A Banner Year for Lear

Ian McKellen must be seriously peeved. The British film and stage actor has been schlepping around the world with his widely touted production of Shakespeare’s King Lear for much of the 2007-2008 season. When word broke yesterday that a new film version of the venerable tragedy was to be mounted, the natural question was who would appear in it. Currently, two of the three daughters have already been cast. Gwyneth Paltrow, who has been a rather spare presence onscreen in the past five years since becoming a mom, will play Regan. Keira Knightley, who gained fame fighting undead pirates in a trio of overblown, thoroughly awful action comedies, will play Cordelia. No name actress is attached to the role of Goneril as of yet, possibly because the character’s name will produce too many snickers among adolescent audience members. The big news, of course, is the King himself, who will be played by none other than Anthony Hopkins.
Since Hopkins name is bigger in the film world than McKellen’s, the choice is not terribly surprising. In truth, it will be very surprising indeed if he is not extraordinarily good in the film. While passing over McKellen might be sad news for his fans, Hopkins is far from a flyweight. In many ways, the casting of the daughters is far iffier. Knightley has proven herself to be a lovely photographic object, but her acting consists of talking around her teeth and posing like she’s in a period-piece body wash commercial. Most importantly, she isn’t warm, and Cordelia is the heart of King Lear in many ways. Paltrow has a habit of being either really good or utterly wan. When she last played Hopkins’s daughter in Proof, I was expecting a lot due to the raves she had received for her stage performance in the same role. I was sadly disappointed. Maybe the casting of Goneril will seal the fate of the performances of the daughters’ roles – whipping the other two actresses into shape or sinking with them.