Joel Edgerton has signed on to not only co-write the script for Netflix feature, The King but the Red Sparrow actor has now joined the cast alongside Call Me By Your Name’s Timothee Chalamet.
The film will be directed by David Michôd from a script written by Joel Edgerton and himself. Plan B’s Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner are set to produce alongside Edgerton and Michôd. Liz Watts, who reunites with Michôd after Animal Kingdom and The Rover, will also produce.
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The story is based on Shakespeare’s Henry IV and Henry V but with a modern day twist.
Chalamet will play the young Henry V. After his brother is killed in battle before his coronation, a young king is coronated in the late 1300s. The reluctant ruler wears the crown at a time when England was near a war with France, and the empire is teetering. He rises to the occasion, admirably. Edgerton will play Henry V’s friend Falstaff. The character is said to have been responsible for teaching Henry V everything he needed to know about leading a life of total debauchery. In the plays, Falstaff does not appear as a character on stage.
It’s hard not to miss Edgerton at the moment, he seems to be popping up in every other production. After appearing alongside Will Smith in Netflix’s Bright, Edgerton has gone on to star in espionage thriller Red Sparrow with Jennifer Lawrence and comedy Gringo with Charlize Theron and David Oyelowo. His next venture will see him in front and behind the camera with Boy Erased.
Production on The King is expected to start in June.
