As Russian monarchs in Hulu’s upcoming series The Great, the costars put a saucy spin on the period piece for your next quaran-TV escape.
There have always been despots, but once upon a century there were moments of enlightenment amid monarchical madness. In 1762, Catherine the Great seized power in Russia, engineering a coup against her feckless husband, Peter III, and—current world leaders, take note—transforming an uncertain era into a Golden Age. She didn’t exactly abolish the feudal system (that’s a monarch for you), but she aligned her country with Europe and even had herself inoculated against smallpox to prove to her people that the science was sound. The Great, a new series which premieres next month on Hulu, tells the story of Catherine’s rise, with Elle Fanning shrewdly strategizing as the young monarch and Nicholas Hoult flouncing and fulminating as Peter. With some dramatic license, the show is a rich, wild portrait of one of history’s greatest executive moments. “It’s honestly kind of Shakespearean,” says Fanning. “It is hard-core monologues of amazing language that’s absolutely hilarious and dark.”
The cheeky scripts—by Tony McNamara, the Oscar-nominated cowriter of 2018’s The Favourite—are full of vibrant one-liners that make for a deliciously royal romp. Hoult’s character, for one, makes sudden pronouncements like “I would like a bird that shits chocolate!” and the actor says he frequently cracked up on set, citing the time he told Catherine he couldn’t join her in bed because he “ ‘blew my bag in another woman.’ ”
“I’d never heard the expression ‘I just blew my bag,’ ” says Hoult. “It’s so ridiculous, and I almost couldn’t say the line. Even the camera operator was laughing.” The 30-year-old actor also starred in The Favourite, as the priggish adviser Harley, and took inspiration from that film. “At moments, I’d think, Ah, what would Olivia do?” he says of star Olivia Colman, who won an Oscar playing another erratic and spoiled royal, Queen Anne.
As for Fanning, she ascended not just to the throne for the series but also to the role of executive producer, a TV first for the 22-year-old. While pushing to get The Great made, she often found herself in meetings with the usual male execs. “It was interesting to just be in a room full of men,” Fanning says. “As I get older, I realize how my voice does have self-worth. My opinion does matter.” Life began to imitate art imitating history. “I felt very much like Catherine.” [Source]
Today is Elle Fanning’s birthday and I would like to deserve her a great day and Happy Birthday! It is a hard time but you will find the way of having a wonderfull day.
I wanted to upload some great stuff that I got and it was missing here but I don’t feel fine today (will try to upload this tomorrow). With this situation, I have a lot of anxiety and I am really afraid. I don’t know if I can maintain the site if I can’t get the money to pay for the host and everything this month, I really don’t know what to do because I don’t want the site to dissapear and I just want to cry. Anyway, if you want to help this site to keep online, please, feel free to go here to donate. Every little bit helps and will be used to maintain the site. Thanks for understand.
Have a nice day everyone
I have added old magazine scans of Elle Fanning to the gallery. Also, I have updated the Magazine Donations page with the ones that I need. if you have these ones and want to donate, please, feel free to contact me. And, if you have any magazine scans that we haven’t here, please, feel free to do so.
As always, if you like the updates and want to help this site to keep online, feel free to go here to donate. Every little bit helps!
Hello to everyone!
First of all, thanks to everyone who visit the site, you are the best.
I wanted to make a post here to let you all know my situation, because I need to talk with somebody and I think some of us are in the same situation. Well, as you may know, I am sick for some years ago; now, I need to stay at home all the time because of this quarantine. I can’t go doctors or go to the grocery because I am a high risk person. Well, this is not bad, I am at home and try to make great things with my sites. A few days ago, my brother (he is also the person who maintain my sites), was fired. Due to the COVID-19 in Madrid (Spain), were I am living, his company is going to close for now until this crisis will be solved. We must stay at home all the time. The good new is that I am going to have a lot of time to do all the things that I want with the site (complete gallery with old photos, write the sections under construction…). But I have a bad new too, due to this, I don’t know if I can maintain the site. Without my brother’s job, I am not going to get any money and I need to pay host montly and maybe renew some domains. So, I would like to ask for your help if you want.
I was thinking too that all the events…are going to close but I have a lot of old stuff to add so, you will see updates, I wish a lot.
As always, if you like this site and want to help this to keep online, please, feel free to go here to donate. Every little bit helps and will be used to maintain the site.
Also, would like to ask if you have any preferences on things that you want to see here. If you have suggestions, comments or whatever, please, contact me.
With love
Anne
Sony’s “The Nightingale,” starring Dakota and Elle Fanning, and an adaptation of Robert Jordan’s “The Wheel of Time” fantasy series, produced by Sony and Amazon Studios, and starring Rosamund Pike, are the latest projects to be hit by the growing spread of coronavirus, with both productions’ European shoots disrupted this week.
Pre-production on “The Nightingale,” from Sony label TriStar Pictures, has been suspended for two weeks in Budapest, while the Prague shoot of “Wheel of Time” was halted, as Central Europe’s biggest production hubs scramble to deal with the fallout of the global pandemic.
Amazon Studios film “Birds of Paradise” has also suspended production in Budapest.
“This is obviously a spanner in the works,” said Matthew Stillman of Stillking Films, who said both Hungary and the Czech Republic were “operating at capacity” before coronavirus began sweeping across Europe. “This is effectively a temporary interruption, but we don’t know how long it’s going to go on for. We’re all a little bit in the dark.”
Just hours after Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis declared a 30-day state of emergency on Thursday, shuttering cinemas, theaters, gyms and other venues, canceling public gatherings of more than 30 people, and banning foreign nationals from 15 countries, his government stepped up its measures Friday afternoon, announcing that it was effectively sealing the country’s borders as of March 16, barring all foreign nationals from entering the country and residents from leaving.
Hungary’s government meanwhile declared a state of emergency on Wednesday, shutting university campuses and banning large gatherings to combat the spread of the virus, which has been confirmed in 19 people in the Central European nation as of Friday.
The Hungarian government has banned incoming travel from Italy, China, South Korea and Iran, and tightened controls along the borders with Austria and Slovenia. The ban on public gatherings affects outdoor events with more than 500 participants and indoor events with more than 100, including cinemas, theaters and nightclubs.
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The comedy series about the rise of Catherine the Great, created by ‘The Favourite’ writer Tony McNamara, is due to land on Hulu in the U.S.
The Great, the upcoming comedic period drama about Catherine the Great starring Elle Fanning as the Russian monarch, has been picked up by Starzplay for a raft of global territories.
Starz’s international streaming platform acquired the series — created by Oscar-nominated The Favourite writer Tony McNamara and due to premiere on Hulu in the U.S. in May — for the U.K., Ireland, German-speaking Europe, French-speaking Europe, Italian-speaking Europe, Spain, Benelux, Latin America and Brazil. The MRC Television show, being sold by ViacomCBS Global Distribution, also went to Channel 4 (U.K.), Stan (Australia), HBO (Portugal, Baltics, Central Eastern Europe, Nordic), Sky (New Zealand), CJ ENM (Korea), OSN (Middle East and North Africa), more.tv (Russia and CIS) and Quebecor Content (Canada).
A satirical, comedic drama about the rise of Catherine the Great from outsider to the longest reigning female ruler in Russia’s history, The Great plays fast and loose with historical facts. Alongside Fanning, Nicholas Hoult, Phoebe Fox, Adam Godley, Gwilym Lee, Charity Wakefield, Douglas Hodge, Sacha Dhawan, Sebastian de Souza, Bayo Gbadamosi and Belinda Bromilow also star.
The series is created, written and executive produced by McNamara and executive produced by Marian Macgowan, Thruline’s Josh Kesselman and Ron West, Fanning, Mark Winemaker, Matt Shakman and Echo Lake’s Brittany Kahan Ward, Doug Mankoff and Andrew Spaulding. The project is produced by Civic Center Media in association with MRC Television.
MRC Television shares a parent company, Valence Media, with The Hollywood Reporter. [Source]
Sony Pictures has set a Christmas Day release for the drama “The Nightingale,” starring sisters Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning.
Melanie Laurent directed the adaptation of Kristin Hannah’s bestseller, which centered on two sisters struggling to survive while in the French resistance during the Nazi occupation of France during World War II. Dana Stevens wrote the screenplay adaptation. Elizabeth Cantillon produced through her production company The Cantillon Company.
“The Nightingale” will open against Paramount/Skydance’s “The Tomorrow War,” 20th Century Studios/Disney’s “The Last Duel” and Universal’s “News of the World.” [Source]
