'Anonymous' trailer jump starts controversy

Posted Thursday, April 7, 2011 at 3:17 PM Central
Last updated Friday, April 8, 2011 at 3:23 PM Central

by John Couture

Director Roland Emmerich is better known for destroying the world in his movies than by creating a better one through intellectual discourse, but that might soon change. The man behind disaster movies 2012, The Day After Tomorrow and Independence Day will look to cause a different sort of damage in his new movie Anonymous.

This time instead of laying waste to an entire planet, Emmerich will limit his destruction to the legacy of history's greatest writer, William Shakespeare. The author, who wrote over 37 plays and many more sonnets and poems, probably isn't shaking in his grave as more people will surely remember Hamlet, Macbeth or Romeo and Juliet before they recall any of Emmerich's works.

However, being completely unaware of said conspiracy surrounding the authorship of the works attributed to William Shakespeare, I decided to turn to the modern day equivalent of knowledge, Wikipedia. To be honest, I was surprised at the sheer amount of space allotted to what is surely a crackpot conspiracy theory.

I read quite a bit and to be honest, I'm beginning to get skeptical. I'm not sure I'll ever buy it hook, line and sinker but I'm willing to watch Anonymous with an open mind. With the amazing cast that Emmerich brought together for it, I'm sure it will be quite entertaining.

Check out the trailer below and let us know what you think. Anonymous hits theaters on September 30, 2011.