Watch this exclusive Mr. Media interview with documentary filmmaker Jeremy Whelehan, director of Now: In the Wings on the World Stage starring Kevin Spacey as Richard III, by clicking on the video player above!
Mr. Media is recorded live before a studio audience of Equity Card-carrying Shakespearean actors who don’t approve of anyone’s version of the Bard that they’re not in … in the NEW new media capital of the world… St. Petersburg, Florida!
Have you seen ‘House of Cards’?
Kevin Spacey is so deliciously creepy in the Netflix series that I simply can’t imagine being around him for more than a few minutes. (Of course, I felt that way after The Usual Suspects and then American Beauty, too.)
JEREMY WHELEHAN podcast excerpt: “It was quite interesting to set about working with Kevin Spacey and making a documentary which would follow him for the best part of a year while he’s at work, in the theatre, in the dressing room, and touring to all these countries. But, you know, he’s a brilliantly talented actor, Kevin, very successful, a very powerful figure, in the entertainment industry, and seems to find himself more often than not on the front of the wave of innovation.”
But that’s just me; Jeremy Whelehan obviously doesn’t share my unease, having worked with Spacey for 20 years. So the idea of shooting a documentary film about a live, modern, year-long touring production of Shakespeare’s Richard III—that was the first reunion of Spacey and Mendes since American Beauty—was clearly irresistible to him.
JEREMY WHELEHAN podcast excerpt: “In some ways, ‘Now’ is an adventure story. Marrying that aspect of it with the theatre and the story of the play coming together, were the two poles of the film that I tried to embroider together.”
Now: In the Wings on a World Stage is an extraordinary documenting of Spacey as Richard and much more. Whelehan gives the viewer unprecedented backstage access to the entire cast as the play is in development and as it winds its way around the world, through big, outdoor venues and relatively intimate indoor ones.
Whelehan, who spent three seasons as associate director of London’s Old Vic Theatre Company – where Spacey himself has been artistic director for many years – has an excellent sense of what even the casual theatre-goer’s mind would find awe in.
And you need not know a thing about Richard III or Shakespeare to enjoy this documentary, now available on Netflix and Amazon.com following its theatrical run.
Now: In the Wings on the World Stage Website • Twitter • Rotten Tomatoes • IMDB • Order Now: In The Wings On A World Stage from Amazon.com
Jeremy Whelehan Treetops Productions Website • Facebook • Twitter • Vimeo
Kevin Stacey Website • Facebook • Twitter • YouTube • IMDB • Wikipedia • Google+ • Kevin Spacey Foundation • Order House of Cards: Season One from Amazon.com
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