[This story contains spoilers for the film Firebrand.]

The fates of Henry VIII’s wives are well known, with a particularly macabre children’s rhyme dedicated to their untimely ends. Less committed to the cultural zeitgeist is much about the wives, themselves, especially Catherine Parr, the final wife known for being the one that survived the English monarch.

Filmmaker Karim Aïnouz dedicates his film Firebrand to imagining how Parr outmaneuvered her husband while becoming a published author and seeding more progressive ideas within the monarchy.

The film is not a typical costume drama. Instead of focusing less on pomp, circumstance, and place intrigue, the drama centers on the domestic realities of Henry and Catherine’s relationship.

Ahead of the film’s June 14 theatrical release, stars Alicia Vikander and Jude Law talk about Henry VIII and Catherina Parr’s relationship and Firebrand‘s surprising (but also not-so-surprising) ending.

Alicia, out of Cannes, where the film premiered, you talked about how films about Henry VIII and his wives have focused on the ones who met horrible endings. What was it about telling the story of Catherine Parr, the wife who survived him, that interested you?

VIKANDER It seemed like there was no focus on Catherine Parr [in films and TV or in schools]. I was a bit embarrassed that I hadn’t really heard anything about this woman. One huge thing to me was that she had been an author and that she published in her own name, the first woman to ever do so, with quite controversial views that she had both politically and religiously. She managed to be that progressive, while being in this extremely abusive relationship and had to keep herself alive and outlive Henry. That was definitely a big part of why I was excited to show this particular piece of history. I think it’s also proof, sadly, that we humans just focus on the grim past, the spectacle. It is terrifying.

LAW It’s more interesting, somehow, to tell the story of this brutal man and how he killed someone, or this brutal man and how he drove someone to death. Rather than this brutal man and how someone outmaneuvered him and survived him. A book I read actually was by Lady Antonia Fraser. It’s called The Wives of Henry VII. That little inversion made it suddenly more interesting because it was more specifically about him as a player throughout. It was Karim [Aïnouz, the director] who originally said to read what [we] want, but don’t just read male historians, read the female perspective because that’s the emphasis of the story.
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Paul Dano, Alicia Vikander, Jude Law, Zach Galifianakis and Tom Sturridge team up in Olivier Assayas’ political thriller “The Wizard of the Kremlin”, based on Giuliano da Empoli’s bestseller by the same name.

Produced by Olivier Delbosc’s banner Curiosa Films and Gaumont – who last partnered on Cannes prizewinning “The Taste of Things” — “The Wizard of the Kremlin” is one of the hottest packages launching at the Cannes Film Market where Alexis Cassanet, Gaumont’s EVP international sales and distribution, is kicking off pre-sales. CAA Media Finance is handling North America.

“The Wizard of the Kremlin” is co-written by Assayas and Emmanuel Carrère, whose novel “Limonov” has been adapted for the big screen by Kirill Serebrennikov and will premiere in official selection at Cannes.

The story opens in Russia, in the early 1990’s, in the aftermath of the USSR’s collapse. In a new world that promises freedom and flirts with chaos, a young artist-turned-TV producer, Vadim Baranov, unexpectedly becomes the spin doctor of a promising member of the FSB (ex-KGB), Vladimir Putin.

“Working at the heart of Russian power, Baranov blurs truth with lies, the news with propaganda, directing the entire society like one great reality show. Only his love for the magnetic, free-minded Ksenia can turn him away from this dangerous game,” reads the synopsis. ‘‘The Wizard of the Kremlin’’ sets out to tell Baranov’s story, and through his eyes, tell the dark secrets of the regime he helped build.

Academy Award nominated actor Paul Dano, who has played complex characters as in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “There Will Be Blood,” musician Brian Wilson in “Love and Mercy” and “The Riddler” in Matt Reeves’ “The Batman,” will play Baranov. The movie will reteam Oscar-nominated actor Law and Oscar winner Vikander who last played together in Karim Aïnouz’s “Firebrand,” which premiered at last year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Set to be translated in over 30 languages, “The Wizard of the Kremlin” is an international bestseller which won the Académie Française’s prestigious Grand Prix Du Roman and was a finalist for the Goncourt Prize. Its author, Da Empoli is a former senior adviser to Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi.
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Roadside Attractions and Vertical have acquired U.S. rights to Firebrand, a historical thriller starring Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina) and Jude Law (The Talented Mr. Ripley) that world premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The film directed by Karim Aïnouz (Invisible Life) is slated for an exclusive theatrical release on June 21, 2024, when it will go up against Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders and an as-yet-undisclosed title from Universal.

Based on the bestselling historical novel Queen’s Gambit by Elizabeth Fremantle, the film follows legendary Queen of England, Katherine Parr (Vikander), and her quest to survive the perilous last months in the life of her ailing and abusive husband, Henry VIII (Law). Eddie Marsan (21 Grams), Sam Riley (Control), Simon Russell Beale (The Death of Stalin) and Erin Doherty (The Crown) co-star.

It’s in blood-soaked Tudor England that the twice married, accomplished and educated Parr reluctantly agrees to become the sixth wife of tyrannical King Henry VIII. Her consent to marry him carries great personal risk, given her predecessors are either vanquished, beheaded, or dead. Appointed as Regent when Henry departs to fight overseas, Katherine embraces the opportunity, doing everything she can to push for a new future based on her radical Protestant beliefs.

Henry’s courtiers perceive her as a threat to their power and scheme to cast doubts upon her fidelity and turn the increasingly ailing and paranoid King against her. Upon his return to England, the courtiers convince Henry to turn his fury on the nation’s radicals, including Katherine’s childhood friend Anne Askew (Doherty), who becomes one of the scores of people convicted of treason and burned at the stake.

Horrified and privately grieving, but forced to deny it, Katherine finds herself under ever-increasing scrutiny and suspicion. Everyone holds their breath — for the queen to slip up, for Henry to take her head like wives before. With the hope for a future free of tyranny at risk, will Katherine submit to the inevitable for the sake of King and country?

Script for Firebrand was written by Killing Eve‘s Henrietta Ashworth and Jessica Ashworth, with additional writing by Rosanne Flynn. The film is produced by Gabrielle Tana (Thirteen Lives, The Dig) and Carolyn Marks Blackwood (Cottontail, The Dig). Maria Logan, Anne Sheehan, Rosanne Flynn and Nicola Hart served as executive producers.
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