Principal photography is officially under way on ‘Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans,’ the feature adaptation of the best-selling and award-winning children’s historical comedy book series by Terry Deary and illustrated by Martin Brown.
With Sebastian Croft (‘Game Of Thrones’) and Emilia Jones (‘Patrick’) in the lead roles, the film follows Atti, a Roman teenager with brains but very little brawn. When one of his clever schemes falls foul of Emperor Nero, he is forced to join the army and is sent to miserable, cold, wet Britain where the natives are revolting – quite literally. Things go from bad to worse when Atti is captured by Orla, a feisty teenage Celt desperate to prove herself as a warrior.
Dominic Brigstocke (‘French and Saunders,’ ‘I’m Alan Partridge,’ ‘Green Room,’ ‘The Armstrong and Miller Show,’ ‘Smack The Pony’) will make his feature directorial debut on the film with Jessica Swale, Giles Pilbrow and Caroline Norris providing the script.
The supporting cast includes Nick Frost as Orla’s father Arghus, Craig Roberts as Roman Emperor Nero; Kim Cattrall as his mother Agrippina, Rupert Graves as Governor General Paulinus, singer-turned-actress Kate Nash as Boudicca, Alex Macqueen as Nero’s assistant Sycophantus. Derek Jacobi is also on board, playing Claudius, a role he previously played in the 1970s BBC adaptation of ‘I, Claudius.’
Alexander Armstrong, Lee Mack, Warwick Davis, Lucy Montgomery, Jamie Demetriou, Tony Gardner, Kevin Bishop, Samantha Spiro, Ella Smith, Dan Renton Skinner, Dustin Demri-Burns, Tim Downie and Chris Addison also feature, alongside ‘Horrible Histories’ alumni Sarah Hadland, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Dave Lamb, Jessica Ransom, Tom Stourton, Dominique Moore, Richard David-Caine, Lawry Lewin, Katy Wix and Katherine Jakeways.
‘Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans’ is scheduled to hit Irish cinemas July 2019.