Ian McKellen & Anthony Hopkins Will Join Forces for New Film Adaptation of The Dresser

Now that’s a power couple! Ian McKellen and Anthony Hopkins will join forces in a BBC film adaptation of the 1980 drama The Dresser. According to The Telegraph, Richard Eyre will direct, with original playwright Ronald Harwood penning the screenplay. A timeline for the film has yet to be announced.

The Dresser follows a revered and aging Shakespearean actor-manager (Hopkins) and his assistant (McKellen) during World War II. The play premiered in the West End in 1980 before coming to Broadway the following year. It was adapted into a film in 1983.

McKellen earned a Tony Award for his performance in Amadeus and a nomination for Ian McKellen: Acting Shakespeare. The X-Men and Lord of the Rings star most recently appeared on Broadway in the repertory productions of No Man’s Land and Waiting for Godot. An Oscar winner for The Silence of the Lambs, Hopkins appeared on the Great White Way in Equus. His additional theater credits include Pravda and Antony and Cleopatra with the U.K.'s National Theatre.