The second season of Wolf Hall has created headlines in the UK for its diverse casting — and the latest to speak out is an ancestor of one of the Tudor drama’s characters.
Journalist Petronella Wyatt has written a column in The Daily Telegraph questioning the “absurd” decision to cast Egyptian-born Amir El-Masry as Yorkshireman Thomas Wyatt.
The character was played by Slow Horses star Jack Lowden in Season 1 of the BBC/PBS Masterpiece drama, which premiered in 2015.
Wyatt praised The Crown star El-Masry’s acting credentials, but said color-blind casting for a story rooted in British history was tantamount to “cultural appropriation.”
She said Thomas Wyatt, a 16th-century English politician credited with inventing the sonnet, had “never been east of Calais” in his lifetime.
Amir El-Masry
“I appreciate that it is the job of actors to act, and I have no theoretical quarrel with his being played by Mr El-Masry,...
Journalist Petronella Wyatt has written a column in The Daily Telegraph questioning the “absurd” decision to cast Egyptian-born Amir El-Masry as Yorkshireman Thomas Wyatt.
The character was played by Slow Horses star Jack Lowden in Season 1 of the BBC/PBS Masterpiece drama, which premiered in 2015.
Wyatt praised The Crown star El-Masry’s acting credentials, but said color-blind casting for a story rooted in British history was tantamount to “cultural appropriation.”
She said Thomas Wyatt, a 16th-century English politician credited with inventing the sonnet, had “never been east of Calais” in his lifetime.
Amir El-Masry
“I appreciate that it is the job of actors to act, and I have no theoretical quarrel with his being played by Mr El-Masry,...
- 4/10/2024
- by Jake Kanter
- Deadline Film + TV
A few more returns and more than two dozen (!) new bits of casting have been announced for the second/final season of Wolf Hall.
Masterpiece PBS and the BBC previously announced that the six-episode Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, based on the final novel in Hilary Mantel’s award-winning trilogy, will bring back Mark Rylance, Damian Lewis, Jonathan Pryce, Kate Phillips and Lilit Lesser.
More from TVLineTVLine Items: Call the Midwife Holiday Special, Yellowstone Season 3 on CBS and MoreCruel Intentions Series Order Confirmed by Amazon; Additional Casting AnnouncedKim Kardashian Joins Ryan Murphy's Upcoming Hulu Legal Drama Harriet Walker
This Monday morning,...
Masterpiece PBS and the BBC previously announced that the six-episode Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, based on the final novel in Hilary Mantel’s award-winning trilogy, will bring back Mark Rylance, Damian Lewis, Jonathan Pryce, Kate Phillips and Lilit Lesser.
More from TVLineTVLine Items: Call the Midwife Holiday Special, Yellowstone Season 3 on CBS and MoreCruel Intentions Series Order Confirmed by Amazon; Additional Casting AnnouncedKim Kardashian Joins Ryan Murphy's Upcoming Hulu Legal Drama Harriet Walker
This Monday morning,...
- 12/4/2023
- by Matt Webb Mitovich
- TVLine.com
From new voices like NoViolet Bulawayo to rediscovered old voices like James Salter, from Dave Eggers's satire to David Thomson's history of film, writers, Observer critics and others pick their favourite reads of 2013. And they tell us what they hope to find under the tree …
Curtis Sittenfeld
Novelist
My favourite books of 2013 are Drama High (Riverhead) by Michael Sokolove, Sea Creatures (Turnaround) by Susanna Daniel, and & Sons (Harper Collins) by David Gilbert. Drama High is incredibly smart, moving non-fiction about an American drama teacher who for four decades coaxed sophisticated and nuanced theatrical performances out of teenage students who weren't privileged or otherwise remarkable and in so doing, changed their conceptions of what they could do with their lives. Sea Creatures is a gripping, beautifully written novel about the mother of a selectively mute three-year-old boy; when she takes a job ferrying supplies to a hermit off the coast of Florida,...
Curtis Sittenfeld
Novelist
My favourite books of 2013 are Drama High (Riverhead) by Michael Sokolove, Sea Creatures (Turnaround) by Susanna Daniel, and & Sons (Harper Collins) by David Gilbert. Drama High is incredibly smart, moving non-fiction about an American drama teacher who for four decades coaxed sophisticated and nuanced theatrical performances out of teenage students who weren't privileged or otherwise remarkable and in so doing, changed their conceptions of what they could do with their lives. Sea Creatures is a gripping, beautifully written novel about the mother of a selectively mute three-year-old boy; when she takes a job ferrying supplies to a hermit off the coast of Florida,...
- 11/24/2013
- by Ali Smith, Robert McCrum, Tim Adams, Kate Kellaway, Rachel Cooke, Sebastian Faulks, Jackie Kay
- The Guardian - Film News
Shekhar Kapur's loose biopic of the Virgin Queen concertinas real-life events into a exciting, beautiful historical mess
Elizabeth (1998)
Director: Shekhar Kapur
Entertainment grade: A–
History grade: E
Elizabeth I came to the throne of England in 1558 on the death of her sister, Mary I.
Religion
Young Princess Elizabeth (Cate Blanchett) is dragged away from a sunny afternoon at Hatfield, dancing around in fields and snogging hunky Robert Dudley (Joseph Fiennes), and sent to the Tower of London. She is accused of involvement in Thomas Wyatt's Protestant rebellion against the Catholic Mary.
"I ask you why we must we tear ourselves apart over this small question of religion," she says to her interrogators. "You think it small?" bellows Bishop Gardiner. "Though it killed your mother?"
Elizabeth looks shocked. It would have been more realistic if she looked confused. The question of religion did not kill Elizabeth's mother, Anne Boleyn.
Elizabeth (1998)
Director: Shekhar Kapur
Entertainment grade: A–
History grade: E
Elizabeth I came to the throne of England in 1558 on the death of her sister, Mary I.
Religion
Young Princess Elizabeth (Cate Blanchett) is dragged away from a sunny afternoon at Hatfield, dancing around in fields and snogging hunky Robert Dudley (Joseph Fiennes), and sent to the Tower of London. She is accused of involvement in Thomas Wyatt's Protestant rebellion against the Catholic Mary.
"I ask you why we must we tear ourselves apart over this small question of religion," she says to her interrogators. "You think it small?" bellows Bishop Gardiner. "Though it killed your mother?"
Elizabeth looks shocked. It would have been more realistic if she looked confused. The question of religion did not kill Elizabeth's mother, Anne Boleyn.
- 9/22/2011
- by Alex von Tunzelmann
- The Guardian - Film News
From stage-door duties for the RSC, to the village famous for Straw Dogs, Observer writers reveal their idea of a perfect summer, past and present
● What are your tips for summer culture? Join the discussion
Kitty Empire
Pop critic
Let's be honest – the notion of summer as an extended golden period of rest and re-stimulation really now only applies to the young, the retired, or those in the teaching professions. The rest of us slog on, hoping to catch the odd festival (or maybe just gig in a park), marking time until camping in Cornwall or fly-drive to France, where finally luxuriating in the latest Alan Hollinghurst will come a distant second to stopping the youngest weeing in the hotel pool.
Once, though, I was artfully feckless too, making the rent by working as an usher for the Royal Shakespeare Company. "Good evening ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the...
● What are your tips for summer culture? Join the discussion
Kitty Empire
Pop critic
Let's be honest – the notion of summer as an extended golden period of rest and re-stimulation really now only applies to the young, the retired, or those in the teaching professions. The rest of us slog on, hoping to catch the odd festival (or maybe just gig in a park), marking time until camping in Cornwall or fly-drive to France, where finally luxuriating in the latest Alan Hollinghurst will come a distant second to stopping the youngest weeing in the hotel pool.
Once, though, I was artfully feckless too, making the rent by working as an usher for the Royal Shakespeare Company. "Good evening ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the...
- 8/1/2011
- by Kitty Empire, Mark Kermode, Rowan Moore, Philip French, Susannah Clapp, Laura Cumming, Luke Jennings, Fiona Maddocks, Rachel Cooke, Robert McCrum
- The Guardian - Film News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.