Why Are We Still So Obsessed with Catherine the Great?

When Tony McNamara first thought of dramatizing Catherine the Great’s life, he says, “I didn’t know much except the infamous rumors about the horse,” referring to a nasty, apocryphal legend about the 18th-century Empress. McNamara, creator of the Hulu series The Great, soon learned that the empress corresponded with Voltaire, championed women’s education, and ruled Russia for 34 years after ruthlessly deposing her husband. Yet she has been reduced to a femme fatale in the popular imagination. In The Great, a witty romp with a contemporary feel, Elle Fanning is a fresh-faced Catherine, an intellectual and idealist married to the… Read Full Article