I’ve been keeping an eye out on this project for many months now. It does look as though Daniel Craig’s next film shoot will be his long-gestating passion project “Othello,” which was an off-Broadway play that he starred in.
Craig and Bond producer Barbara Broccoli have been trying very hard to fund this project, for the better part of two years, and their quest to find money — and perhaps a location — has inevitably led them to Qatari financing.
Yes, this is a version of Shakespeare’s “Othello,” but one set in an American barracks in Iraq. A British filing by Broccoli’s Eon Productions, registering a new Othello Film Company Limited, has seemingly confirmed the film. Craig and Broccoli will be bringing the 2016 limited run of the show, which got rave reviews, to the screen.
The rumor is that they secured funding by making a deal with the Qataris to get Broccoli to set part of the next Bond film in Doha. The play’s director, Sam Gold, is set to helm the film version of the play. It’s possible this one might start production next year.
There is now a real possibility that Denzel Washington has joined Craig in the “Othello” cast. The actor is telling Today Show that one of his next films will include a big-screen Shakespeare adaptation of “Othello.” I’d be very surprised if two separate Othello movies are being developed right now.
"I'm only interested in working with the best. I don't know how many more films I'm going to make, probably not that many," Washington told Today. Adding that his next projects include a role in a Steve McQueen film, ‘Black Panther 3,’ and a film version of Othello,
Speaking of, next year, Washington, a Shakespeare fanatic, will return to Broadway in the title role of Othello, a character he previously played at 22 years old. It should also be noted that Washington recently starred in Joel Coen’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth” and earned rave reviews as the ambitious political manipulator, fated to be king.