Battle of the Richards?

[selenak]

Walking home after rewatching The Winter Soldier, I check twitter and what do I find? Just a day or so after it was announced that Martin Freeman will play Richard III. , the BBC confirms that Benedict Cumberbatch will play Richard III on screen, the small screen, that is, in the It's Hard Out There For A York the follow up to their Hollow Crown filming of Shakespeare's histories, to wit, the Henry VI plays plus Richard III.

I must confess I had a moment of amusement. Not that either gentleman isn't a fine actor, but still. Also, I can just hear the BBC staff meeting where they wonder which actor to hire to replicate the Hiddleston-fans-go-Shakespeare effect, and of course they pick BC. Now can we hear who'll play Margaret of Anjou? *still hopes for Amanda Hale* Anyway, given the fannish tendency to pair up characters played by Cumberbatch with John Watson and/or characters played by Martin Freeman in crossover fanfiction, I await with bated breath CumberRichard's meeting with a doctor returned from the wars. Or a hobbit. Or himself from another universe.

Comments

[muccamukk]

I eagerly await the latest round of Hard Out There for a York wank.

[selenak]

When will the "Richard survives Bosworth Fields" stories start now that BC is cast?

[legionseagle]

I like the idea of his turning unexpectedly into a dragon just after the "a horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!" bit.

[selenak]

OMG, I mean, forsooth, that's perfect!

[legionseagle]

It also occurs to me that Rupert Graves has previous for playing Lord Stanley.

[selenak]

True, but given that Shakespeare's Lord Stanley isn't an entertaining opportunistic double crosser but a boring goodie with nary a line, shouldn't he rather play Buckingham? He's played another Buckingham (the one who was buddies with Charles II.) before, too .

[msilverstar]

Dueling Richard IIIs, faaaaabulous!

The fic crossover potential is infinite and most of it (like everything else) will be crap, but some of it will be funny and/or touching.

[selenak]

That's what I'm hoping for.

[saturnofthemoon]

...
I can totally picture Martin Freeman as Richard III, but Benedict Cumberbatch. He's a fine actor, don't get me wrong, but I just can't see him as Shakespeare's humpbacked version of Richard III. Also, I love your icon. I thought it was Henry VII until I looked closer.

[selenak]

Icon: I was delighted when I found it, too.

Benedict Cumberbatch: would not have been my choice for Shakespeare's Richard, either, but I still haven't seen him as Frankenstein's Creature, a role in which he had much success, which would argue he can pull the "dogs bark at me when I walk by them" part of. Whether he can also do the delighted scheming and the increasingly panicked trashing around once things start to go wrong for him, well, we'll see.

[kalypso]

It's like Fassbender joining McKellen, Stewart and McAvoy on the Macbeth bandwagon! We imagined them having Macbeth-offs at each other during filming: "My Macbeth is 'arder than yours!"

[msilverstar]

Sean Bean is also doing Macbeth this year! Stage play in London back in 04, film this year...

[kalypso]

As far as I know, though, Mr Bean is not a mutant!

[selenak]

What I was going to see. Not that he doesn't have genre credentials, but a Man Of Gondor really isn't the same thing. :)