The Roses: Cumberbatch and Colman Lead Modern War of the Roses

The Roses, Jay Roach’s new adaptation of Warren Adler’s The War of the Roses, arrives this summer as a reimagining that relocates the feuding couple from a political power struggle to a modern, ambition-fueled marriage. With Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman in the lead, the film places Theo and Ivy Rose in the Bay Area, where a celebrated architect’s high-profile project and a rising culinary empire collide, testing a once-happy union to its limits. Slated for release on August 29, 2025, The Roses seeks to blend sharp dialogue, stylish production design and a contemporary take on gender and career pressures that define many long-term marriages today.

The project traces its lineage to Adler’s 1981 novel, The War of the Roses, widely known for its acidic satire of a divorce that becomes a public battlefield. The 1989 film adaptation directed by Danny DeVito remains the touchstone for many viewers, but this new version—produced by Roach and written by Tony McNamara—frames the same core conflict through a present-day lens. Theo, an architect celebrated for a maritime museum project, and Ivy, an innovative chef whose seafood restaurant begins to attract serious attention, are...