Philippa Langley: Last News

Alex Ritman Pathé has defended its 2022 film “The Lost King” — starring Steve Coogan and produced by his company Baby Cow Productions — after legal action was launched by the one of the real-life characters it depicts. Richard Taylor, a former deputy registrar at the U.K.’s University of Leicester, is suing Coogan, alongside his BBC Studios-owned Baby Cow, and Pathé Productions over his depiction in the feature, which chronicles the story of how the remains of British monarch King Richard III were eventually discovered in Leicester in 2012.

Steve Coogan and the makers of The Lost King are being sued over the portrayal of a university official in their Richard III film.

Much maligned Richard III finally gets the royal treatment in Stephen Frears’ The Lost King as amateur historian Philippa Langley unearths the monarch’s five century-old remains in a parking lot in Leicester, England in 2012. Two books and a documentary later, IFC Films presents the feature film version in 750+ theaters.

behind the excavation of the king’s skull from a council car park in 2012. The Lost King, released on Friday, tells what is billed as “the remarkable true story” of Philippa Langley, a member of the Richard III society and the driving force behind the quest to dig up the remains of the last Plantagenet king. The film, co-written and co-starring Steve Coogan, depicts Mr Taylor as “obstructive, manipulative and sexist”, according to reports.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic If you’re a fan of “The Trip” and its sequels, those semi-improvised road comedies in which Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon play slightly exaggerated versions of their real-life selves, you’ll know that they’re about more than just two men driving through the European countryside, eating fabulous food, trying to top each other with their Al Pacino impersonations. Coogan, in particular, comes off as a fellow who, for all his larkish narcissism, is so steeped in history that it’s literally alive for him. And that’s the feeling that courses through “The Lost King,” the new movie written by Coogan and Jeff Pope and directed by Stephen Frears. They’re the team that gave us “Philomena” (2013), the sharp-tongued heart-tugger that cast Judi Dench as a real-life Irishwoman tracking down the son she’d been forced to give up for adoption 50 years before. That movie was fine (a tad too sentimental in my book), but “The Lost King” is a growth ring, a richer, stronger, and more moving piece of work, a historical detective story that carries the kick of a true-life “Da Vinci Code.”

William Shakespeare rather definitively defined Richard the Third as a deformed, conniving, duplicitous and altogether unsavory monarch in his 1485 play, and the man’s image as such has persisted ever since.

The Lost King, will reduce their role in the extraordinary historical find. One member of the University of Leicester team, Professor Turi King, carried out key DNA studies, providing conclusive evidence and spending hours in the laboratory. “I had to start from scratch, both on the historic work and the modern-day samples from Richard’s living relatives,” said the Canadian-British geneticist.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterIFC Films nabbed North American rights to “The Lost King,” which will have its world premiere at the 47th Toronto International Film Festival.Directed by Stephen Frears, the feel-good true story stars Sally Hawkins as Philippa Langley, an amateur historian who uncovered the remains of King Richard the III after they had been lost for 500 years. Langley spent years researching — and searching — for the remnants, even when family, friends and academics openly doubted her.Steve Coogan (who also co-wrote the screenplay with Jeff Pope) is playing Philippa’s husband, John Langley.

IFC Films is acquiring North American rights to Stephen Frears’ drama The Lost King, starring Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water) and Steve Coogan (The Trip), ahead of its world premiere at the 47th Toronto Film Festival.