He’s currently busy doing the promotional rounds for true-life tale 127 Hours, but Danny Boyle has long harboured plans to return to the stage, the venue that birthed his directing career. And now he’s locked in two actors for his new show – a version of Frankenstein that will star Johnny Lee Miller and Sherlock’s Benedict Cumberbatch.
The Daily Mail’s Baz Bamigboye reports that Boyle has locked in the two thesps to star, though if you’re hoping to see Miller as the creature and Cumberbatch as Dr Victor Frankenstein, you’ll have to pick your night carefully. "They’ll share it," Boyle tells the paper. "One night one will be Frankenstein, while the other will play his creator Victor." According to the director, the plan is to keep it fresh. But aside from the trick of switching roles, it’ll stick with the 19th century setting.
Playwright Nick Dear adapted Mary Shelley’s novel for the new show, which aims to explore how something crafted from dead body parts can see how humanity behaves and mirrors its traits – both the great and the terrible.
Rehearsals for the show kick off next month and it’ll open at the National Theatre in London in February.
Tomorrow’s headline in the Mail: Rampaging Monster Terrorises Villagers. Shack Prices Tumble.