Hello, and welcome back to Week in Review, our roundup of industry-wide news. From stage to screens big and small, we’ve got you covered. It’s everything you need to know and all you can’t afford to miss.
Who is the ‘unknown’ actor marrying onto The Crown?
Actor Emma Corrin has been announced for the role of Princess Diana on The Crown. Joining Josh O’Connor (The Durrells, Les Misérables), who is about to take on the role of Charles, Corrin is a recent Cambridge graduate whose only exposure so far has been a role in ITV drama Grantchester. “Destined to become a household name,” the 23-year-old will play Lady Diana Spencer, the future Princess of Wales, on the fourth series of the lavish Netflix drama when it goes into production later this year.
Netflix confirmed the casting in a tweet, where Corrin said: “I have been glued to the show and to think I’m now joining this incredibly talented acting family is surreal. Princess Diana was an icon and her effect on the world remains profound and inspiring. To explore her through Peter Morgan’s writing is the most exceptional opportunity and I will strive to do her justice.”
She joins a cast including Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth II, Tobias Menzies as the Duke of Edinburgh and Helena Bonham Carter playing Princess Margaret. The new cast take over on Series 3, airing later this year.
Fleabag creator brought in to liven up Bond script
Phoebe Waller-Bridge is rumoured to have been brought in to liven up the script for the upcoming Bond film. The actor, writer, director, and creator of Fleabag and Killing Eve has reportedly been asked to add her offbeat “dramedy” style to the new 007 film ahead of shooting later this year. The Guardian reports that Waller-Bridge was “specifically requested by Daniel Craig,” who is to star as James Bond for the last time in Bond 25. Craig is apparently a fan of Fleabag, which came to an end last week, as well as Waller-Bridge’s thriller Killing Eve, currently airing a second series in America.
READ: What Every Actor Can Learn From Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Intimacy Directors International sets up UK branch
Intimacy directors or coordinators are specially trained practitioners who safely rehearse or choreograph scenes of sex or nudity while protecting actors. Having worked with productions for Netflix, HBO, Amazon, and live performance, Intimacy Directors International (IDI) are responding to the rise of intimacy directing in UK productions by expanding from the US and Canada to create a UK branch.
Formally known as Theatrical Intimacy, IDI say they support the “growing necessity for intimacy direction…in our industry” and hope offering professional training to the UK industry will facilitate “a safe environment for...performers, creatives and technical teams.” The first intensive courses begin later this year.
READ: A New Way to Approach On-Set Sex Scenes
Poor School staff establish new ‘affordable’ drama school
Staff from The Poor School, London’s now-closed affordable drama school, are to open a new institution and “continue the ethos of an exceptional, affordable acting training that is accessible to all.” Before closing last year, The Poor School in King’s Cross was founded and run by actor Paul Caister as a budget-friendly alternative for acting training. Long-serving former staff members Trudi Rees and Marcelle Davies have now announced the founding of The School, a new actor training institution run on similar principles and backed by patron Joanna Lumley.
Opening in Canonbury later this year, The School is to offer a two-year “conservatoire-level acting training” course which, like The Poor School, is unaccredited. Students will cover classical, contemporary, and musical theatre in courses taking place on weekday evenings and weekends. Fees are set at £2,500 per term, with three terms a year.
Courses are structured over evenings and weekends to enable students to “work and earn whilst undertaking a conservatoire-level training”. The School will also audition and “accept talented students regardless of background” and there is no upper age limit.
READ: The Acting Conservatoires UK Actors Should Know
Screenwriting blues
Emma Thompson has hit out at the poor treatment of screenwriters. The actor and writer, who won an Oscar for her screenplay of Sense and Sensibility, said that producers lack respect for writers and rush unfinished scripts into production. Thompson, whose screenwriting includes family drama Nanny McPhee and Bridget Jones’s Baby, said that “big stars” and their schedules meant ideas in development were rushed into production and that Hollywood treated writers as “the lowest of the low.” Thompson’s comments come as Hollywood was “upended” by a dispute with writers.
Sir Ian McKellen heads to the pub
McKellen stepped onstage last week to announce Nuffield Southampton Theatres are to make a new play charting the bitter dispute between a local pub and Hollywood. The play will tell the underdog story of The Hobbit, a pub-themed around the world of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, which was involved in a legal battle over the use of their name. Middle-earth Enterprises, the company who license rights to Tolkien’s most popular works, claimed the name was a copyright infringement in 2012 and pursued a legal case against The Hobbit before McKellen and Stephen Fry spoke out in favour of the pub. Read more here.
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