Dublin actor Colm Meaney (or Dessie Curly if you were watching The Snapper last night), has landed a new role in an upcoming US TV pilot that will follow the early life of William Shakespeare.
The new drama is from US network TNT and is set to be called 'Will'. It comes from Craig Pierce who is a longtime writing partner of Baz Luhrman while Sherkar Kapur is directing the pilot.
According to Deadline, it's set to tell the story of a young William Shakespeare (played by Laurie Davidson) and his "arrival onto the punk rock theater scene that was 16th century London – the seductive, violent world where his raw talent faced rioting audiences, religious fanatics and raucous side-shows."
Meaney will play the role of James Burbage, a carpenter with a vision to build the first theatre in London since Roman times, a 3,000 seat auditorium that became simply known as 'The Theatre'. To do so, he must "battle the authorities, rival theatres, and a fickle and at times riotous public to keep himself and his company of talented misfits afloat".
Sounds promising enough, we're imagining a swashbuckling Baz Luhrman-esque affair that's a cross between 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'Shakespeare in Love'.... so no pressure.
As it's only in its pilot days, it will be a while until we get to see it, but you can catch Colm Meaney soon on the big screen alongside Timothy Spall in Nick Hamm’s The Journey.