Starz and BBC are teaming up on The Dresser, a film adaptation of Ronald Harwood’s play, and have set Anthony Hopkins and Ian McKellen to star in the dramatic film. Richard Eyre (Stage Beauty, Notes on a Scandal) is on board as director and filming on the made-for-television movie will begin later this year in London.
The Dresser will be the first film Hopkins and McKellen have worked on together.
Announcing the project, Starz’s Managing Director said, “The Dresser is a timeless and poignant story about the relationship between artists, and to have this classic play brought to life on-screen by such acting giants as Anthony Hopkins and Ian McKellen is thrilling. We are glad to be working in partnership again with the BBC and Colin Callender on this very special project, and to be establishing a relationship with acclaimed theater producer Sonia Friedman.”
“This production is a testament to the commitment of the BBC and Starz to bring quality drama to the screen,” stated executive producer Colin Callender. “It is also a testament to Ronald Harwood’s glorious writing that we have been able to bring together such a wonderful creative team from the worlds of film, television and the theatre.”
The Plot, Courtesy of Samuel French Publishing:
Based on the author’s own experiences as dresser to Sir Donald Wolfit, this bracing, heartbreaking drama is an elegy to a by-gone era. Backstage at a theatre in the English provinces during WWII, Sir, the last of the great breed of English actor/managers, is in a bad way tonight, as his dresser Norman tries valiantly to prepare him to go on stage as King Lear. Unsure of his lines as well as who and where he is supposed to be, Sir is adamantly determined to roar his last. With Herculean effort on the part of Norman, Sir finally makes it on stage and through the performance, no thanks to an air raid courtesy of the Luftwaffe.
