Trailer Park: “Anonymous” (Directed by Roland Emmerich & Starring Rhys Ifans)

Who's the true author behind William Shakespeare's work?

Ever wondered how farm kid William Shakespeare was able to grow up and write some of the world’s most celebrated literature and plays that take place in royal courts of England, Italy and France?

Of course, there wasn’t Internet back then available for a man of humble beginnings to acquire such secular knowledge without actually partaking in travels and higher learning. It’s only a claim, but for years scholars known as Oxfordians have strongly supported the notion that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, a nobleman and patron of intellectual assets, was the true author behind Shakespeare’s work.

Anonymous, which takes place during the period of Queen Elizabeth I’s ending reign, follows Edward de Vere (Rhys Ifans) and his ordeals as a courtier and possible son/lover of the supposed Virgin Queen (Vanessa Redgrave), and giving birth to Henry Wriothesley, the 3rd Earl of Southampton, who is supposedly the subject of Shakespeare’s sonnet Fair Youth of the Sonnets.

All of the court-fiddling and incestuous relations among royals isn't taught in high school AP English, but we’re interested to see how a subject argued by scholars for more than a century will be adapted into a high-scale historical thriller.

Though director Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, 2012) has never struck us as a filmmaker of much clout in terms of drama without rampant CGI, we’re intrigued enough to mark our calendars for the film's September 30 roll-out. 

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