Pages

Monday, October 21, 2013

Damian Lewis Is Latest To Woo "Queen Of The Desert"

Deadline reports that "Homeland" star Damian Lewis is poised the join the biopic "Queen Of The Desert".


The film tells the true story of Gertrude Bell (Nicole Kidman)--called the female Lawrence of Arabia for the impact she had in the Middle East and her work in establishing what would become the modern framework for Jordan and Iraq. She was an explorer, writer, archeologist and political attache and during World War I worked for British Intelligence.

Robert Pattinson would play British Army officer T. E. Lawrence who was a close friend of Bell's; the pair helped to establish the Hashemite dynasties in Jordan and Iraq. Lawrence's writings were brought to the screen in the 1962 David Lean epic starring Peter O'Toole--"Lawrence of Arabia"

Lewis marks just the latest casting swap on this film after James Franco was set to replace Jude Law. Joining the cast in late 2012, Law was thought to be playing Charles Doughty-Wylie with whom Bell had an unconsummated affair. When he departed, the project ground to a halt.

Doughty-Wylie, an unhappily married English war hero who engages in a turbulent affair with Bell, with whom he exchanged love letters with from 1913-1915. Doughty-Wylie was killed in active duty at Gallipoli

Bell's life has long been on Hollywood's radar. Angelina Jolie was attached to a Gertrude Bell film last year with Ridley Scott set to direct. The Herzog film is not connected to Scott's feature, which seems to have been pushed for now.

Director Werner Herzog will call action from his script.

Cassian Elwes and Nick N. Raslan will produce the film.

No comments:

Post a Comment