It’s not often that a historical drama gets a sequel. Often because the story is pretty much finished. But the great film Elizabeth, which introduced me to the luminous Cate Blanchett many years ago, didn’t follow the arc of the monarch’s whole life, so there’s plenty of room for a part 2.
The film, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, will not feature the Justice Society but rather the defeat of the Spanish Armada, and the loving attention of cigarette-kingpin Sir Walter Raleigh. Clive Owen has signed on to play the adventuring mud-defier himself, as he woos the Queen – who ends up so jealous of his attentions to other women that she locked him in the Tower of London. Sort of. Some historians have their panties in a bunch because the film may be "sexing up" history, which, if the number of babies made throughout time is any indication, was already chock full of sex.
Spoilsport Historian Jane Dunn says "The remarkable thing about Elizabeth was not that she jumped into bed with every man she met but that she so effectively resisted temptation… It was in Raleigh’s interests to be flirtatious with her. He was a young man on the make and that is what those kind of men did at Court. She did enjoy the attention of these sorts of swashbucklers but it did not go any further."
She’s probably going to be super pissed when she hears that Jeremy Irons has signed on to play the black-hearted Earl of Leicester, as there is no historical documentation to show that he was a crazy gynecologist!