Cate Blanchett will reprise her role as the Virgin Queen in a multi-million dollar sequel to her Oscar nominated 1998 film Elizabeth.
Elizabeth: The Golden Age will tell the story of the Tudor monarch’s tempestuous relationship with Sir Walter Raleigh, suggesting Queen Elizabeth I was infatuated with the adventurer.
The first Elizabeth film was nominated for seven Oscars, including best picture and best actress for Blanchett.
Blanchett has since won an Oscar, taking home best supporting actress this year for her convincing portrayal of Katharine Hepburn in the Martin Scorcese directed The Aviator.
It is believed shooting on for the new film will begin in Lithuania later this year with a budget of between $50 and $60 million.
The Golden Age will be Director Skekhar Kapur’s third British period drama, following the Paramount-Miramax film, The Four Feathers, which starred Heath Ledger.
Writer Michael Hirst, who penned the movie’s script, will work with Kapur on the sequel.
British biographer Jane Dunn, who wrote Elizabeth and Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens, welcomed Blanchett’s casting.
“I loved what Cate did in the first film because I think she was extremely moving in the lead role,” she said.
“Having said that, the history in the first film was bunkum. The remarkable thing about Elizabeth was not that she jumped into bed with every man she met but that she so effectively resisted temptation.”
Blanchett has had an extremely busy year, having just completed production on Babel in Morocco with Brad Pitt and Gael Garcia Bernal.
Already this year she has appeared in Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic alongside Bill Murray, Owen Wilson and Anjelica Huston.
Based in the UK with husband Andrew Upton and her two children, Blanchett returned to Australia earlier this year to shoot Little Fish, a film based in Sydney.
That film be release later in the year and also stars Noni Hazlehurst, Sam Neill and Martin Henderson.
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