Casting Call: Travels of Lady Hester Stanhope
In which we suggest who should star in the next big adaptation, remake, or historical film.
Lady Hester Stanhope was a fascinating figure. Born in 1776 to the 3rd Earl of Stanhope and his first wife, Lady Hester defied the gender norms of the 19th-century British aristocracy. She never married and left London for the Middle East at the age of 30. Once abroad, she traveled extensively, conducted the first archeological dig in Palestine, and eventually settled in a series of monasteries in present-day Lebanon, where she took in refugees.
But Lady Hester was an oddball. Her dig in Palestine was a treasure hunt inspired by a Medieval Italian document and when she unearthed a seven-foot statue instead of a pot of gold, she had the statue destroyed.
According to The Playlist, a new Lady Hester biopic is in the works, with the team behind the King’s Speech producing. We have a few ideas about who should star.
Casting Call runs every Friday. For more, click here.
