Helen Mirren Bends Gender For “The Tempest”

Julie Taymor is developing a film adaptation of William Shakespeare’s supernatural play The Tempest, and she’s tweaking the roles just enough so that Helen Mirren can take on the lead role of Prospera, the ruler of a magical island who was once-exiled royalty. Prospero is a male role in the play, but it is practically tradition for those seeking to put on a Shakespeare production to mess with the concepts and staging in some way be it gender-bending or setting it in the 1930s or what-have-you. The cast is also stacked with talent - Jeremy Irons as Alonso, Alfred Molina as Stefano the drunk, Djimon Hounsou as Caliban, Ben Whishaw as Ariel, Felicity Jones as Prospera’s daughter Miranda, Russell Brand as Trinculo the jester. Even Geoffrey Rush is in talks to play Gonzalo.

Any bets on whether or not Kenneth Branagh will find his way into this somehow?