And so the big-screen version of Evelyn Waugh’s classic novel, Brideshead Revisited, has filled its two principal roles – and, rather than go for established A-listers, director Julian Jarrold has taken a leaf out of the book of the 1980s TV version and decided to go with two relative unknowns.
British actors Matthew Goode and Ben Whishaw have been cast in the pivotal roles of Charles Ryder and Sebastian Flyte, two young men who become fast friends when the former comes to stay at the latter’s palatial home, Brideshead Castle.
That’s the simplistic one-line pitch, of course; there are multiple layers, dramatic and comedic, in Waugh’s novel, which has been adapted for the big screen by Andrew Davies and Jeremy Brock. But, despite a strong cast of supporting characters, Brideshead is about the leading duo, and Goode and Whishaw could well be on their way to the stardom that many, including Empire, have long predicted for them.
Goode has been quietly impressive in the likes of Woody Allen’s Match Point and lesbian rom-com Imagine Me And You, and is adept at expressing upper-class intelligence shot through with a streak of decadence. Whishaw, who we last saw in the lead role of Tom Tykwer’s Perfume: Story Of A Murderer, has long been hailed the best young actor of his generation. Perhaps Brideshead will prove it – certainly both men will be hoping that their careers go the way of Jeremy Irons, rather than Anthony Andrews.