New look at Ben Whishaw's biopic as it confirms Cannes premiere
A new look at Ben Whishaw in new biopic Limonov: The Ballad has been unveiled.
The film, which focuses on real-life Russian writer and dissident Eduard Limonov, has also been confirmed as part of the Cannes Film Festival's In Competition line-up, meaning it will compete for the top Palme d'Or prize.
Ahead of the festival next month, a first official still of Whishaw in character has been released, with the star unrecognisable with shoulder-length hair, sunglasses and a cigarette in his mouth.
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The film from director Kirill Serebrennikov is based on the bestselling 2011 novelised biography Limonov by Emmanuel Carrère, which looks at the life of the controversial figure.
"A revolutionary militant, a thug, an underground writer, a butler to a millionaire in Manhattan," the film's synopsis reads.
"But also a switchblade waving poet, a lover of beautiful women, a warmonger, a political agitator and a novelist who wrote of his own greatness. Eduard Limonov’s life story is a journey through Russia, America and Europe during the second half of the 20th century."
Limonov founded the National Bolshevik Party in Russia, which operated between 1993 and 2007 and has been described as neo-fascist.
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Limonov: The Ballad has been written by Serebrennikov alongside Pawel Pawlikowski and Ben Hopkins, and is also set to star Viktoria Miroshnichenko as Limonov's wife Elena.
Among the other movies announced for Cannes' In Competition line-up are Bird starring Barry Keoghan, Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice with Marvel's Sebastian Stan, Selena Gomez's musical Emilia Perez and Emma Stone's new movie Kinds of Kindness.
Also competing for the Palme d'Or is Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis with Star Wars' Adam Driver and Game of Thrones' Nathalie Emmanuel.
The 2024 Cannes Film Festival will take place between May 14 and 25.
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