Take that, Lindsay Lohan! After Lifetime’s terrible biopic, LIZ AND DICK, it didn’t seem likely we would get a properly made movie about the Hollywood legend of Elizabeth Taylor. But, leave it to the BBC to put together a project with some competent actors to play Liz and Richard Burton.
Deadline reports that the BBC film will be titled BURTON & TAYLOR (creative) and will star Helena Bonham Carter as Liz and Dominic West as Richard Burton. Both choices are much better selections that Lohan and what’s his face who played Dick. The movie will focus on the 1983 stage performance of Noel Coward’s Private Lives, a play which Burton and Taylor starred in together for a dismal 63-performance run on Broadway.
Carter has made a career out of playing bizarre characters, but she does have experience with drama, including a subdued turn as Queen Elizabeth in THE KING’S SPEECH. Dominic West has been excellent on the BBC series THE HOUR and will forever be associated with THE WIRE. Both are excellent actors and this project should be an interesting one to watch. No US airdate was announced, but expect it to air on BBC America when it does.