Although Madonna's next directorial effort, the royal romance flick W. E., has been pilloried by the press since it made it's festival premier, somebody at The Weinstein Company must have seen enough to have it positioned for an Oscar run. The film will release for a week in December to qualify, before opening up to general audiences two months later. It may actually a solid move, as it gives the marketing boys time to remind folks they've seen bits story's central romance already, in last year's Best Picture winner, The King's Speech.
Gathering together an impressive roster of talent including James D'arcy, Andrea Riseborough, Abbie Cornish, and Oscar Isaac, the film tells two parallel stories linked by strong women. One tale is set in 1998 and follows Wally Winthrop(Cornish), a lonely New Yorker obsessed with the love story between King Edward VIII(D'Arcy) and American Wallis Simpson(Riseborough), the woman he would abdicate the throne for in order to marry. Their story was seen briefly in The King's Speech, but it was a huge scandal and more than worthy of it's own movie. The second story follows Simpson, and how her supposed fairy tale love affair wasn't quite all it was cracked up to be.
The latest trailer has been released, and I'll say this for it, W.E. looks amazing. These types of movies tend to not appeal to me all that much, but with Madonna behind the camera and the glitzy style she's employing, this might be a film I need to pay more attention to. Check out the trailer below...
