So let’s go over the somewhat tortured history of “Tulip Fever” shall we? Nearly a decade ago, back in 2004, “Shakespeare in Love” and “Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” director John Madden was lining up the movie with Keira Knightley and Jude Law to star, with a script by Tom Stoppard. What on Earth could have stopped that? Well, once tax incentives for production in UK disappeared, so did the movie. Soon after that, director Peter Chelsom (“Shall We Dance,” “Hannah Montana: The Movie“) tried to get it made, and he didn’t fare any better. Then in 2011, Tom Hooper considered it among a handful of other project as his followup to “The King’s Speech” before deciding on “Les Miserables.” Well, the flower is blooming once more…
This time the Daily Mail reports that rising actress Alicia Vikander (“A Royal Affair,” “Anna Karenina“) is now attached to star, with “Bullhead” and “Rust And Bone” thesp Matthias Schoenaerts being sought for the co-starring role. Based on the book by Deborah Moggach, the film tracks an affair between a man and a woman in 17th century Holland, during a period where tulip bulbs became hot trading items, with a single bulb selling for as much as ten times the average annual salary. So yeah, lots of sexual metaphors and blooming and buds opening and things ripening at play here.
Justin Chadwick (“The Other Boleyn Girl,” “Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom“) will now direct, but this one still isn’t really very close to happening. Vikander will be lensing “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” first, so who knows if this iteration will even stick together. But it seems no one is giving up on making this one yet.