Breaking news from Paramount+ this morning, Emmy Award winning actor Ewan McGregor (Trainspotting) for its upcoming U.K drama series A Gentleman in Moscow, an adaptation of Amor Towles’ internationally best-selling novel, which is due to commence production later this year.
McGregor will lead the cast as Count Alexander Rostov who, in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, finds that his gilded past places him on the wrong side of history. Spared immediate execution, he is banished by a Soviet tribunal to an attic room in the opulent Hotel Metropol, threatened with death if he ever sets foot outside again.
As the years pass and some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history unfold outside the hotel’s doors, Rostov’s reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery. As he builds a new life within the walls of the hotel, he discovers the true value of friendship, family and love.
Ewan McGregor, who is also executive producer on the series, said: “It’s an amazing, wonderful story and I am very excited to get to play such a fabulous role.”
The series is produced by eOne in association with VIS, the international studio division of Paramount Global. Showrunner and executive producer Ben Vanstone (The Last Kingdom) also writers the series. It is the first production to come through eOne’s first look deal with Tom Harper’s company Popcorn Storm Pictures. Harper (Peaky Blinders) will also executive produce with Xavier Marchand (Mrs Harris Goes to Paris) and the novel’s writer, New York Times best-selling author Amor Towles.
Since its release, the novel has sold over 4 million copies worldwide, and counts Barack Obama, Tom Hanks and Ann Patchett among its high-profile fans.
On the casting news, Tom Harper said: “The book is a rare and delicious treat and I fell in love with it the moment I picked it up 6 years ago. We are thrilled that Amor entrusted this brilliant team with bringing the Metropol to life and couldn’t be more delighted that Ewan will be playing the Count.”
The series will debut exclusively on Paramount+ internationally, and on Showtime in the U.S.
