As far as film adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays go, Sir Kenneth Brannagh’s work over the past 35 years has given me particular enjoyment. Henry V in 1989 revived interest in Shakespeare, and his version of Hamlet was closest to the full written play (although proven by experts to be far too long to have been what actually was original performed at the Globe) than any other movie version. I found his version of Love’s Labour’s Lost (with such co-stars as Alicia Silverstone, the delectable Natasha McElhone, and the way underrated Matthew Lillard) to have great energy and fun.
I have only been disappointed with Brannagh with his performance in Othello (which he did not direct) as Iago, one of my two absolute favourite villains in the First Folio (the other, if you are curious, is Richard III).
But the most fun I have had in watching Brannagh’s ‘Shakespearances’ (I just made that word up – aren’t I clever?!?) is Much Ado About Nothing, which he directed and co-starred in about 30 years ago. The chemistry between himself as Benedick and his then wife Dame Emma Thompson as Beatrice was amazing. He had a great supporting line up, including Denzel Washington as Don Pedro, Keanu Reeves (always a fan favourite) as the villain Don John, and Michael Keaton in a bit role as Dogberry, the comic relief.
And more importantly, that film marked the screen debut of my absolute favourite actress, Kate Beckingsale, as Hero. Mind you, Hero is very much a passive character in that play and Kate’s performance was totally overshadowed by the chemistry between Sir Kenneth and Dame Emma in the lead roles.
As was everyone else, to be honest. [FYI, I did not really fall in love with Kate til I saw her amazing lead performance in Cold Comfort Farm two years later.]
Brannagh’s efforts, particularly after the initial success of Henry V, inspired other film adaptations of Shakespeare. Suddenly Mel Gibson wanted to play Hamlet, Sir Ian McKellen (a co-star in Cold Comfort Farm with Kate) gave us a mind blowingly awesome art deco adaption of Richard III in the mid 1990s, and Alan Hopkins’ portrayal of Titus Andronicus in the film version was aptly cannibalistic.
Baz Lehrman did Romeo + Juliet with Leonardo Di Caprio and Claire Daines in the title roles, a version which, I felt at the time had editing inspired by Pepsi Max commercials, but which has grown on me the more I have come to overlook his youthful brattiness and appreciate Di Caprio’s talent as an actor.
Stanley Tucci as Puck in the 1999 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream stole the show, as did Sir Ben Kingsley as the fool in Twelfth Night in that same golden decade of Shakespearances (see – I have found a use for my new word).
I do think though that the Melbourne gangland inspired production of Macbeth in 2005 missed the point as making all the characters gangsters means that everyone is a villain, which is not what Macbeth is about.
We also had an abundance of film adaptions which were based on Shakespeare, but which did not quite follow the script. Ones which come to mind are O, which was Othello in a high school basketball team with Josh Barnett as ‘Hugo’, the Iago villain, and Ten Things I Hate About You, which introduced American audiences to a teenage Heath Ledger in a high school rom-com version of The Taming of the Shrew. Julia Stiles was the female lead in the latter, and probably (although I am not too certain and can’t be bothered looking it up) in the former.
Boxing Day saw another loose adaptation of Shakespeare hit the cinemas, the rom-com Anyone But You, starring current ‘It Girl’ Sydney Sweeney as ‘Bea’ opposite a romantic lead named ‘Ben’ in a clash of wits during a destination wedding set on Sydney Harbour.
I like the escapism of cinema, as well as seeing beautiful women in bikinis, and so I went to see this film. I did not actually pick up on the abundant hints that this was loosely based on Much Ado About Nothing until about half an hour into the film when the supporting characters start to try and manipulate the leads into thinking that each is secretly in love with the other.
The bits where they dig out phrases and ham acting from the play to obviously talk in a way as to be both overheard by Bea and Ben, and to be understood by the audience as to the motives, come across to me as rather charming, rather than awkward. If this was a standard rom-com, this would not work, but when you are clearly basing something on the Bard, it adds greater value to the entire endeavour, a bit like the absence of horses in Monty Python’s Holy Grail.
I also found the almost cringe-worthily stereotypical Aussie surfer comic relief with his broad Australian accent and vocabulary to be very amusing, rather than offensive, and spent quite some time wondering how the script writers had been able to come up with his dialogue. Did they get a linguistics professor to advise them?
At least one of my friends deplores my taste in film and TV, which is quite low brow (I did see Baywatch and Wonder Woman on the same day after all) in comparison to my taste in literature. But I like what I like, and if I see a rom-com which is made somewhat cleverer by being spiced by Shakespeare, then I can reach a happy medium between the two extremes.
Lost For Words! 