When we heard that Adam McKay’s “Vice” was sneaking in late to the awards season, we assumed that was going to be the last bombshell film to hit theaters before people could start making their Oscar picks. But here comes Kenneth Branagh and Sony Pictures Classics with a truly late addition to the awards season, with his Shakespeare biopic titled “All is True.”
However, as seen in the new trailer, “All is True” isn’t your typical Shakespeare biopic. Instead of focusing on his formative years or even the height of his writing career, the film focuses on the twilight years of the writer, as he attempts to pick up the pieces of his family that he sacrificed for his career ambitions.
“All is True” is most definitely Branagh’s film. The Academy Award-nominated actor is not only starring as Shakespeare in the film, but he’s also behind the camera, as the director of the film. Ben Elton is responsible for the script for the film. And co-starring with Branagh are acclaimed actors Judi Dench and Ian McKellen.
“All is True” hits theaters just in time for Oscar consideration on December 21.
Here’s the synopsis:
ALL IS TRUE reveals a dramatic and little known period in the final years of William Shakespeare. Branagh is the playwright, Judi Dench is his wife Anne, and Ian McKellen plays the Earl of Southampton. The year is 1613, Shakespeare is acknowledged as the greatest writer of the age. But disaster strikes when his renowned Globe Theatre burns to the ground, and devastated, Shakespeare returns to Stratford, where he must face a troubled past and a neglected family. Haunted by the death of his only son Hamnet, he struggles to mend the broken relationships with his wife and daughters. In so doing, he is ruthlessly forced to examine his own failings as husband and father. His very personal search for the truth uncovers secrets and lies within a family at war.