Last month, it was reported that Julie Taymor’s The Tempest had been selected to close the 67th Venice International Film Festival. Now, Yahoo! Movies have premiered the official poster for the epic drama.
The Tempest stars Helen Mirren, Russell Brand, Djimon Hounson, David Strathairn, Felicity Jones, Chris Cooper, Alfred Molina, Alan Cumming and Ben Wishaw, and is a modern-day, fantastical interpretation of Shakespeare’s classic play, adapted for screen by Taymor herself.
Synopsis: In Julie Taymor’s version of The Tempest, the gender of Prospero has been switched to Prospera. Going back to the 16th or 17th century, women practicing the magical arts of alchemy were often convicted of witchcraft. In Taymor’s version, Prospera (Mirren) is usurped by her brother and sent off with her four-year daughter on a ship. She ends up on an island; it’s a tabula rasa: no society, so the mother figure becomes a father figure to Miranda (Jones). This leads to the power struggle and balance between Caliban (Hounsou) and Prospera; a struggle not about brawn, but about intellect.
The poster, which you can see below, looks truly spectacular. Helen Mirren as Prospera is featured alongside Hounsou as Caliban, surrounding by fire, hinting at a truly fantastical, fiery and epic drama. One not to be taken for granted.
The Tempest will debut at the Venice International Film Festival on September 11, before open nationwide in the US during December 2010. UK fans will likely have to wait until early 2011 to see this one.
