20 for 2009 - The Tempest

I'm opening this post with Lord Snowdon's portrait of Helen Mirren because Helen is my main reason I want to see this, not the only reason, but one of the main ones. It's going to be a bit of a purple year for the Dame, and 2 more of her films will pop up in my top 20, only one other actor will come close to achieving that. Julie Taymor's adaptation of the Tempest is the first on my list of Mirren's films.


Taymor is a visual genius, no two ways about it, and her first Shakesperean follow up to 1999's Titus should be a real treat.

The Tempest is an odd play, one of Shakespeare's last works it has sections of really beautiful prose, but the story is delightfully batty. Prospero (or Prospera, played by Mirren) has been banished from Milan by the usurping Duke Antonio (Chris Cooper). Prospera lives on an enchanted island with her daughter Miranda (Felicity Jones), the islands deformed inhabitant Caliban (Djimon Hounsou) and a collection of spirits, notably Ariel (Ben Whishaw). Antonio and a group of nobles (Alan Cumming, Reeve Carney) and misfits (Russell Brand, Alfred Molina) are shipwrecked on the island. Cue a number of parallel stories involving romance, revenge, intrigue and drunkeness.

Cinematically there have been a number of films based on The Tempest; Cult SciFi The Forbidden Planet, Peter Greenaway's mesmerizing Prospero's Books with John Gielgud playing all the roles and Derek Jarman's homoerotic version from 1980. However no direct version has really suceeded in mainstream cinemas.

I think this version with it's amazing cast, headed by the superb Mirren may just be the one to do it.