Tim Roth set to replace Ian McShane in Last King of the Cross on Paramount+
Tim Roth is intended to replace Ian McShane in the Australian drama series Paramount+, Last King of the Cross. McShane, who played dead wood antagonist Al Swearengen on HBO, dropped out due to health issues, according to Deadline.
Originally cast in the role in March, McShane “withdrew due to health issues”. Producer, Marc Fennessy, addressed the McShane outlet, saying: “It is unfortunate that Ian cannot join us, and we wish him a speedy recovery. We’re so thrilled to have the super-brilliant Tim Roth join our cast as Ezra and can’t wait to see him bring another unforgettable character to life.
The role of “crafty and very famous” Ezra Shipman is taken over by Roth who is known for his work with the writer and director, Quentin Tarantino, in movies like reservoir dogs, Pulp Fiction, and The Hateful Eight. The character, Shipman, is a successful and feared underworld boss of a nightclub in Sydney’s King’s Cross, who accepts the end of his legacy, where John Ibrahim (Lincoln Younes) and his brother Sam enter.
Deadline describes the new drama series as “an operatic tale of two brothers, Sam and John Ibrahim, who organize the streets but become lost in their rise to power.” Roth will play the antagonist, “the most powerful and feared man in Sydney”, who takes Ibrahim as his successor.
Filming of Last King of the Cross is currently underway in Sydney. It is produced by Helium Pictures and written and directed by Kieran Darcy-Smith. Roth and Younes will be joined by Tess Haubrich (spider head, Alien: Pact), Callan Mulvey (300: Birth of an Empire, Captain America: The Winter Soldier), Claude Jabbour (Stateless, On the ropes), Maria Tran (Tracer, echo 8), Matt Nable (Riddick, Arrow), Damian Walshe-Hurlant (Underbelly, the reef).
Read the official synopsis of Last King of the Cross below:
Based on John Ibrahim’s best-selling autobiography, Last King of the Cross is a lyrical story of two brothers, Sam and John Ibrahim who organize the streets but become lost in their rise to power. The drama traces John Ibrahim’s rise from a poor immigrant with no education, no money and no prospects, to Australia’s most infamous nightclub mogul in Sydney’s Kings Cross – a mini-Atlantic City, barely a half mile long with all forms of crime on offer.
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