In the story, de Vere, a nobleman banned from court because of a love affair with the young Queen, is desperate to get his plays staged but has to hide behind an impostor, William Shakespeare, who gladly takes the credit and pretends to be the true author.

"I play William Shakespeare, but a William Shakespeare who is the son of a glove maker, a normal guy, a lucky boy who kind of wins the lottery," says Spall.

"I see him as the kind of guy who you would have a beer with, who you would hang out with, and someone the audience will watch and say ‘maybe I would do the same in that position’ because he got lucky.

"But in a way the audience might see him as a baddie because we suggest he got up to no good. He bribes Oxford, who is the real writer of the plays and we suggest that maybe, for story’s sake, he killed (Christopher) Marlowe.

"But in a way, the way I see, our William Shakespeare as the hero of the piece, because he builds The Globe (theatre) and he keeps the secret and in our story if he hadn’t done that the world wouldn’t have the plays that we have now."

Orloff fully expects that Anonymous will provoke a heated debate about the authorship question. For some, even suggesting that Shakespeare didn’t write Shakespeare is sacrilege.

"Yes, I think there will be some people who will get upset by this," he says. "And you know, I’m stunned about how people who don’t know that much about Shakespeare or care that much about Shakespeare in their regular life, who, as soon as we’re at dinner talking about the authorship debate they start frothing at the mouth at me, like ‘what are you talking about? How can you say this?’

"But you know, there is a valid debate to be had about who wrote this incredible material. There is an issue here and it shouldn’t be discounted out of hand. When you tell people that Mark Twain believed that William Shakespeare didn’t write it, and that three US Supreme Court justices felt the same way, they look at you and go ‘really? I had no idea..’

"I think it’s very telling that a lot of writers in particular believe this theory to be true - Twain, (Vladimir) Nabokov, Henry James and it was James who said ‘I’m haunted by the conviction that it’s the most successful fraud ever perpetuated on an unsuspecting public"

"I think writers understand the process of writing and when you think about the process of writing these plays they come to the conclusion that it’s kind of unbelievable that Shakespeare wrote them."

And what does Orloff himself believe? "I’m a very firm anti-Stratfordian. I do not believe Shakespeare wrote the plays in any way, shape or form. I’m tending towards believing Oxford did but I think the group theory has a lot to offer as well.

"But I’m more of a person who doesn’t believe that Shakespeare wrote the plays more than anything else."

The debate will, of course, continue and Anonymous will add fuel to the fire and introduce the controversy to a large audience. "And that’s great," says Emmerich.

"I think it’s a good thing when movies can make you think about an issue. Hopefully it’s going to entertain you too, because it’s a great story but if it makes you think as well, then all the better."

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