King Richard III hadn’t gotten a lot of good breaks over the centuries, but he’s about to get the star treatment in an all-new historical film. Hailing from the mind of Stephen Frears, the upcoming US release of IFC’s The Lost King will give audiences a glimpse of how amateur historian Philippa Langley uncovered the remains of the 15th-century monarch under a parking lot in modern-day England, fulfilling a lifelong dream to see one of Shakespeare’s most infamous villains finally redeemed.
In real life, Richard III was born in 1452 and became the king of England in 1483, where he would reign until his death in 1485. Widely regarded as the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet Dynasty, Richard was succeeded by Henry VII after his death at the Battle of Bosworth Field, which also marked the end of the infamous War of the Roses and the conclusion of the Middle Ages in England. In the centuries since his death, time and fiction haven’t exactly been kind to the king, as a majority of people remember him as a hunchbacked, spiteful villain, mostly thanks to Shakespeare’s Richard III, written about a century after the real king’s death.
However, not everyone is content with the villainous image Richard III has gained post-mortem; in 2004, amateur historian and self-proclaimed “Ricardian” Philippa Langley set out on a quest to not only locate Richard III’s remains which had been lost to time but to earn him some redemption and dignity in the afterlife as well. She would find her answers in the relatively small city of Leicester, England, where sources said Richard III’s tomb was lost; while visiting a small, private parking lot across the street from where everyone else was looking, Philippa has said she was struck with a “strange sensation.”
“My heart was pounding and my mouth was dry – it was a feeling of raw excitement tinged with fear,” she told BBC in 2022. “I knew in my innermost being that Richard’s body lay here. Moreover, I was certain that I was standing right on top of his grave.”
In 2012, after eight years of research and a year of battling for permission and funding, Langley and her assembled archaeological team began excavating that parking lot in Leicester and would be able to find their answers once and for all as they found human remains, which were later tested and confirmed to be none other than Richard III. In 2015, Richard’s remains were reentered at Leicester Cathedral and Philippa Langley was appointed as a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, or MBE, by Queen Elizabeth II.
Philippa Langley and the Dramatization of ‘The Lost King’
Development of The Lost King, a somewhat-comedic dramatization of Langley’s search for Richard III, began in 2020, with Langley herself being played by Sally Hawkins (Godzilla: King of the Monsters) alongside Steve Coogan as Philippa’s estranged ex-husband John, Mark Addy as an archaeologist from the University of Leicester Archaeological Services, and Lee Ingleby as Richard Taylor, the university’s dismissive registrar. Harry Lloyd would play an apparition of Richard III himself who followed Philippa around during the events of the film.
Directed by Stephen Frears and written by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope, The Lost King made its initial debut at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, with its UK release following shortly after. However, with the film making its United States debut today – March 24th, 2023 – Phillippa Langley still only has good things to say about The Lost King and how it portrayed Richard III.
According to Deadline, Langley thinks the crew behind the film “nailed it” with regard to her archaeological journey, especially by “inserting King Richard into the film at key moments to urge [her] on despite setbacks and snubs by the academic establishment”, giving audiences a contrast between the “Shakespearean Richard” seen at the start of the film and “historical Richard walking with [Langley].” Film critics seem to agree, with a Deadline review of The Lost King calling the film “a modest but thoroughly captivating tale” where “an unlikely nobody suddenly becomes something akin to a folk hero.”
With its release to US audiences, IFC will reportedly be distributing The Lost King to over 750 theaters nationwide, so find The Lost King and experience Philippa Langley’s archaeological journey for yourself at a theater near you.