Movies

Benedict Cumberbatch Returns to TV for Showtime

By  · Published on February 28th, 2017

Plus: All the Oscar aftermath you can stand, the final ‘Kong’ trailer, and Malick directs Jolie.

After disrupting the Sherlock release schedule in favor of a burgeoning film career, Benedict Cumberbatch is set to return to television – American television this time – in Melrose, a five-part limited series in which he will star and executive produce.

And no, before you get too far down the rabbit hole, the series is not based on the popular shopping district of Los Angeles, rather a series of novels by Edward St. Aubyn about a character with the titular surname. According to a press release, the series “hilariously skewers the upper class” by depicting Melrose as “an aristocratic and outrageously funny playboy who struggles to overcome the damage inflicted by a horribly abusive father and the mother who tacitly condoned the behavior.” So it sounds like we can expect a mix of raucous humor and uncomfortable domestic turmoil. Ah, the British.

Cumberbatch for one can’t wait to get started. In a 2013 Reddit AMA uncovered by EW the actor listed Melrose as the literary character he was most interested in portraying, and now that the project has come to fruition, he seems pleased as punch.

“We are delighted to be part of this incredible series,” Cumberbatch said. “We have been huge fans of these books for many years and David Nicholls’ adaptations are extraordinary.”

David Nicholls is the novelist behind Starter for 10 and One Day, both of which he penned the screenplays for. He’s also written adaptations of Far from the Madding Crowd and Great Expectations, and will write all five episodes of this new series.

Melrose starts shooting on both side of the Atlantic this August for a 2018 release.

In other news and points of interest…

…Despite all the hoopla, early figures had this year’s Oscars ceremony television ratings at their lowest in nine years…

…In advance of its release this weekend, Kong: Skull Island dropped its final trailer on Monday…

…Terrence Malick took time from his busy schedule to direct a perfume ad starring Angelina Jolie…

Over in our corner of the internet we had some great stuff come out yesterday, including some takes on the Oscars like Max Covill’s exploration of the night’s biggest blunder, Andrew Karpan’s examination of the historical implications of this year’s awards, Christopher Campbell’s look at what’s next for Oscar winners, Jake Othwein’s take on what the Best Director/Best Picture split means, and this video tracing the evolution of Emma Stone from Superbad to Best Actress.

And in case you missed them, here are some of the most popular shots we tweeted yesterday. Notice a theme?

Want more? You know where to find us.

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991) Director of Photography: Tak Fujimoto | Director: Jonathan Demme
ANNIE HALL (1977) DP: Gordon Willis | Dir: Woody Allen
ROCKY (1976) Director of Photography: James Crabe | Director: John G Avildsen
BRAVEHEART (1995) DP: John Toll | Director: Mel Gibson
MOONLIGHT (2016) DP: James Laxton⎢ Director: Barry Jenkins

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