The Duke

Product Information

It was then available on Blu-ray and DVD on June 13, 2022 by Pathé through Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. It was announced in October 2019 that a film about the 1961 theft was in development, with Broadbent as Bunton and Mirren as his wife and Roger Michell set to direct. [11] Fionn Whitehead was added the following month. [12] Grater, Tom (29 October 2019). "Jim Broadbent, Helen Mirren Art Heist Story 'The Duke' Greenlit At Pathé – AFM". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved 12 January 2020. The Duke DVD. This is about a 60-year-old taxi driver who steals Goya's portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery and sends random notes of returning the painting on the condition that the government invests more in care for the elderly.

Grater, Tom (4 November 2019). "Fionn Whitehead Joins Jim Broadbent & Helen Mirren In Roger Michell's 'The Duke' For Pathé – AFM". Deadline . Retrieved 12 January 2020. The film is jovially neutral fare, preferring to frame its story as an unashamedly old-fashioned underdog taleThe film was awarded 5 stars from The Guardian [5] and The Daily Telegraph [6] following its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. [7] It was released in cinemas in the UK on 25 February 2022. Grater, Tom (10 January 2020). " 'The Duke': First Look At Jim Broadbent & Helen Mirren In Art Heist Story". Deadline . Retrieved 25 January 2020. When the Goya goes awol, the authorities suspect highly organised international criminals, probably including “a trained commando” (the 1962 Bond film Dr No fancifully placed the painting in its villain’s lair). But when Kempton’s long-suffering wife, Dorothy (Helen Mirren), finds “a stolen masterpiece in me wardrobe!”, it appears that her husband has outdone himself in his quest to battle social injustice at large while driving his nearest and dearest to distraction at home. Ramachdran, Naman (22 September 2020). "Sony Pictures Classics Nabs 'The Duke' For U.S., Latin America, Scandinavia From Pathe". Variety . Retrieved 22 September 2020. British Comedy-Drama the Duke" to Premiere at Venice Film Festival:: The Pavlovic Today". 29 July 2020.

The Duke review – art thief takes one for the common man". The Guardian. 2020-09-04 . Retrieved 2020-09-07. Maher, Kevin. "The Duke review — Jim Broadbent at his best in this foolish and infuriating role". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460 . Retrieved 2020-09-07. For what has become his final feature film, director Roger Michell made this sweet-natured and genial comedy in the spirit of Ealing, which bobs up like a ping pong ball on a water-fountain. It is based on the true story of Kempton Bunton, the Newcastle cab driver who in 1965 appeared at the Old Bailey for stealing Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington from London’s National Gallery. The mystery of its disappearance had so electrified the media that there was even a gag about it in the James Bond film Dr No, using a copy personally painted by the legendary production designer Ken Adam, which was itself stolen. Maybe there should be a film about that as well. As with so many of cinema’s most successful practitioners, the South Africa-born British film-maker Roger Michell, who died last September aged 65, was not an “auteur” with a singular distinctive style. On the contrary, he was a versatile craftsman who could turn his hand to a range of genres with ease. From the classic Richard Curtis romcom Notting Hill to the American thriller Changing Lane s and the deliciously twisty Daphne du Maurier dark romance My Cousin Rachel, Michell instinctively understood the differing demands of each story he was telling. He adapted Hanif Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia for TV with great success, gave Anne Reid her finest role in the taboo-breaking, Kureishi-scripted drama The Mother, and directed a sorely underrated screen adaptation of Ian McEwan’s Enduring Love, the bravura opening movement of which has haunted me for years. The film was originally scheduled to be released in the United Kingdom by 20th Century Studios via Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures on 6 November 2020, [18] but Pathé later delayed it to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [19] On 7 June 2021, it was announced that Pathé would release the film on 3 September 2021, after announcing a new distribution deal with Warner Bros. Pictures. [20] On 23 July, Pathé announced that the film release would be again delayed, this time to 25 February 2022. [21]Keegan, Rebecca (August 3, 2020). "Inside the Telluride Film Festival That Would Have Been". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved August 3, 2020.