We’ve become used to seeing Hugh Dancy on TV screens as the haunted, bearded Will Graham in the excellent Hannibal. He’ll be reaching for something a little more light-hearted this year, as he’s joining the cast of The Happy Prince, a story about a turbulent period in Oscar Wilde's life rather than an adaptation of Wilde's story of the same name.
Rupert Everett is starring, wrote the script and makes his directorial debut with the film, after developing it since at least 2012 and locking down the financing to get it made. The Happy Prince is described as a comedy with tragic undertones that follows Wilde’s final days and has the author/genius observing his own failures with his trademark brand of wit and ironic distance.
Dancy will be starring alongside Everett, working with Colin Firth, Emily Watson and Tom Wilkinson. Everett intends to start production this October on a shoot that will take in Munich’s Bavaria Film Studios and locations in Italy, Belgium, France and here in Blighty.
When he’s not dining with a psychopathic psychiatrist, Dancy will be part of the voice cast for Legends Of Oz: Dorothy’s Return, which arrives on these shores on May 23.