Alicia Vikander Replaces Michelle Williams As Queen Catherine Parr In Karim Ainouz’s ‘Firebrand’
deadline.comAlicia Vikander (Blue Bayou) is replacing Michelle Williams as Queen Catherine Parr in the royal thriller Firebrand from Brazilian helmer Karim Ainouz (The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão), Deadline has confirmed.
She’ll star alongside Jude Law, who is set to portray King Henry VIII.Ainousz’s first English-language feature, based on Elizabeth Fremantle’s bestselling historical novel Queen’s Gambit, centers on Parr—Henry VIII’s sixth and final wife, who was the only one to avoid banishment or death.By the time young Catherine Parr (Vikander) married the deteriorating, increasingly despotic King Henry VIII (Law), she had no assurances of a happy marriage; in fact, she had no assurances of surviving this marriage at all.
Of her predecessors, two were thrown out, one died in childbirth and two were beheaded. While Catherine tried to keep her head about her to navigate the politics of her position, she brought a secret agenda.
She was Protestant, believed it her duty to marry Henry, for it would be the only position in which she could convert him – and the kingdom – from his pro-Catholic position.
Read more on deadline.com
