Posted 09.18.11 by BrentJS One of the most controversial theories in the field of literature — that William Shakespeare, widely considered to be the greatest writer in the English language, was not the actual author of the works he has become famous for having written — lies at the heart of producer-director Roland Emmerich's (10,000 B.C., 2012) new historical thriller, Anonymous. The movie, written by John Orloff (A Mighty Heart), explores the theory first proposed by English schoolteacher J. Thomas Looney in his book Shakespeare Identified (1920) that the 17th Earl of Oxford, Edward de Vere (Rhys Ifans), was the actual literary genius, with Shakespeare (Rafe Spall) simply a hired stand-in. Why would de Vere not want to take credit for his brilliant writing and how did Shakespeare come into the picture? The two new preview clips from the movie that were recently released by Columbia Pictures answer precisely those questions.
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