‘Lear Rex’ By Bernard Rose.
William Shakespeare is headed to the big screen again. Bernard Rose is directing “Lear Rex” — a new adaptation of Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear’. Rose also penned the screenplay. Al Pacino stars as the title character, and Jessica Chastain will star as Goneril. The film is produced by Barry Navidi, Dali Films and Eco Entertainment, and executive produced by Pacino and Rose.
Joining Oscar winners Al Pacino (The Godfather, Heat) and Jessica Chastain (Interstellar) are, Academy Award winner Ariana DeBose (West side Story), Emmy winners Rachel Brosnahan (Superman) and Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones). In August, LaKeith Stanfield (Get Out), Chris Messina (Argo), Ted Lavine, Danny Houston, Matthew Jacobs, Rhys Coiro and Stephen Dorff were announced to round out the cast.
Premise: In ‘Lear Rex’ an aging King Lear (Pacino) divides his land among his three daughters to prevent future conflict. But he rejects the young daughter who loves him and places his trust in her malevolent sisters, who strip him of his power and condemn him to a wretched wasteland of horror and insanity. Chastain is set to play Goneril, DeBose will star as Cordelia, Borsnahan as Regan and Dinklage will play the fool.
Al Pacino revealed in April 2023, he was developing a new adaptation of King Lear. The adaptation would be confirmed in February 2024, with Bernard Rose set to write and direct, and Pacino and Chastain to star.
Chastain and Pacino share a long history. The actress starred in the stage play “Salome” alongside Pacino, and that lead to her first film appearance in “Wild Salome” directed by Pacino. She’s been thrice Oscar-nominated and won for “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”.
CAA Media Finance is representing the North American rights, while Goodfellas is handling international sales. Principal photography was meant to start in 2023, but got delayed. The shooting finally started in August 2024, in Los Angeles.
Writer-director Rose said, “It is enormously exciting to get the opportunity to work with this extraordinary cast that Al, Barry and Sharon (casting director) have put together to tackle this radical, but accessible adaptation of Shakespeare’s greatest play.”
“This project has been Al’s labor of love for over a decade” Navidi told Deadline. “I am overjoyed to bring this amazing venture to the screen with Bernard Rose’s brilliant adaptation and bold unique vision. I am so excited to team up again with Jess since Pacino’s Wild Salome.”
