Watch Rupert Everett as Oscar Wilde in the first trailer for ‘The Happy Prince’
Colin Firth co-stars in the eagerly-anticipate period drama charting Wilde's final years.
By Will Stroude
2018 is continuing to be one of the strongest years for LGBT cinema in aeons with the arrival of the the first trailer for upcoming Oscar Wilde biopic The Happy Prince.
Rupert Everett directs and stars in the intimate period drama, which charts the final years of Wilde’s life in France following his release from prison on charges of gross indency in 1897.
Opening in Paris, The Happy Prince follows the Irish literary icon as he attempts to piece his life back together after being imprisoned for two years England for his love affair with Lord Alfred ‘Bosie’ Douglas (played The Fall’s Colin Morgan).
The dramatisation of one of the world’s most famous LGBT figures boasts a supporting cast of beloved British stars including Colin Firth (A Single Man) and Emily Watson (Gosford Park) and received rave reviews when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.
Wilde, who wrote literary classics The Importance of Being Earnest and The Picutre of Dorian Gray, was at the height of his fame in Victorian-era London when he was sentenced to two years’ hard labourin 1895 owing to his relationship with Lord Douglas.
Following his release in 1897, Wilde sailed to France to live out the rest of his life in exile, before dying in 1900 aged 46 after developing meningitis.
The Happy Prince marks Rupert Everett’s big screen directorial debut, as well as the 58-year-old’s first film role since 2016’s Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.
The Happy Prince hits UK cinemas on 15 June. Check out the trailer below:
Discover the story of Oscar Wilde’s lost years. Witness Rupert Everett, Colin Firth and Colin Morgan in the brand new trailer for #TheHappyPrince. In cinemas June 15. pic.twitter.com/sJsu0l47ut
— Lionsgate UK (@LionsgateUK) April 19, 2018