ROYAL ROLE: Researcher Philippa Langley says she has persuaded English actor Richard Armitage to star in a film she has written about Richard III. Main picture: Gordon Terris
Philippa Langley finished a screenplay about the medieval monarch's life last year, months after she led archaeologists to a spot where a skeleton believed to be his was found.
Ms Langley, 50, who is secretary of the Scottish branch of the Richard III Society, came up with the idea of the search during a meeting of the group in February 2009.
Results of tests are to be revealed over the next day or so, conclusively proving whether the remains are indeed those of the last Plantagenet monarch.
Ms Langley contacted Armitage, 41, who plays dwarf leader Thorin Oakenshield in Peter Jackson's blockbuster, and says he agreed to take on the role. Armitage has also starred in a number of television series including Spooks, Robin Hood and the Vicar of Dibley.
Richard III was killed at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 by the forces of Henry Tudor, effectively ending the 30-year-long War of the Roses.
He is often regarded as an ugly, hunchbacked tyrant, but Langley believes history has judged him unfairly and the popular view of him stems from the Tudors, who were keen to damage his reputation in order to justify his killing.
Her screenplay presents a sympathetic portrait of him, underlining his accomplishments such as the introduction of the presumption of innocence of an accused facing trial.
It also disputes the opinion he was responsible for the murders of his nephews, 12-year-old Edward V and nine-year-old Richard, Duke of York, the so-called Princes in the Tower.
"I had to write the screenplay. Richard III's story has to be out there. I want that story to be told. I had Richard Armitage in mind to play him and he has agreed," said Ms Langley.
"Not only he is a dead ringer for Richard III, but he was born a few miles away from Bosworth field and was named after him."
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