It seems there were plenty of Downton Abbey fans in the house when Dan Stevens debuted in The Heiress on Broadway, alongside Jessica Chastain. This was the first time that both Stevens and Chastain had appeared on Broadway. With both actors playing against type, only one appears to have done so convincingly.
The casting of Dan Stevens in the role of Morris Townsend is praised by the Hollywood Reporter’s reviewer David Rooney, who writes “the actor is a savvy casting choice in a part that requires beguiling charm and sufficient sincerity to keep us wondering about his character’s motives” and later adds “Stevens brings such unsullied earnestness to the role that we want to believe in his honest intentions, just as he appears to want the same. Morris is so bewitched by the material comforts of the Slopers’ swanky home on fashionable Washington Square that he seems as much a victim of his desires as the architect of any calculated scheme.”
Jessica Chastain, however, does not seem to have fared so well at the hands of the critics. The same review suggests that, despite her recent run of untouchable success in the world of film, the “underpowered Jessica Chastain (is) hampered by questionable directorial choices, dilutes the emotional impact of this nonetheless compelling melodrama.” Not such great news for Chastain, then, but an excellent Broadway debut for Dan Stevens, who has managed to impress the Downton fans, despite breaking from the confines of his nice-guy TV character.
Read the full review of The Heiress from The Hollywood Reporter
There's a somewhat contrived jauntiness to this blending of fact and fiction that may leave...
Charles Dickens might be one of the most legendary authors in history, but it wasn't...
Thurgood Marshall (Chadwick Boseman) is well known for becoming the first African American Supreme Court...
It's rare to find a movie that so defiantly refuses to be put into a...
This remake of Disney's 1991 classic is remarkably faithful, using present-day digital animation effects to...
Stars Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Josh Gad together with director Bill Condon...
Take a closer look at the cast of 'Beauty and the Beast' in the final...
Norman Oppenheimer is a New York based hustler determined to climb the social ladder and...
To outsiders, the castle which sits on the outskirts of a small town is just...
Disney have released the new teaser trailer for the remake of the much-loved animated film...
Some people are far more important than you might think. For one lowly cobbler, things...
Now in its third instalment, it's clearer than ever that this franchise is based on...