Claes Bang and Nick Hamm brought William Tell, a retelling of Schiller’s Swiss folk hero, to its London premiere in Soho with Connor Swindells and Ellie Bamber.
William Tell, Nick Hamm’s adaptation of Friedrich Schiller’s play about the Swiss folk hero, held its London premiere at the Ham Yard Hotel in Soho on Wednesday 8 January 2025. Claes Bang, who plays the marksman, led the cast.
Bang was born in Odense in 1967 and trained at the Danish National School of Theatre. Ruben Östlund’s The Square, the 2017 Palme d’Or winner, made him the first Dane to win the European Film Award for Best Actor. He has since played Count Dracula on television and Fjölnir in Robert Eggers’s The Northman.
Hamm, born in Belfast in 1957, was a resident director at the Royal Shakespeare Company before he moved into film. He won a BAFTA in 1992, and he wrote and directed William Tell himself.
Set in 1307, the film follows a huntsman drawn into the Swiss rebellion against Habsburg rule. Ben Kingsley plays King Albert of Austria, with Jonathan Pryce and Golshifteh Farahani in the cast. It had its world premiere at Toronto in September 2024.
Connor Swindells, who plays the bailiff Albrecht Gessler, joined Bang and Hamm with Ellie Bamber, Emily Beecham and Jonah Hauer-King. Altitude released the film in British cinemas later that month.