The film had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on 4 September 2020. [15] It was also selected to screen at the Telluride Film Festival in September 2020, prior to its cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [16] Shortly after, Sony Pictures Classics acquired the Latin America, Scandivanian and US distribution rights to the film. [17] Pathé's distribution arm will release the film in France and Switzerland. What happened next became the stuff of legend. Only 50 years later did the full story emerge--a startling revelation of how a good man set out to change the world and in so doing saved his son and his marriage. Grater, Tom (10 January 2020). " 'The Duke': First Look At Jim Broadbent & Helen Mirren In Art Heist Story". Deadline . Retrieved 25 January 2020. Maher, Kevin. "The Duke review — Jim Broadbent at his best in this foolish and infuriating role". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460 . Retrieved 2020-09-07. The Duke review – art thief takes one for the common man". The Guardian. 2020-09-04 . Retrieved 2020-09-07.

The film was awarded 5 stars from The Guardian [5] and The Daily Telegraph [6] following its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. [7] It was released in cinemas in the UK on 25 February 2022. Sixty-year-old self-educated working-class Kempton Bunton appears in Court Number 1 at the Old Bailey, pleading not guilty to charges of stealing Goya's portrait of the Duke of Wellington and its frame from the National Gallery in London. Six months earlier, in spring 1961, he had sent a script to the BBC from his native Newcastle upon Tyne. Soon afterwards he is jailed at Durham for 13 days for watching TV without a licence. Although he can afford one, he refuses to do so as he is campaigning against pensioners having to pay it, part of his wider strong beliefs about supporting the common man. British Comedy-Drama the Duke" to Premiere at Venice Film Festival:: The Pavlovic Today". 29 July 2020. The Duke DVD is about Kempton Bunton, a 60 year old taxi driver, who steals Goya's portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London in 1961.The story of Bunton and the Duke’s portrait is very unusual for a high-concept Britpic in that the true story has a ready-made two-part plot, revealing a mystery you didn’t know was there. There is a second act still to come just before the end, a narrative sting in the tail that is adroitly concealed in the structuring and editing. Broadbent’s performance satisfyingly shows both the public and the private man to be the same: the stubborn eccentric and the individualist who drives Dorothy up the wall, and the born standup comic who in court gets laughs from the jury and the press gallery. There is a fair bit of sentimentality here, but an awful lot of affection and energy as well. Keegan, Rebecca (August 3, 2020). "Inside the Telluride Film Festival That Would Have Been". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved August 3, 2020. The film is jovially neutral fare, preferring to frame its story as an unashamedly old-fashioned underdog tale Ramachdran, Naman (22 September 2020). "Sony Pictures Classics Nabs 'The Duke' For U.S., Latin America, Scandinavia From Pathe". Variety . Retrieved 22 September 2020. Grater, Tom (29 October 2019). "Jim Broadbent, Helen Mirren Art Heist Story 'The Duke' Greenlit At Pathé – AFM". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved 12 January 2020.

The film was originally scheduled to be released in the United Kingdom by 20th Century Studios via Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures on 6 November 2020, [18] but Pathé later delayed it to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [19] On 7 June 2021, it was announced that Pathé would release the film on 3 September 2021, after announcing a new distribution deal with Warner Bros. Pictures. [20] On 23 July, Pathé announced that the film release would be again delayed, this time to 25 February 2022. [21] When the Goya goes awol, the authorities suspect highly organised international criminals, probably including “a trained commando” (the 1962 Bond film Dr No fancifully placed the painting in its villain’s lair). But when Kempton’s long-suffering wife, Dorothy (Helen Mirren), finds “a stolen masterpiece in me wardrobe!”, it appears that her husband has outdone himself in his quest to battle social injustice at large while driving his nearest and dearest to distraction at home. Collin, Robbie (2020-09-04). "The Duke review, Venice Film Festival 2020: Helen Mirren and Jim Broadbent shine in this zingy Ealing-style caper". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235 . Retrieved 2020-09-07.Tartaglione, Nancy (July 28, 2020). "Venice Film Festival 2020: Competition Light On Studios, Strong On Global Arthouse & Women Directors – Full List". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved July 28, 2020. The Duke DVD. This is about a 60-year-old taxi driver who steals Goya's portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery and sends random notes of returning the painting on the condition that the government invests more in care for the elderly. In 1961, Kempton Bunton, a 60-year old taxi driver, stole Goya's portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London. It was the first (and remains the only) theft in the Gallery's history. Kempton sent ransom notes saying that he would return the painting on condition that the government invested more in care for the elderly -- he had long campaigned for pensioners to receive free television. What happened next became the stuff of legend. Only 50 years later did the full story emerge -- Kempton had spun a web of lies. The only truth was that he was a good man, determined to change the world and save his marriage -- how and why he used the Duke to achieve that is a wonderfully uplifting tale. Filming began in November 2019, with Goode joining the cast. [13] Location shooting took place in Bradford and Leeds, and the production team also used Prime Studios in Leeds. [14] Release [ edit ] Selected items are only available for delivery via the Royal Mail 48® service and other items are available for delivery using this service for a charge.

The Duke is a 2020 British comedy film directed by Roger Michell, with a screenplay by Richard Bean and Clive Coleman. Dealing with the 1961 theft of the Portrait of the Duke of Wellington, the film stars Jim Broadbent, Helen Mirren, Fionn Whitehead, Anna Maxwell Martin and Matthew Goode. It was Michell's penultimate film before his death on 22 September 2021. Grater, Tom (4 November 2019). "Fionn Whitehead Joins Jim Broadbent & Helen Mirren In Roger Michell's 'The Duke' For Pathé – AFM". Deadline . Retrieved 12 January 2020.

The Duke DVD & Blu-ray Release Date: When was the film released?

As with so many of cinema’s most successful practitioners, the South Africa-born British film-maker Roger Michell, who died last September aged 65, was not an “auteur” with a singular distinctive style. On the contrary, he was a versatile craftsman who could turn his hand to a range of genres with ease. From the classic Richard Curtis romcom Notting Hill to the American thriller Changing Lane s and the deliciously twisty Daphne du Maurier dark romance My Cousin Rachel, Michell instinctively understood the differing demands of each story he was telling. He adapted Hanif Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia for TV with great success, gave Anne Reid her finest role in the taboo-breaking, Kureishi-scripted drama The Mother, and directed a sorely underrated screen adaptation of Ian McEwan’s Enduring Love, the bravura opening movement of which has haunted me for years. It was then available on Blu-ray and DVD on June 13, 2022 by Pathé through Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.