I’m not saying I personally manifested The Great into existence, but just three months ago, I did write about my desire to see a show about the early life of Catherine the Great and publish it on the internet.
Still, I have to hand it to Hulu. The trailer for The Great far surpasses even my great expectations.
Elle Fanning stars as young Catherine, who travels from Germany to Russia to marry Tsar Peter III (Nicholas Hoult) in 1762. Naive and sheltered, she’s hoping for a fairy tale marriage, with a charming prince to sweep her off her feet. Instead, she gets “an idiot,” whose favorite pastime is throwing bottles at the wall and shouting “huzzah” at the top of his lungs. When he’s not conducting science experiments involving dogs and parachutes, Peter is actively seeking out ways to slight his wife, and Catherine soon realizes that if she wants to fulfill her destiny and achieve something great, she’ll have to do it on her own.
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It’s a lesson that Fanning, who is co-producing the project also had to learn. “I had to go in the rooms and pitch to all of the different studios or streaming companies before we got Hulu,” she told Marie Claire earlier this week. “That was daunting. All these guys staring at you.”
Her co-producer and writer Tony MacNamara also wrote Yorgos Lanthimos’ Oscar-nominated dark historical oddity The Favourite. The Great definitely echoes the former’s vibes, with a dash of Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, and a hint of Apple +’s semi-anachronistic sensation Dickinson added for good measure.
The Great premieres on Hulu May 15, 2020, giving you plenty of time to brush up on your Russian history. Huzzah!