As I'd imagine any higher-up executive at one of the biggest or best streaming services on the planet could tell you, it's not easy to find new material for movies and shows. We're in an era when countless numbers of people are keener than ever before on the franchises they already know and love, and remakes of movies that aren't even that old are becoming more common.
If it's tough to find new scripts, then, it might make sense that some people are turning to a different approach – adapting existing, extremely influential and successful scripts, but from the world of theatre. Case in point: Amazon Prime Video's new movie, Hedda, which adapts one of Ibsen's great plays for the silver screen.
The movie will star Tessa Thompson in the named lead role, as an upper class struggling with her emotions while hosting a major event at her opulent home. She's caught between the ghostly remnants of a past affair, as compared with the somewhat stifling existence that has replaced it, and it's clear that things might get fiery as the action unfolds.
That's made all the more likely by the appearance of her old lover, played by Nina Hoss, as well as other characters in both of their orbits who have their own attitudes to Hedda and her life choices. I'll hold my hands up here: I love a bit of theatre, but I've never seen Hedda on the stage, so I'm clueless as to what will happen, which is a good place to be in before watching it.
The production looks lavish and beautiful, though, with costumes to die for and the sort of simmering tension that the best plays often bottle. Obviously, I'm not trying to pretend that adapting plays for the screen is even remotely new (Laurence Olivier would want a word, if so), but this is still a surprisingly niche project from a giant such as Prime Video.
The film's directed by Nia DaCosta, whose previous work includes indie darlings, cult-hit horror movies, and even a big-budget Marvel movie, so it'll be interesting to see how she handles a return to more intellectual fare. You'll be able to judge for yourself when the movie starts streaming on 29 October.
