Rewatching Wolf Hall

[BansheeofInisherin]

Sorry, I know this is so old! I watched it first in the pandemic and I don't think I appreciated Mark Rylance's incredibly expressive face as Cromwell, Mark Gatiss's sourpuss act as Gardiner, Claire Foy's hauteur as Anne.... all of it is so good. So subtle, just like the book. No hamming.

It's also available on BBC iPlayer for the next three months.

I love this so much! I need to re-watch now I've read the books (which I was inspired to read by the series). I normally have no patience for long books, but I've read all three twice. They are so good. Are there any plans for a series of The Mirror and the Light?

I loved the books so much!

As wonderful an actor as Mark Rylance clearly is, he lacked the physicality and menace needed for Cromwell. In Wolf Hall his son describes Cromwell as having the face of a murderer.

The reason Cromwell was so effective is he had the physique and face of a street brawler and the mind of a political genius. I fell in love with Mantell’s interpretation of him.

I think Ben Miles was a better fit.

Thanks so much for this thread; I’d completely forgotten that they’d made this series as I hadn’t read it when it came out and was never really interested in historical fiction until relatively recently. I read Wolf Hall etc over covid and enjoyed them so much more than I was expecting to.

Just binged watched on Iplayer. Thought it was amazing (usually I find tv adaptations disappointing). Agree with PPs that Mark Rylance wasn’t the Cromwell I’d pictured. In my head he’s more of a stocky, ugly guy that would glass someone in a bar with no hesitation but I thought MR’s portrayal was brilliant. Loved Jessica Raine too.

Another MR fan here….

In the books, Cromwell appeared to be a burly, low-born heavy with a violent past - which I assume was historically accurate, research being Mantel's thing. It's why he was always an outsider in Court, despite being a brilliant strategist and fixer. He certainly knew how to menace people and part of that was his physicality. So I was disappointed in the casting of MR, he's just too elfin and adorable!

Yes, I saw Ben Miles in the plays before watching the telly version, and although the latter is amazing, and Rylance is great, Miles was perfect.

insider here: they’re waiting on dates to align with MR’s availability and Peter Kosminsky’s. Peter Straugn is currently writing the scripts.

'The Other Boleyn Girl' is one of my favourite films, so I think I'll give this a go over the weekend!

Ben Miles is also amazing reading the audiobooks

Agree.

From the books I imagined Cromwell very different physically and was disappointed with the casting. He was good in the role anyway but I have no respect for his anti vax stance.

I'm feeling a bit under the weather and this will be perfect viewing-thanks op for the inspo. I love the books and the series!

So happy to finally find (a few) others who didn't find Mark Rylance was right for Cromwell.

I would have liked David Morrisey, I think he would have been great. (I did love Ben Miles in the plays too. And Lydia Leonard as Anne was brilliant too.)

He’s a brilliant actor (and I’ve seen him on stage a few times too, including in the revival of Jerusalem), but I think he was totally miscast as Cromwell. The physicality is all wrong. Cromwell needs to be bulky and menacing. More Ray Winstone (minus the geezer stuff) than Mark Rylance. MR tries to compensate for his lack of bruiser credentials by doing a different version of threatening, but I think he’s too gentle/cerebral/slender a presence.

The novels are astonishing. I envy those who haven’t read them. RIP Dame Hilary.

Is anyone going to or planning on going to the Wolf Hall weekend in Cadhay in Devon....it sounds like the perfect weekend, a weekend of appreciation for Hilary Mantel and the Wolf Hall Trilogy. Tickets are £400 plus quid 😬😬😬

It's not until June next year!! Suppose some time to save up for it !

This is it

DisplayPurposesOnly, have you seen 'Britannia'?

It is well in the 'enjoyable hokum' category (also very graphic), but I can no longer think of David Morrissey as anything else. If I see him I think he is merely his Roman self disguised and infiltrating other eras (dangled as semi-plausible, by the storyline).

We saw Dr Semmelweis last week. It's fantastic. Really fascinating subject too.
I became a bit of a Jerusalem groupie last year. I saw the original production in 2011 and it knocked me sideways. When they brought it back last year I was thrilled and queued up for day seats quite a lot (£15 for front row!). Mackenzie Crook wonderful also.
I agree about Claire Foy. You could feel the terror through the blindfold. Bring on series two.

Massage crush 😂
In my dreams!

Only one mention of Damian Lewis 😥 - I watched this for DL and DL only. It was very good though, admittedly.

He is an excellent Henry. Have you been to one of his concerts yet? We've seen him twice. He's very good. The first time Mark Strong and David Morrissey were there which made it hard to concentrate.
We thought he should have played 'I'm Henry The Eighth I am'.

I came across this thread while looking to see if there were any about the Dr Semmelweis play. I have to say I was quite disappointed in it. It all seemed a bit over-indulgent, as if Rylance and the director were over-impressed with how Artistic with a capital A they were being. And I really wanted Rylance to react to an important discovery by doing something other than shouting and walking around the stage.

Am going to see it tomorrow! I hope I like it better.