A cursed awards-baiting epic that went down in flames explores on streaming

Any biopic that gathers a recognizable director and a well-known cast to tell an incredible true story is instantly pinpointed as a potential awards season contender. To be fair, there was no reason to believe otherwise until people actually saw Queen of the Desert for themselves, only to discover it sucked.

Academy Award winner Nicole Kidman headlines the idiosyncratic Werner Herzog’s first feature in six years as Gertrude Bell, who turned her back on life as a socialite to travel to Tehran. During her eventful existence she struggled through a fiancee who took his own life before forging a path as a traveler, archeologist, cartographer, explorer, and all-round expert on the Near East, who even ended up as a British Empire political attaché.

Throw in two-time Golden Globe winner James Franco, Globe and Emmy victor Damian Lewis, Emmy and BAFTA scooper Jenny Agutter, and the reliably dedicated Robert Pattinson among others, and all the ingredients were there for a stirring retelling of a truly incredible person. Unfortunately, things did not go well for Queen of the Desert.

At a cost of $36 million, the movie recouped just $2 million from theaters, and was saddled with an 18 percent Rotten Tomatoes score. That’s without even mentioning the various delays and setbacks that plagued production before a single frame had even been shot, with Queen of the Desert being darkened by many ominous clouds looming overhead.

Fortunately, streaming fans have decided to give it a pass after the maligned disaster emerged from the wilderness to trek onto the iTunes most-watched chart, as per FlixPatrol. Possibly doomed from the start, but perhaps now gunning for a second wind.