Ralph Fiennes (The Constant Gardener, The English Patient) directorial debut Coriolanus is an adaption of William Shakespeare’s last roman play which premiered at the 55th BFI London Film Festival on October 16th 2011.

The film is about Gaius Marcius ‘Coriolanus’, the tragic, flawed, war hero turned politician who falls out of favour with the public of Rome. Although the film has a very roman feel to it, the decision to shoot in Belgrade, Serbia allowed Fiennes to have the film infrastructure and production at a lower cost.

At the press conference, Fiennes admitted becoming obsessed with the Shakespeare tragedy since playing the part of Coriolanus on stage in 2000. He joked “No one else was clamouring to direct the film,” and that the play had always had a special place in his heart.

When casting for the film, Fiennes had said that veteran “Vanessa Redgrave (Anonymous) was his dream choice in playing the role of Volumnia.” Other recognisable faces among the cast include; Gerard Butler (300) as Tullus Aufidius as well as James Nesbitt (Outcast) and Brian Cox (Rise of the Planet of the Apes).

The collaboration between director Ralph Fiennes and his off-screen team is very much evident in the finished version of the film. The man behind the dramatic cinematography, Barry Ackroyd (Hurt Locker) manages to bring layers of authenticity to the film.

In addition to this, screenwriter John Logan (Gladiator, Hugo) skilfully incorporates contemporary dialect into the script, keeping the majority of the original dialogue from the Shakespeare masterpiece.
 
Coriolanus is due for UK release on the 20th January 2012.