Roland Emmerich's Anonymous gets a trailer

The first trailer for Roland Emmerich's Anonymous has arrived online.

The historical thriller marks something of a departure for the director, who can usually be relied on to bring about the end of the world in his movies.

For those who haven't heard, the film posits the theory that Shakespeare's plays were actually written by Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford.

Rhys Ifans plays the uncredited playwright, with The Twilight Saga 's Jamie Campbell Bower appearing as the younger version of the character.

Mother and daughter Vanessa Redgrave and Joely Richardson appear the older and younger versions of Queen Elizabeth, amidst a wealth of British talent that includes Sir Derek Jacobi as a convenient modern day narrator.

Despite the subject matter, the trailer promises an impressive scale, and Ifans looks intriguingly gloomy as the guyliner-caked Earl.

The use of Radiohead's 'Everything In Its Right Place' also gives the trailer a modern flavour, but we'll have to wait for the finished product to find out if Emmerich can orchestrate characters as well as he does destruction.

Watch the Anonymous trailer for yourself here:

Anonymous is set to hit cinemas on 30 September 2011.

Matt Maytum is the former Editor of Total Film magazine. Over the past decade, Matt has worked in various roles for TF online and in print, including at GamesRadar+. Bucket-list-ticking career highlights have included reporting from the set of Tenet and Avengers: Infinity War, as well as covering Comic-Con, TIFF and the Sundance Film Festival.