“The Great” - Starring Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult Who is Watching?

Whats with the rush of Catherine the Great shows all of a sudden? Is autocratic sluttyness back in?

Looks like a bit of a comedy spoof of The Crown.

Catherine the Great was a Polish woman who became empress of Russia, and she’s played by an American actress speaking with a British accent.*

I actually found the trailer intriguing. I can imagine some opportunity for interesting comedic spins on Ekaterina. And if making fun of Russian history antagonizes Uncle Vlad? I can live with that.

Elle fanning? You've got to be kidding me. They need an actress who projects power, cunning and fierceness not a wispy little girl. They might as well have cast Taylor Swift.

R1 Why not? She was a cool lady!

I've watched three episodes.

It's great fun.

But it's definitely violent.

Not watched yet but seen this link from an earlier thread

r8 I feel their historical marriage would have been a lot more successful if Peter III had looked like Hoult.

I’ve been binge watching. I’m really enjoying it!

[quote] Looks like a bit of a comedy spoof of The Crown.

Nope.

Hulu’s The Great is a gorgeously delirious mashup of history

The latest in a line of highly irreverent period pieces, Hulu’s The Great takes inspiration from its Russian empress namesake and, more generally, the lives of brilliant women bound to exceedingly mediocre men. The caustically funny miniseries is a decidedly ahistorical romp; while The Great does construct traditional power structures and settings, creator Tony McNamara’s (co-writer of The Favourite) attitude toward a faithful recreation of late 18th-century Russia is neatly summarized by a 19-year-old Catherine (Elle Fanning) waving a bloody middle finger. Underneath its abundance of wit is a story of ambition, and where we allow it to be nurtured.

McNamara and his co-executive producer Marian Macgowan take many liberties to maintain a cogent narrative, even pruning a generation from the Russian monarch family tree. Throughout the series, Peter II (in reality, Peter III, who abdicated in 1762 after a six-month reign) waxes semi-eloquent about his father Peter The Great, while always suffering in comparison. His misguided attempts to continue his father’s work of modernization include banning beards for being physical representations of the old Russia. Played by a gleefully disinhibited Nicholas Hoult, Peter is malicious, mercurial; capable of real depth while being completely out of his depth. He has considerable power, but no vision . . .

I’m ready for Nicholas Hoult dong now, please.

Although I’ve been mildly obsessed with Nick Hoult for years, this looks...meh.

This tempts me to finally look into Hulu. Catherine the Great’s part of Russian history is enthralling to me.

It’s a lot of fun, occasionally disturbingly violent, and Fanning is terrific.

Was that Emily Dickinson series ever released? I think it was supposed to be on Hulu, too, yes?

It has a Little Women meets Blue Velvet kind of vibe

crossed with Monty Python meets Yorgos Lanthimos

I'll stick with The Scarlet Empress thanks.

Hoult looks beautiful in pearls.

r16, that's on Apple TV+.

Nicholas is gorgeous, I want to see his cock

[quote]Catherine the Great was a Polish woman

Nope, she was Prussian, not Polish

Stop contaminating others with your own ignorance.

Oh, and her husband was the grandson of Peter the Great, not the son.

I watched three episodes Friday, and while I will finish the season, it's not pulling me in. I read that the latter episodes are better.

R23 She was from the part of Prussia that is now called Poland, Penelope, you compulsive one-upper.

Are you really that stupid? In 1729 when she was born, Poland was a separate country to the east of Prussia.

Prussia was not Poland and she spoke German, not Polish

The Prussian city in which she was born became part of Germany in 1871 and was not transferred to Poland until post WWII, 2 centuries after her birth.

R26 Ha. Your temper is kind of amazing. Do you go into rages over things like this in real life? You must have a lot of friends.

I started watching it but it’s so self-satisfied with its cheekiness and Nicholas Hoult looks like he’s going to mug his way through this thing. It wants to be like “The Favourite” but Yorgos Lathimos (sp) succeeds with his absurdist comedies because his actors play it very dry.

Nicholas has a smelly uncut cock.

I want to see Nicholas nude in this series, wearing only his powdered wig.

[quote]I'll stick with The Scarlet Empress thanks.

I'll check out "The Great", but it'll be tough to beat the fabulous Marlene Dietrich as Catherine. That scene where she destroys Peter's insulting mistress with just a 30-second silent look was drag queen worthy!

This is wonderful. It’s an addictive, comical, dark dive into the minds of the royals of that era.

Fanning and Hoult are every bit as good as you’ve heard. Fanning, in particular, is astonishing as Catherine.

Without this thread I would never have seen this show. I’m generally not interested in period pieces, especially if the characters need a good shower. No bother here.

Thanks to the OP and everyone else.

Is it like Harlots?

I’m not really liking it at all but I’m invested enough time wise to see it to the end.

Hoult has a nice ass, but I preferred the hairy ass of Leo.

Leo is hot. I love a swarthy pocket gay.

Great show, I’m about to start episode 4. Please don’t kill Leo.

Oriol reminds me of Tom Hulce in “Mozart.”

Some of you don’t enjoy the humor, understood, but I think it is really well done.

“I’ll just ask it, there’s no other way. Have you ever fucked a horse?”

“How does one even a fuck a horse?”

“Can’t explain it but I can draw it.”

Sacha Dhawan (Orlov) is really handsome, outside of the wig and period drag.

Is the religious man with the long beard supposed to be Rasputin?

Smart, hot gaze at r39. Damn.

Fucking Nazis! The lot of you!

Elle! Fetch my smokes.

“I don’t like eating moose lips,“ crying, “but everyone is going on about them.”

Hoult is so damn sexy. I want to eat his ass all night long.

Arial to Orlo, about Bishop Archie’s choice::

“He is a bishop, that is his job.

As it is your job to be an annoying, unfucked insect.”

10/10

Leo.

Leo is my spirit buttplug.

It's the tv version of what Marie Antoinette and The Favorite did. Not sure that's a whole series without significant plot.

I fucking hate this series and finally bailed on it. Go ahead and come at me DL.

Or maybe others agree this show sucks.

It should be great, but the execution sucks. Same with the Catherine the Great HBO version.

I’m quite enjoying it.

So, this series is from the writer who did "The Favorite?" Okay, so it's like what Julian Fellowes did with "Downton Abbey," i.e. recreate his success from "Gosford Park."

It looks like great fun, but not historical.

Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst was no great beauty. Nor was Peter III. Small pox can really mar your face. BTW, she was a German princess, not Polish. Anhalt-Zerbst was a minor German principality.

I watched three episodes yesterday. It seems to me that I'm watching the Trump White House as we see the court swirling around Peter and applauding at everything the boorish creep says. Huzzah! There's no difference, really. Bad ideas received with acclaim by his toadies. Everyone frightened to look up or speak. People near the emperor being abused, physically and psychologically. Even the conflicted relationship with the deceased parents who abused him when he was young.

I don't see any parallel to Trump's wives and children. At least, not yet. But as for the rest of it, I think the writers are, at least in part, satirizing the Trump White House.

[quote] It looks like great fun, but not historical.

Mary! Thank you for your wisdom and insight (said no one).

So far, I'm only in the first episode, but they are doing a great job at showing how Russia has always been a backward nation trying to put forward a look of sophistication. But it is really just a shallow facade. Like how the women of court have the latest Parisian fashions, but don't know how to correctly wear them.

It's stupid. Only SJWs will like it.

Catherine was one of the most talented autocrats ever. She also had a lot of pain and struggle throughout her life. Despite that, she identified with horse hung, which was hard to encounter in the transition from rococo to neoclassicism. So at a time when gay men were oppressed beyond belief, they identified with her preferences and she theirs.

I didn’t hate it. I understand they made it clear it was only loosely based on a true story; but some of the historical inaccuracies bugged the shit out of me. I especially hated how they kept referring to Peter The Great as the Tzar’s father and having his Aunt Elizabeth alive.

fantastic show

Very enjoyable and good eye candy.

It does bother me, too, a bit that Peter the Great is presented as this Czar's father. It doesn't seen necessary.

I really like it. it reminds me of the Hannibal series in that it's beyond beautiful and moderately improbable and I don't care. I am however confused about Ivan. why was he locked away in the series?

Any nudity?

I wanted to like this show, but I just don't. After three episodes, I quit. I like the actors, and sometimes it's fun, but overall, it's just stupid.

I was initially interested in watching it because I thought it would be similar to "The Favourite". This show has none of that film's wit and intelligence. It's as if the screenwriter gave the script over to a twelve year old, who gleefully added a bunch of "fucks" to it. I struggled to finish the third episode.

R63, some delicious male ass.

I was prepared to hate this because of the historical inaccuracies, and schlocky humor, but I binged 'til four o'clock this morning. I couldn't stop myself; it was as if I had found a secret guilty pleasure. The writing is so much better than The Windsors, The Royals and The Favourite. Elle Fanning is beautiful. Phoebe Fox is very good as Mariel. Sacha Dhawan as Orlo is magnificent, and I could go without sleep forever to gaze at Sebastian de Souza.

Maybe lockdown has made me intellectually lazy, because this show's comic wit is decidedly lowbrow, but it's fun, and a much welcomed diversion from the "fuck my life" attitude of late.

I giggled at the Chernobyl children's choir 'they're glowing'

Sounds like the only thing "great" about this is Nicholas Hoult's naked ass!

The guy who played Brian May in Bohemian Rhapsody is in this. Does anybody recall seeing his bum? I think he's cute.

Loved it.

If you don't watch it for historical accuracies, it's very bawdy and laugh out loud funny. Acting and costumes first rate.

I lasted about 15 minutes of one episode. They kept saying "fuck," she was perky, he was prissy, and....no. Just no. And if they also mix in ugly violence to spice things up, as people have said....a bigger no.

Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Loved the entire series. Who cares that it is mostly made up. It's funny and thrilling!

I am a Fanning fan. Odd how she looks better in motion. What a cute nose too.

It's total fantasy, but it's fun fantasy. Sebastian De Souza is so hot and has been rumored to be gay for years. I don't think he even beards.

Compulsively enjoyable! Highly recommended!

More fun than watching two fattards bickering like rabid bitches in this thread!!!

It got renewed? I thought it was a miniseries.

Guess I will have to watch it now.

The costumes are beautiful, at least.

I’m looking forward to season 2.

The tone of this was fun, but the historical inaccuracies for no reason really bugged me.