Closer's Hinds and Private Lives' Duncan Cast in HBO's "Rome"

By Andrew Gans
March 18, 2004

Ciaran Hinds, who won a 1999 Theatre World Award for his performance in Closer, has been cast in a new HBO series.

Variety reports that Hinds will play Gaius Julius Caesar in the epic series "Rome," which is scheduled to debut in 2005. A co-production between HBO and the BBC, the cast will also feature Lindsay Duncan, who garnered a 2002 Tony Award for her work in the recent Privates Lives revival. The "Rome" ensemble will also include Kevin McKidd, Ray Stevenson, James Purefoy, Polly Walker, Kerry Condon, Ben Whishaw, Indira Varma and Aaron Johnson.

Michael Apted — of "The World Is Not Enough" fame — has signed on to direct the first three episodes of "Rome." The series is being produced by Bruno Heller, William J. MacDonald, John Milius, Anne Thomopoulos and Gareth Neame.

Ciaran Hinds made his Broadway debut as Larry in Patrick Marber's Closer. He has played leading roles with the Glasgow Citizens' Theatre, the Field Day Company, the Abbey Theatre, the Dublin Theatre and the Druid Theatre. The actor appeared in Assassins and Richard III at the Donmar Warehouse and Simpatico at the Royal Court. For the Royal Shakespeare Company he played Mortimer in Edward II, Achilles in Troilus and Cressida and Boucicault in Two Shakespearean Actors. His Royal National Theatre credits include Closer and Machinal. Hinds' many film credits include "The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover," "December Bride," "Circle of Friends," "Some Mother's Son," "Oscar and Lucinda," "The Life of Stuff," "Excalibur," "Persuasion" and "The Lost Son." He will also be seen as Firmin in the film of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera.