According to press reports, Roland Emmerich, director of The Day After Tomorrow (remember? the flick that the Loony Left was sure would elect John Kerry), “wants to shed his reputation for making special-effects blockbusters by shooting ‘more difficult, socially relevant’ films”. His debut in that new role is rather surprising:
Emmerich’s first feature under the Reel Machine label will be “Soul of the Age,” a political thriller set in Elizabethan England that explores the controversial theory that William Shakespeare was not the author of his famous plays.
“I am convinced that the William Shakespeare we know was a fraud,” Emmerich said, “that he almost certainly did not write the Shakespeare plays.” He plans to begin shooting “Soul” in England in the fall with an all-British cast.
“This will be a chance for me to show people I can work with actors, that I can direct drama,” he said.
Emmerich said he will use substantial special effects in the film – including re-creating the entire city of London in the 17th century.
There’s nothing wrong, of course, with making a “political thriller” out of an absurd historical theory, but I do wonder what “socially relevant” message Herr Emmerich derives from the idea that the greatest works of English literature were written by a dissolute aristocrat rather than a hard-working bourgeois. That genius depends on birth? That the middle class is untrustworthy? (Hollywood warned them, but they voted for Bushitler anyway.) That historical evidence is mostly the product of conspiracy and fraud? That the soul of Western civilization is a lie?
Whatever route the production follows, we can be confident that the final cut will be supremely silly. Better would be a second Emmerich Godzilla. There is the consolation, though, that it will be difficult to slip Global Warming fantasies into Elizabethan England.
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