Naomi Watts will play legendary ballerina Margot Fonteyn in upcoming movie Margot + Rudi, with Hamburg Ballet’s Principal Dancer Alexandr Trush on board to play Rudolf Nureyev.
Naomi Watts will play legendary ballerina Margot Fonteyn in upcoming movie Margot + Rudi.
The 57-year-old actress will star opposite Alexandr Trush, the Hamburg Ballet’s Principal Dancer as Rudolf Nureyev in director Anthony Fabian’s upcoming romantic drama, which is described as an “electrifying true story” about the dance “legends”.
According to Deadline, the official synopsis for Margot + Rudi reads: “She is 42, the greatest ballerina in the West, and sensing her career is over; he is 23, a rebellious Soviet defector—magnetic, explosive, unstoppable. Together, they ignite the stage and become icons of the Swinging Sixties.
“Margot is reborn by Rudi’s wild energy, but their bond is complicated by her marriage and his affair with another dancer. To preserve what they have, they will risk everything for one defining ballet—because the only place they can truly be together… is on stage.”
The movie will also star Succession’s Harriet Walter, Can You Ever Forgive Me? actor Richard E. Grant, and A Better Life’s Demian Bichir.
Margot + Rudi is written by Girl with a Pearl Earring’s Olivia Hetreed and is set to shoot in October.
Arthur Pita is on board as choreographer, while BAFTA-winning costume designer Fotini Dimou and hair and make-up designer Karen Hartley Thomas are also part of the creative team.
Meanwhile, Naomi previously admitted that she took a big risk by making the switch to Hollywood.
The movie star – who was born in the UK, before moving to Australia in her teens – told the Guardian newspaper: “I had $2,000 to my name and one phone number belonging to a friend of my mother’s. And I was friendly but not yet besties with Nicole Kidman. We’d worked together on Flirting, and we knew each other peripherally from back home in Australia. We became much better acquainted once I moved here. And over time I made more friends and built a community.
“The point is: I was brave back then. So I can be brave now when it comes to taking risks in life.”
Naomi also stressed the importance of working with talented directors who share similar values.
She said: “Working with people whose values you share makes everything so much easier.
“I believe that film is ultimately a director’s medium, so I’ve always done my best to find directors I trust and to put myself in their capable hands. Of course, it’s a collaborative experience, but the director is the main storyteller. As an actor, you have to give yourself over to their point of view as much as possible.
“You don’t always have that luxury when the A-list directors stop calling – which has been my experience for years at a time. Maybe that’s because I’ve had a few bombs along the way. More than a handful!”
Naomi Watts to portray ballet legend Margot Fonteyn in Margot + Rudi
