James Cromwell Will Play Rupert Murdoch in Sydney This Fall

Today Producer Daniel Sparrow and director Lee Lewis announced the cast for the exclusive premiere Sydney season of Rupert, David Williamson's take on the greatest media mogul of all time.

American film and television actor JAMES CROMWELL will play Rupert Murdoch alongside an all Australian cast who will play a myriad of over 60 roles. TV comedy icon JANE TURNER from Kath & Kim fame will play Dame Margaret Thatcher and Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, her first time on a Sydney stage in 15 Years; GUY EDMONDS will play Young Rupert; SCOTT SHERIDAN portrays Lachlan Murdoch; HAI HA LE is Wendi Deng and Rebekah Brooks; BERT LaBONTE is Frank Packer and Ronald Reagan; and JOHN LEARY plays Tony Blair, James Murdoch, Kerry Packer, David Frost, Gough Whitlam and others. Plus one additional cast member yet to be announced.

Rupert is a timely, theatrically inventive, often hilarious, cabaret infused recounting of the life and times of this influential yet elusive man who has shaped our world. Charting his stellar rise to the top, Rupert tap dances (sometimes literally) his way through his first newspaper acquisitions, discoes toward his American breakthrough, shares a fiery flamenco with Margaret Thatcher, and charms some of the most colourful characters of the 20th century, including Tony Blair, Ronald Reagan and Wendi Deng.

James Oliver Cromwell is well known to Australian audiences after playing Farmer Hoggett in Babe, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. During his career Cromwell has been nominated for an Oscar, four Emmy Awards, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards during his career. He won the 2013 Canadian Screen Award for Best Actor for his role in Still Mine and the 2013 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for his role in American Horror Story: Asylum.