Tudor Film 'Firebrand' Arrives on Hulu This November
Jude Law as Henry VIII, Alicia Vikander as Katherine Parr in 'Firebrand'
Larry Horricks
The historical film Firebrand is the sort of prestige-style movie that rarely gets an extended theatrical run. (To be honest, unless you're popular Oscar bait like Conclave most anything that isn't a big-budget tentpole or franchise entry barely makes it past two weeks at the local multiplex nowadays.) This is a lot to say that even if you were familiar with Firebrand, your window to catch it on the big screen this past summer was a vanishingly small one. But Hulu is hoping they can help Tudor lovers out with this problem, and has announced the film will stream on their platform this month.
Based on Elizabeth Fremantle's bestselling historical novel Queen’s Gambit, Firebrand tells the story of King Henry VIII's often-ignored final wife, Katherine Parr. The "survived" verse of the famous rhyme that helps schoolchildren remember the names of the women whose lives were ruined by one man's obsession with having a male heir, Parr was twice widowed by the time she married Henry at age 31, and an accomplished scholar in her own right. A strident supporter of the Reformation and a deeply devout Protestant, she's credited with being the first woman to publish under her own name in the English language in England. Yet, history tends to remember her only as the woman who outlived a monstrous man. Firebrand may not be a perfect film, but it's worth watching if only to add some much-needed nuance to her story.
Alicia Vikander (Rumours) stars as Katherine alongside Jude Law (Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore) as Henry, who is fully embracing his weirdo character era in this role, complete with a fat suit and, apparently, a custom-made perfume with notes of blood, sweat, and fecal matter to help him authentically depict the grotesque decay of the king at this point in his life.
Here's the film's synopsis.
In blood-soaked Tudor England, Katherine Parr, the sixth and last wife of King Henry VIII, is named Regent while tyrant Henry is fighting overseas. Katherine has done everything she can to push for a new future based on her radical Protestant beliefs. When an increasingly ailing and paranoid King returns, he turns his fury on the radicals, charging Katherine’s childhood friend with treason and burns her at the stake.
Horrified and grieving, but forced to deny it, Katherine finds herself fighting for her own survival. Conspiracy reverberates through the palace. Everyone holds their breath – for the queen to slip up, for Henry to take her head like wives before. With the hope for a future free of tyranny at risk, will Katherine submit to the inevitable for the sake of King and country?"
Alongside Vikander and Law, the film's ensemble cast includes Sam Riley (Maleficent) and Eddie Marsan (The Winter King) as noble-born brothers Thomas and Edward Seymour, Simon Russell Beale (Vanity Fair) as Bishop Stephen Gardiner, Patsy Ferran (Jamestown) as Princess Mary Tudor, and Erin Doherty (The Crown) as Protestant martyr Anne Askew, who was burned as a heretic in 1546. Ruby Bentall (The Serpent Queen), Briony Hannah (Call the Midwife), and newcomer Maia Jemmett play Katherine's ladies in waiting.
The film's script was penned by Killing Eve's Henrietta Ashworth and Jessica Ashworth, with additional writing by Rosanne Flynn. Executive producers are Maria Logan, Anne Sheehan, Rosanne Flynn, and Nicola Hart, with Gabrielle Tana and Carolyn Marks Blackwood serving as producers.
Firebrand will arrive on Hulu on Friday, November 22, 2024.
