Jodie Turner-Smith is heading to King Henry VIII’s mind-fuck of a court. The “Queen & Slim” actress will play Anne Boleyn in a three-part “convention-defying” drama from Channel 5 and Fable Pictures. Deadline describes the project as “a psychological thriller rather than a stuffy period drama.”
The second wife of Henry VIII and mother of Queen Elizabeth I, Boleyn was Queen of England for a little less than three years, from May 1533 to May 1536. Officially, she was beheaded for treason and other charges, but she was really executed because she didn’t give birth to a son, ergo she couldn’t secure the king’s line of succession with a male heir. Natalie Portman (“The Other Boleyn Girl”), Natalie Dormer (“The Tudors”), and Claire Foy (“Wolf Hall”) are among the many actresses who have previously portrayed Boleyn in pop culture.
Newcomer Eve Hedderwick Turner is writing the Channel 5 project, which is tentatively titled “Anne Boleyn,” and Lynsey Miller (“Deadwater Fell”) is directing. “The drama shines a feminist light on the final months of Boleyn’s life, re-imagining her struggle with Tudor England’s patriarchal society, her desire to secure a future for her daughter, Elizabeth, and the brutal reality of her failure to provide Henry with a male heir,” the source details.
For producers Faye Ward and Hannah Farrell, the project is the rare chance to tell Boleyn’s story from her own perspective, not from that of her husband or his advisors. “We feel that history has side-lined the voice of this ambitious Queen in favor of the men who brought her down, and that Lynsey Miller’s beautiful, intimate vision will put Anne’s gaze at the heart of the piece,” they said. Ward previously produced “The Other Boleyn Girl,” an adaptation of Philippa Gregory’s novel about Anne and her sister, Mary.
“Anne Boleyn’s” cast also includes Paapa Essiedu (“I May Destroy You”), Amanda Burton (“White House Farm”), and Thalissa Teixeira (“Two Weeks To Live”).
Ben Frow, director of UK programs for Channel 5’s owner, ViacomCBS, first hinted about the project at this summer’s Edinburgh TV Festival, naming Boleyn as his “favorite person in history.” “This project re-frames her story as a propulsive psychological thriller, told from a new perspective, with top talent like Jodie Turner-Smith attached,” he said. “It was simply too irresistible to say no to.”
“Delving deeper into Anne Boleyn’s immense strengths while examining her fatal weaknesses and vulnerabilities, Eve’s scripts immediately captured my imagination,” Turner-Smith added.
Turner-Smith played one half of a Black couple on the run after killing a white cop in self-defense in Melina Matsoukas’ “Queen & Slim.” “The Last Ship,” “Nightflyers,” and “Jett” are among her other credits.
