde English and Shakespearean tongue in films, right? We just go mad for the stuff, right?! However, aside from the bleeding obvious the film also looks fairly tasty in the action department, especially with Barry Ackroyd (fresh from The Hurt Locker) as the films cinematographer. Reasons this could be bad: Everyone hates the ye olde English and Shakespearean tongue, right? You just can’t understand anything, right?! Soundtrack: Ilan Eshkeri helms the film's score to provide an assured head to proceedings. Expect all the typical bells, whistles and motifs that you might expect from a politically-tinged war movie.
The verdict: Updating a Shakespearean story to a modern-day context is a tricky job to get right, let alone for a debut feature; but Fiennes is well versed in the Bard of Avon, so we’re expecting nothing short of excellence.
Best bit: Fiennes' face. Doesn’t it feel great knowing you can see him in a trailer now without having to look at those ridiculous nostrils. Oh, and the action sequences don’t look half bad either.
