One of the most intriguing films of 2011 is Roland Emmerich's Elizabethan thriller Anonymous. It's a curveball and not even a giant, flamming one at that. Of course, despite his reputation as a master of disaster, the German director is no stranger to period pieces. By the same token, anyone who saw The Patriot will be hoping his new film plays harder and faster with history.
Emmerich claims that it will, despite the thorny issue of the Shakespeare authorship question. This new still gives a hint of the courtly intrigue in store. Rhys Ifans' Edward de Vere - better known as the Earl of Oxford - is up to his frilly ruff in all manner of cloak and daggery in Elizabeth I's court, including the Essex Rebellion and the intrigue between the two great powers of the day: the Tudors and the Cecils. Oh, and he's also the man who penned Shakespeare's works.
The man who'll be turning your old English teacher's hair white is screenwriter John Orloff. His CV has a Shakespearean look about it, with two of his credits, Band Of Brothers and A Mighty Heart, borrowing their titles from Henry V, and his script is likely to provoke debate and some serious column inches later this year.
**Anonymous **is out in the UK on September 30. Head over to our on-set report from Potsdam's Studio Babelsberg for more in the meantime.