Looks like Sony have found Anne Boleyn. Not the real one – having her star in a film would require a ritual zombie-raising ceremony, some smelling salts and a boatload of sticky tape because of that whole missing head issue.
Having nabbed the rights to Philippa Gregory’s historical novel The Other Boleyn Girl, the studio has signed Natalie Portman to play Anne, alongside Eric Bana, who has agreed to play King Henry VIII. Either he’ll be putting his Chopper weight back on or appearing in a fat suit, because otherwise this’ll be the best-looking Henry ever.
Justin Chadwick – who last directed segments of the BBC’s Bleak House – has been hired to helm the tale of the massively ambitious Boleyn sisters, Anne and Mary, who become rivals for the love of Henry. He’ll start work in late September in Europe.
Talking of Auntie Beeb, this isn’t the first time the story has been filmed. The BBC made a TV movie version with Natascha McElhone as Mary.
And in other Portman news, she’s apparently also up for a role in the adaptation of Michael Chabon’s years-spanning, comics-referencing The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier & Clay. Writing on his blog, Chabon reports that while the film is nowhere near ready to shoot, the cast is being chosen and Portman has been offered a major role as Rosa. We’ll have to wait until next month to see if she bites.
For the record, Kavalier and Clay was one of our Dear Santa requested films in Issue 199 of the magazine, so it looks like ol' Beardy's coming through for us. Now if he can just sort out Watchmen, we'll be laughing.