Cymbeline (film)

Last updated

Cymbeline
Cymbeline (film).jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Michael Almereyda
Written byMichael Almereyda
Based on Cymbeline
by William Shakespeare
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyTim Orr
Edited by
  • Barbara Tulliver
  • John Scott Cook
Music by
Production
companies
Distributed by Lionsgate
Release dates
  • September 3, 2014 (2014-09-03)(Venice)
  • March 13, 2015 (2015-03-13)(United States)
Running time
97 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$3.2 million [1]

Cymbeline (also known as Anarchy) is a 2014 American crime thriller film written, produced, and directed by Michael Almereyda, based on the play of the same name by William Shakespeare. The film stars Ethan Hawke, Ed Harris, Milla Jovovich, John Leguizamo, and Dakota Johnson. [2]

Contents

Synopsis

Based on the play Cymbeline by William Shakespeare, the story revolves around a war between dirty cops and a biker gang. The king of the bikers has lost his sons and needs his daughter to marry royalty to maintain the bloodline. The new Queen wishes to kill the king and her step-daughter in order to install her own son as the new gang leader. The step-daughter has married a penniless gang member, who is banished from the gang territory by the King. The banished son-in-law is tricked into believing that his wife is unfaithful through a photograph taken while she was sleeping. These many intertwined players will travel through desperate straits before all is resolved.

Cast

Production

On July 31, 2013, it was announced that Ethan Hawke was re-teaming with director Michael Almereyda to star in the adaptation of Cymbeline. [2] He would play Iachimo and production was set to start on August 19 in New York City. [3] Anthony Katagas and Michael Benaroya would be the producers of the film. [4] On August 5, it was announced that Ed Harris had signed to star opposite Hawke. He would play the role of King Cymbeline. [5] Penn Badgley joined the cast in the adaptation of Cymbeline to play the role of orphan Posthumus who secretly marries the daughter of King Cymbeline and is banished by the monarch who raised Posthumus as a son. [6]

On August 8, 2013, Milla Jovovich also joined the cast as a female lead; [7] she would play the role of Queen who schemes to move her own son from a previous marriage onto the throne at the expense of the orphan Posthumus and the King’s daughter. [8] Additional cast members added on August 12 included Anton Yelchin and Dakota Johnson, [9] Yelchin would play Cloten, the son of the Queen by a former husband and Johnson would be playing the role of Imogen, the daughter of King Cymbeline from a previous marriage. [10]

Release

Prior to the world premiere of the film, it was announced Lionsgate had acquired all distribution rights to the film. [11] The film had its world premiere at the 71st Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 2014. [12] The film then went to screen at the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea on October 3, 2014. [13] For a short time, the film's U.S. title was Anarchy, [14] but it was changed back to Cymbeline, though in some markets it is known as Anarchy: Ride or Die [15] to avoid confusion with Sons of Anarchy . [16] The film was released in select theaters and through video on demand on March 13, 2015. [17]

Reception

On review aggregating website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 31%, based on 29 reviews, with an average rating of 4.6/10. [18] On Metacritic, which uses a weighted score, the film has a rating of 54 out of 100 based on 15 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [19]

Related Research Articles

<i>Cymbeline</i> Play by William Shakespeare

Cymbeline, also known as The Tragedie of Cymbeline or Cymbeline, King of Britain, is a play by William Shakespeare set in Ancient Britain and based on legends that formed part of the Matter of Britain concerning the early historical Celtic British King Cunobeline. Although it is listed as a tragedy in the First Folio, modern critics often classify Cymbeline as a romance or even a comedy. Like Othello and The Winter's Tale, it deals with the themes of innocence and jealousy. While the precise date of composition remains unknown, the play was certainly produced as early as 1611.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shakespeare's late romances</span> Category of Shakespeares plays

The late romances, often simply called the romances, are a grouping of William Shakespeare's last plays, comprising Pericles, Prince of Tyre; Cymbeline; The Winter's Tale; and The Tempest. The Two Noble Kinsmen, of which Shakespeare was co-author, is sometimes also included in the grouping. The term "romances" was first used for these late works in Edward Dowden's Shakespeare: A Critical Study of His Mind and Art (1875). Later writers have generally been content to adopt Dowden's term.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tereus</span>

In Greek mythology, Tereus was a Thracian king, the son of Ares and the naiad Bistonis. He was the brother of Dryas. Tereus was the husband of the Athenian princess Procne and the father of Itys.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milla Jovovich</span> American actress and model (born 1975)

Milica Bogdanovna Jovovich, known professionally as Milla Jovovich, is an American actress and model. Her starring roles in numerous science-fiction and action films led the music channel VH1 to deem her the "reigning queen of kick-butt" in 2006. In 2004, Forbes determined that she was the highest-paid model in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethan Hawke</span> American actor and film director (born 1970)

Ethan Green Hawke is an American actor, author and film director. He made his film debut in Explorers (1985), before making a breakthrough performance in Dead Poets Society (1989). Hawke starred alongside Julie Delpy in Richard Linklater's Before trilogy from 1995 to 2013. Hawke received two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Training Day (2001) and Boyhood (2014) and two for Best Adapted Screenplay for co-writing Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013). Other notable roles include in Reality Bites (1994), Gattaca (1997), Great Expectations (1998), Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007), Maggie's Plan (2015), First Reformed (2017), The Black Phone (2021) and The Northman (2022).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cunobeline</span> 1st-century pre-Roman British king

Cunobeline or Cunobelin, also known by his name's Latin form Cunobelinus, was a king in pre-Roman Britain from about AD 9 to about AD 40. He is mentioned in passing by the classical historians Suetonius and Dio Cassius, and many coins bearing his inscription have been found. He controlled a substantial portion of south-eastern Britain, including the territories of the Catuvellauni and the Trinovantes, and is called "King of the Britons" by Suetonius. Cunobeline may have been a client king of Rome, based on the images and legends appearing on his coins. Cunobeline appears in British legend as Cynfelyn (Welsh), Kymbelinus or Cymbeline, as in the play by William Shakespeare.

<i>The Rape of Lucrece</i> Poem by William Shakespeare

The Rape of Lucrece (1594) is a narrative poem by William Shakespeare about the legendary Roman noblewoman Lucretia. In his previous narrative poem, Venus and Adonis (1593), Shakespeare had included a dedicatory letter to his patron, the Earl of Southampton, in which he promised to compose a "graver labour". Accordingly, The Rape of Lucrece has a serious tone throughout.

Arvirargus or Arviragus was a legendary British king of the 1st century AD, possibly based upon a real person. A shadowy historical Arviragus is known only from a cryptic reference in a satirical poem by Juvenal, in which a giant turbot presented to the Roman emperor Domitian is said to be an omen that "you will capture some king, or Arviragus will fall from his British chariot-pole".

Imogen (<i>Cymbeline</i>) Character in Cymbeline

Imogen is the daughter of King Cymbeline in Shakespeare's play Cymbeline. She was described by William Hazlitt as "perhaps the most tender and the most artless" of all Shakespeare's women.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Innogen</span> Legendary Queen

Innogen is a character in the Historia Regum Britanniae and subsequent medieval British pseudo-history. She was said to have been a Greek princess, the daughter of King Pandrasus, and to have become Britain's first Queen consort as the wife of Brutus of Troy, the purported first king of Britain who was said to have lived around the 12th century BC. Her sons Locrinus, Camber, and Albanactus went on to rule Loegria, Cambria, and Alba respectively.

<i>The Boggart</i> Childrens novel by Susan Cooper

The Boggart is a children's novel by Susan Cooper published in 1993 by Macmillan. The book was nominated for a Young Reader's Choice Award in 1996.

Guiderius is a legendary British king according to Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae and related texts. He can probably be identified as deriving from the historical Togodumnus.

Michael Almereyda is an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer.

Iain Johnstone was an English author, broadcaster and television producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Field (printer)</span> English printer and publisher

Richard Field (1561–1624) was a printer and publisher in Elizabethan London, best known for his close association with the poems of William Shakespeare, with whom he grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon.

The Complete Arkangel Shakespeare is a notable series of audio-drama presentations of 38 of William Shakespeare's 39 plays.

<i>Tesla</i> (2020 film) 2020 film by Michael Almereyda

Tesla is a 2020 American biographical drama film written and directed by Michael Almereyda. It stars Ethan Hawke as Nikola Tesla. Eve Hewson, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Jim Gaffigan, and Kyle MacLachlan also star.

References

  1. "Film Tax Credit – Quarterly Report" (PDF). Empire State Development. March 31, 2016. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
  2. 1 2 "Ethan Hawke To Reunite With 'Hamlet' Director For Modern-Day 'Cymbeline'". Deadline Hollywood . July 31, 2013. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
  3. "Ethan Hawke to Reteam With Michael Almereyda for 'Cymbeline'". The Hollywood Reporter . July 31, 2013.
  4. "Ethan Hawke Starring in Shakespeare's 'Cymbeline' Movie". variety.com. July 31, 2013. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
  5. "Ed Harris to Star Opposite Ethan Hawke in Film Adaption of Shakespeare 'Cymbeline'". The Hollywood Reporter . August 5, 2013. Retrieved August 8, 2013.
  6. "Penn Badgley Added To Shakespeare Adaptation 'Cymbeline'". Deadline Hollywood . August 7, 2013. Retrieved August 8, 2013.
  7. "Milla Jovovich Joins Cymbeline". ComingSoon.net . August 8, 2013. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
  8. "'Resident Evil's Milla Jovovich Joins Shakespeare Modernization 'Cymbeline'". Deadline Hollywood . August 8, 2013. Retrieved August 11, 2013.
  9. "'Cymbeline' casts Anton Yelchin, Dakota Johnson". Digital Spy . August 13, 2013. Retrieved August 13, 2013.
  10. "Anton Yelchin and Dakota Johnson Board Cymbeline". ComingSoon.net. August 12, 2013. Archived from the original on August 15, 2013. Retrieved August 13, 2013.
  11. McNary, Dave (September 2, 2014). "Ethan Hawke's 'Cymbeline' Gets U.S. Distribution".
  12. Debruge, Peter (September 3, 2014). "Venice Film Review: 'Cymbeline'".
  13. "Cymbeline Release Dates". Archived from the original on July 22, 2015. Retrieved July 17, 2015.
  14. Jagernauth, Kevin (January 14, 2015). "Watch: New Trailer For Fiery Shakespeare Tale 'Anarchy' (aka 'Cymbeline') With Ethan Hawke, Milla Jovovich & More". IndieWire. Archived from the original on July 21, 2015.
  15. "Anarchy: Ride or Die (2014) aka Cymbeline". Horror Cult Films. September 29, 2015. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
  16. Rizov, Vadim (March 3, 2015). "Sons of Anarchy: Cymbeline at Film Comment Selects". Filmmaker . Retrieved December 8, 2022.
  17. "Dakota Johnson gets Shakespearean in new 'Cymbeline' clip". Entertainment Weekly . March 11, 2015.
  18. "Cymbeline (2015)". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved November 27, 2018.
  19. "Cymbeline (2015)". Metacritic . Retrieved November 27, 2018.