Ian McKellen, Gemma Arterton, Mark Strong, Lesley Manville, Ben Barnes, Romola Garai and Alfred Enoch will star in the thriller ‘The Critic,’ based on Anthony Quinn’s classic novel ‘Curtain Call’.
The project was announced two years ago, the original cast in addition to Arterton, Colin Firth, Simon Russell Beale, Paapa Essiedu have withdrawn.
The film is directed by Anand Tucker (‘Leap Year’ ‘Hilary and Jackie’) and written by Patrick Marber (‘Notes on a Scandal’).
Set in 1934 London, ‘The Critic’ stars McKellen as Jimmy Erskine, the town’s most feared theater critic, and Arterton as actress Nina Land, determined to win him over.
When Jimmy finds himself the target of David Brooke (Strong), the new owner of the newspaper that published the review, Nina is caught in a dangerous web of blackmail, deceit and murder.
