All We Know About The Harry Lawtey Led Biopic, Mr Burton
From his role as Robert in the HBO financial drama, Industry, to appearing in Joker: Folie à Deux, Harry Lawtey is definitely an actor on the rise. And now he’s starring in a new biopic film about screen legend Richard Burton, which looks like an intriguing watch.
Lawtey plays the seven-time Oscar-nominated Welsh actor in his early years, alongside Toby Jones (Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny). Here’s all you need to know about the upcoming biopic:
What is Mr Burton about?
The real-life Richard Burton became a Hollywood icon, appearing in films like Cleopatra, The Longest Day and Nineteen Eighty-Four, was married to Elizabeth Taylor and was considered one of the best actors of his generation, despite personal issues. But Lawtey is taking on the role of the film star before all of that: set in the early 1940s, Mr Burton follows the actor as a schoolboy, living in the Welsh town of Port Talbot. His father is a miner, and his family doesn’t have much money, leaving a distracted and bored Richard Jenkins (his birth name) finding it hard to know what to do with life.
Richard has ambitions to become an actor as he discovers a passion for drama, but given his background and the hurdles of wartime Britain, it seems like it can only ever be a dream. But that all changes when a teacher at his school, Phillip Burton (Jones), notices his interest and talent in drama and decides to tutor him. Under the wing of his teacher, Richard begins to flourish as a young actor, with extra support and guidance from landlady Ma Smith (played by Lesley Manville).
Richard would eventually take the surname of his teacher with him in his Hollywood career, but as explored in Mr Burton, the reality of his background as a working-class boy from Wales presents a lofty obstacle to Richard before he can make it. The film will also delve into the beginnings of the drinking issues that would dog the future screen legend’s career, even as he had begun to break into the acting world as “Richard Burton.”
Filming for the upcoming biopic took place last year, with the cast also including Aimee-Ffion Edwards (Peaky Blinders), Steffan Rhodri (Gavin and Stacey) and Aneurin Barnard (Dunkirk). An official trailer has been released, which you can watch below, and the film is set to release in the UK on 4th April 2025, marking 100 years since Richard Burton’s birth.
