"We looked at war films and thought about what it was like to be a soldier. We wanted to appeal to a war film audience, to contemporise it and strip out all the pageantry and pare things down," costume designer Annie Symons told BBC about the network’s ongoing Shakespeare series "The Hollow Crown." "I looked at football hooligans, the way they move and wear colours. We thought about war as sport which it definitively was in the age of chivalry."
Well, while we certainly wouldn’t call him a hooligan, Benedict Cumberbatch certainly looks appropriately rugged in this first look at "The Hollow Crown: The War Of Roses." The second batch of the Bard’s works will include an adaptation of "Richard III" with Cumberbatch in the title role. And joining him is a pretty stellar cast including Judi Dench, Keeley Hawes, Sophie Okonedo, and Tom Sturridge.
But as cool as this looks, you’ll be waiting a while….’Roses’ isn’t due to air until 2016 in the UK, and no word yet on when it will cross the pond to show stateside.