If you enjoyed Ralph Fiennes' brief but majestically hardcased cameo in The Hurt Locker, then good news: Fiennes is back and armed to the teeth again in these new stills from Coriolanus, his directorial debut courtesy of 30ninjas.com.
As the stills show, Coriolanus swaps togas for camo smocks to transpose Shakespeare's tragedy of civil war, insurrection and betrayal into contemporary Serbia. It's got pedigree to burn. The script is written by **Gladiator **and **The Aviator **scribe John Logan, while **The Hurt Locker **DoP Barry Ackroyd mans the lens.
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Fiennes plays the titular general, Coriolanus, who, with his people starving and his mother (Vanessa Redgrave) politically outmanoeuvring him, is forced into exile and an uneasy alliance with his nemesis, Tullus Aufidius (Gerard Butler).
Click the image above for a closer look on 30ninjas.com
Expect conflict, and not just the shooting kind, says Fiennes. "Coriolanus, to some extent, asks what the role of a soldier is, not just in battle, but also in life. Shakespeare challenges the audience to resist his complex central figure, but against our reason, we often find ourselves siding with him."
With old Shakespearean hands like Fiennes, Redgrave, Butler and Brian Cox involved, it could be a cracker. We'll find out early next year.