Brouhaha Entertainment has released a ‘First Look’ image of Academy Award-winner Alicia Vikander as Katherine Parr in the upcoming historical drama, FIREBRAND, which will premiere In Competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
The film is directed by Brazilian filmmaker Karim Aïnouz (Invisible Life, Mariner of the Mountains) in his English-language debut, from a screenplay by Henrietta and Jessica Ashworth (Killing Eve), and is based on the novel Queen’s Gambit by Elizabeth Fremantle.
The film also stars Jude Law as Henry VIII alongside Erin Doherty as Anne Askew, Simon Russell Beale as Bishop Stephen Gardiner and Sam Riley and Eddie Marsan as Thomas and Edward Seymour, respectively. Further cast includes Ruby Bentall, Bryony Hannah and Maia Jemmett. Olivier Award-winner Patsy Ferran will play Princess Mary and Junia Rees will make her acting debut as Princess Elizabeth.
In blood-soaked Tudor England, Katherine Parr, the sixth and last wife of King Henry VIII, is named Regent while tyrant Henry is fighting overseas. Katherine has done everything she can to push for a new future based on her radical Protestant beliefs. When an increasingly ailing and paranoid King returns, he turns his fury on the radicals, charging Katherine’s childhood friend with treason and burns her at the stake. Horrified and grieving, but forced to deny it, Katherine finds herself fighting for her own survival. Conspiracy reverberates through the palace. Everyone holds their breath – for the queen to slip up, for Henry to take her head like wives before. With the hope for a future free of tyranny at risk, will Katherine submit to the inevitable for the sake of King and country?
Further creatives involved in FIREBRAND include Academy award-winning Hair and Make Up Designer Jenny Shircore (Elizabeth), Academy award-winning Costume Designer Michael O’Connor (The Duchess) and BAFTA award-winning Production Designer Helen Scott (Small Axe). Following her collaboration with Aïnouz on Invisible Life, the Director of Photography is Hélène Louvart. The casting director is Nina Gold (The Power of The Dog).
Executive producers are Maria Logan of MBK Productions Ltd and Anne Sheehan. The producers are Gabrielle Tana of Brouhaha Entertainment and Carolyn Marks Blackwood.
