No more Shakespeare for Christopher Plummer, says Christopher Plummer.
Why?
“I’ve already played all the great Shakespearean roles that fit my age except for Falstaff and I don’t want to wear all that f— padding,” insisted the Montreal-born actor who turns 81 on Dec. 13.
While it’s sad to see the great actors step aside, you can’t argue with the reality of it. The man’s Romeo days are past. And it looks like he’s had his share of Lear and Prospero. Maybe he doesn’t want to spend his days doing Lord Capulet. (The article does point out that Plummer is still very active, and will be moving on to some O’Neill, Shaw, Ibsen and the Greeks.)
Interesting – he’s doing The Tempest on stage right now, and I see a “tv movie” credit for The Tempest in IMDB. Will this be a a filmed version of his performance, much like McKellen/Stewart/Tennant before him? That would be highly cool.
I think modern audiences would agree that his greatest Shakespearean role was that of General Chang in Star Trek VI : The Undiscovered Country. 🙂
On a more serious note, which Harry Potter character do you think he should have played?
Indeed, they filmed the Stratford staging of "The Tempest" this summer. It showed in Canadian theatres a few times and should be rolling out on a DVD you can order from The Theatre Store (in Stratford) over the next month or so.