Who’s that playing Boris Johnson?
While 2018 might be incredibly trying to live through, at least we can think “Wow, this will make a great movie in twenty years’ time.”
Well, since we might all die in a US-North Korea nuclear war or the climate change apocalypse, we might not actually get around to that point. So why not make those movies now?
That’s got to be the thinking at Channel 4 and HBO, who have released the trailer for their Brexit drama, cleverly titled Brexit.
Benedict Cumberbatch stars as Vote Leave campaign director Dominic Cummings, and the film follows the events of leading up the 2016 referendum.
“Everyone knows who won. But not everyone knows how.”
Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, #BrexitHBO premieres January 19 on #HBO pic.twitter.com/JD7UNODoRI
— HBO (@HBO) December 14, 2018
Obviously, the key issue here is that Brexit hasn’t actually happened yet, but we’d presume the film will end with Leave winning (spoilers).
HBO has a pretty strong track record, but it is very strange to see such recent history being played out on screen. Especially since the trailer makes it seem like a primer for Americans on Brexit, whereas it was something we in the UK all lived through, and caused so many divisions.
The film was actually made by Channel 4 and picked up for US TV by HBO, so this could be just the way it has been cut for American audiences.
Also, it has Cumberbatch-as-Cummings scribbling down all these things on a whiteboard, like he’s in some Sherlock-style mind palace or something.
And check out the guy playing Boris Johnson:
(He’s actually played by Richard Goulding, who is probably best known for portraying Prince Harry in both Channel 4’s The Windsors, and BBC’s King Charles III. What a CV to have.)
Rory Kinear also stars as David Cameron’s director of communications Craig Oliver.
The film will premiere on Channel 4 in the UK on January 7th at 9pm, and then HBO in the US on January 19th.
