With the film at the Venice Film Festival for its world premiere, Lionsgate has nabbed the North American rights to Michael Almereyda’s present-day take on Shakespeare’s Cymbeline. To announce the fact, a new trailer has arrived.
The Bard’s story of lust, greed and revenge has been updated to a filthy, corruption-riddled urban American setting, where an epic battle between dirty cops and a drug-dealing biker gang is set to explode into life thanks to bad decisions and the raging hormones of two young lovers.
On the page, the story is a labyrinthine romance that includes deception, disguises, cross-dressing and supernatural intervention. We don’t see much evidence of the spookier elements, but there are a lot of guns and cars on display, plus a cast that includes Ed Harris, Ethan Hawke, Milla Jovovich, John Leguizamo, Penn Badgley, Dakota Johnson and Anton Yelchin brushing up their Shakespeare.
Cymbeline should see US cinemas next spring. We’ll have to wait and see if – or more probably, when – it travels to these shores.