Columbia Pictures has released this first look image of Rhys Ifans as the 17th Earl of Oxford, Edward de Vere in Roland Emmerich’s Anonymous, a pic that marks a slight departure for Emmerich from his disaster epics he’s come to be known for as of late, even if NASA has called his latest the most absurd science-fiction film of all time.
In Anonymous the story centers on the long rumored theory that de Vere actually wrote the plays of William Shakespeare. The film has been described as something of a political thriller set against the backdrop of the succession of Queen Elizabeth I (Vanessa Redgrave), and the Essex Rebellion against her. Additionally, it’s been said that Ifans’s performance in this film is what brought him to the attention of Columbia suits and earned him the role as the lead villain, The Lizard, in Marc Webb’s upcoming Untitled Spider-Man Reboot.
Along with the above image, Columbia also released the following official synopsis for the film:
Set in the political snake-pit of Elizabethan England, Anonymous speculates on an issue that has for centuries intrigued academics and brilliant minds ranging from Mark Twain and Charles Dickens to Henry James and Sigmund Freud, namely: who was the author of the plays credited to William Shakespeare? Experts have debated, books have been written, and scholars have devoted their lives to protecting or debunking theories surrounding the authorship of the most renowned works in English literature. Anonymous poses one possible answer, focusing on a time when cloak-and-dagger political intrigue, illicit romances in the Royal Court, and the schemes of greedy nobles hungry for the power of the throne were exposed in the most unlikely of places: the London stage.
Anonymous also stars Joely Richardson, David Thewlis, Xavier Samuel, Rafe Spall, Jamie Campbell-Bower and Derek Jacobi and is set to hit theaters on September 30. You can get a slightly larger look at the image above right here.
