''Boudica'' (released in the United States as ''Warrior Queen'') is a 2003 British
biographical
A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...
-
historical
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
television film
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...
about the queen of the
Iceni
The Iceni ( , ) or Eceni were a Brittonic tribe of eastern Britain during the Iron Age and early Roman era. Their territory included present-day Norfolk and parts of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, and bordered the area of the Corieltauvi to the we ...
tribe,
Boudica
Boudica or Boudicca (, known in Latin chronicles as Boadicea or Boudicea, and in Welsh as ()), was a queen of the ancient British Iceni tribe, who led a failed uprising against the conquering forces of the Roman Empire in AD 60 or 61. She ...
. It stars
Alex Kingston
Alexandra Elizabeth Kingston (born 11 March 1963) is an English actress. Active from the early 1980s, Kingston became noted for her television work in both Britain and the US in the 1990s, including her regular role as Dr. Elizabeth Corday in ...
,
Steven Waddington
Steven Waddington (born 30 December 1967) is an English film and television actor. He is best known for his supporting role in Michael Mann's ''The Last of the Mohicans''.
Early life
Waddington was born in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, the ...
and
Emily Blunt
Emily Olivia Leah Blunt (born 23 February 1983) is a British actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for three British Academy Film Awards. ...
in her film debut.
Premise
Boudica
Boudica or Boudicca (, known in Latin chronicles as Boadicea or Boudicea, and in Welsh as ()), was a queen of the ancient British Iceni tribe, who led a failed uprising against the conquering forces of the Roman Empire in AD 60 or 61. She ...
, the Warrior Queen of Britain, leads her tribe into rebellion against the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...
and the mad Emperor of Rome
Nero
Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...
.
Production
![boudiccastatue](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Boudiccastatue.jpg)
The film used locations in the United Kingdom and Romania. The Boudica statue by
Thomas Thornycroft
Thomas Thornycroft (19 May 1815 – 30 August 1885) was an English sculptor and engineer.
Biography
Thornycroft was born at Great Tidnock, near Gawsworth, Cheshire, the eldest son of John Thornycroft, a farmer. He was educated at Congleton ...
near
Westminster Pier
Westminster Millennium Pier is a pier on the River Thames, in the City of Westminster in London, UK. It is operated by London River Services and served by various river transport and cruise operators. It is located next to Westminster Bridge o ...
,
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, was used for the film's closing scenes in modern-day London. In Romania, the
MediaPro Studios
Bucharest Film Studios (Media Pro Studios) in Romania is Eastern Europe's largest and longest established film studios with a tradition in cinema spanning almost 70 years. The complex is located in the town of Buftea, 20 kilometers north-west o ...
, Bucharest, were used.
The film has been released as ''A Rainha da Era do Bronze'' in Brazil, as ''La Reina de los guerreros'' in Argentina (video title) and as ''Warrior Queen'' in the United States.
According to the movie, King Prasutagus of the Icenii died at about the same time as the Roman emperor Claudius. However, the latter died in 54 AD, while the former died in 61 AD.
Cast
*
Alex Kingston
Alexandra Elizabeth Kingston (born 11 March 1963) is an English actress. Active from the early 1980s, Kingston became noted for her television work in both Britain and the US in the 1990s, including her regular role as Dr. Elizabeth Corday in ...
as
Boudica
Boudica or Boudicca (, known in Latin chronicles as Boadicea or Boudicea, and in Welsh as ()), was a queen of the ancient British Iceni tribe, who led a failed uprising against the conquering forces of the Roman Empire in AD 60 or 61. She ...
*
Steven Waddington
Steven Waddington (born 30 December 1967) is an English film and television actor. He is best known for his supporting role in Michael Mann's ''The Last of the Mohicans''.
Early life
Waddington was born in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, the ...
as King
Prasutagus
Prasutagus was king of a British Celtic tribe called the Iceni, who inhabited roughly what is now Norfolk, in the 1st century AD. He is best known as the husband of Boudica.
Prasutagus may have been one of the eleven kings who surrendered to Clau ...
*
Emily Blunt
Emily Olivia Leah Blunt (born 23 February 1983) is a British actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for three British Academy Film Awards. ...
as Isolda
*
Leanne Rowe
Leanne Rowe (born 1982) is an English actress and singer, known for portraying Nancy in '' Oliver Twist'', May Moss in ''Lilies'' and Baby in '' Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story on Stage''.
Background
Rowe is from Brentwood, Essex. She has two ...
as Siora
*
Ben Faulks
Benjamin Faulks (born 13 March 1979) is a British actor and presenter. He is best known for co-creating the CBeebies television series Mr Bloom's Nursery.
He was educated at Richard Lander School, St. Austell College and Bretton Hall School o ...
as Connach
*
Hugo Speer
Hugo Alexander Speer (born 17 March 1968) is an English actor and director.
Early life and education
Hugo Speer was born in Harrogate in the then West Riding of Yorkshire and educated at Harrogate Grammar School. He studied acting at the Arts E ...
as Dervalloc
*
Gary Lewis as Magior the Shaman
*
Alex Hassell
Alexander Stephen Hassell (born 7 September 1980) is an English actor. He is co-founder of The Factory Theatre Company.
Early life and education
Hassell was born in Southend, England, the youngest of four, to a vicar. He trained at the Central S ...
as Roman Officer
*
James Clyde as Roman Sergeant
*
Angus Wright as Severus
*
Steve John Shepherd as Catus
*
Jack Shepherd as
Claudius
Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusu ...
* Gideon Turner as Didius
*
Frances Barber
Frances Barber (née Brookes, born 13 May 1958) is an English actress. She received Olivier Award nominations for her work in the plays '' Camille'' (1985), and ''Uncle Vanya'' (1997). Her film appearances include three collaborations with Gar ...
as
Agrippina the Younger
Julia Agrippina (6 November AD 15 – 23 March AD 59), also referred to as Agrippina the Younger, was Roman empress from 49 to 54 AD, the fourth wife and niece of Emperor Claudius.
Agrippina was one of the most prominent women in the Julio-Claud ...
*
Andrew-Lee Potts
Andrew-Lee Potts (born 29 October 1979) is an English actor and director. He is best known for his role as the quirky Connor Temple on ITV's British science fiction programme '' Primeval'' and Space's Canadian spinoff '' Primeval: New World'' ...
as
Nero
Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...
*
Theodor Danetti
Theodor Danetti (; August 23, 1926 – January 16, 2016) was a Romanian stage and film actor.
Life
Danetti was born in 1926 in Corabia. He graduated from Caragiale Academy of Theatrical Arts and Cinematography in 1955. He was distributed to t ...
as Master of Ceremonies
*
Cristina Serban as Iceni Mother
* Alin Olteanu as Iceni Warrior
*
Emil Hostina
Emil or Emile may refer to:
Literature
*'' Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
* ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life
*'' Emil and the Detecti ...
as Arcon
*
Claudiu Bleonț
Claudiu Bleonț (; born 17 August 1959) is a Romanian film and theatre actor, comedian, television celebrity, and television presenter at TVR1, for the show ''Duminica în familie''. He is known in Romania not only for acting, but also for his im ...
as Ossac
* Claudiu Trandafir as Roman Horseman
* Ion Haiduc as Captain of the Guard
* Nicodim Ungureanu as Roman Guard
* Bogdan Dumitrescu as Roman Guard
*
Michael Feast
Michael Feast (born 25 November 1946) is an English actor of stage and screen. He was born in Brighton, and trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama. He performed in the original 1968 London production of ''Hair''. He worked several ti ...
as
Suetonius
Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; c. AD 69 – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire.
His most important surviving work is a set of biographies ...
*
Kara Tointon
Kara Louise Tointon (born 5 August 1983) is an English actress, known for portraying the role of Dawn Swann in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. In 2010, she won the BBC competition series ''Strictly Come Dancing'', and in 2015, she appeared as ...
as
Poppaea
Poppaea Sabina (AD 30 – 65), also known as Ollia, was a Roman empress as the second wife of the Emperor Nero. She had also been wife to the future emperor Otho. The historians of antiquity describe her as a beautiful woman who used intrigues ...
* Jack Galloway as
aide-de-camp to Suetonius
*
Dominic Cooper
Dominic Edward Cooper (born 2 June 1978) is an English actor known for his portrayal of comic book characters Jesse Custer on the AMC show ''Preacher'' (2016–2019) and young Howard Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with appearances ...
* Marian Iacob as Horribulus (uncredited)
* Dorjn Zaharja as Tysonius (uncredited)
See also
*
List of historical drama films This is an index of lists of historical films.
By country of origin
* List of Estonian war films
* List of Polish war films
* List of Romanian historical films
* List of Russian historical films
* List of Vietnamese historical films
By era
* ...
*
List of films set in ancient Rome
This article lists films set in the city of Rome during the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic, or the Roman Empire. The films only partly set in Rome are so noted.
The founding of Rome
Films set during the founding of Rome include:
The Roman K ...
References
External links
*
*
*
''Warrior Queen''PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
Masterpiece Theatre entry.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boudica (Film)
2003 television films
2003 films
War epic films
Incest in film
Classical war films
Romanian war drama films
English-language Romanian films
Films set in 1st-century Roman Empire
Fiction set in Roman Britain
Films shot in Romania
Films shot in England
British biographical films
Cultural depictions of Boudica
Depictions of Nero on television
Cultural depictions of Poppaea Sabina
Cultural depictions of Agrippina the Younger
2000s English-language films
British war drama films
2000s British films
British drama television films