Riz Ahmed stars in ‘Hamlet’. Photo: Focus Features.
In theaters on April 10 is ‘Hamlet’, a fresh update of William Shakespeare’s famous tragedy, which features Riz Ahmed (‘Sound of Metal’), who plays a version of the troubled Dane, here the heir to an elite South Asian empire in modern-day London.
(L to R) Morfydd Clark and Riz Ahmed in ‘Hamlet’. Photo: Focus Features.
If you’re going to tackle a Shakespeare play on film –– particularly the complex web of family tragedy that is ‘Hamlet’ — be prepared for challenges. But with this present-day version, director Aneil Karia and writer Michael Lesslie bring a fierce energy to their effort.
Script and Direction
(L to R) Riz Ahmed and Timothy Spall in ‘Hamlet’. Photo: Focus Features.
Shakespeare is not easy to adapt, and Lesslie here sticks to the traditional language for the most part (while still needing to cut plenty to avoid an overlong running time). But the changes and substitutions (London for Denmark and the use of Indian culture) truly work well.
Karia, meanwhile brings real panache and style, making the world feel relevant and also, in places, timely.
Cast and Performances
(Far Left) Riz Ahmed stars in ‘Hamlet’. Photo: Focus Features.
It’s really Ahmed’s show, and he chews on one of the trickiest parts in drama. Sequences such as the “To be or not to be” soliloquy give him something to truly work with.
Which isn’t to dismiss an impressive supporting cast, especially Art Malik as scheming uncle Claudius and Morfydd Clark, who brings humanity to the relatively smaller role of Ophelia.
Final Thoughts
(L to R) Art Malik and Joe Alwyn in ‘Hamlet’. Photo: Focus Features.
Even if you’ve dismissed Shakespeare as impenetrable, the new ‘Hamlet’ shows what can happen in sure hands, the emotion on full display. Purists may balk at the changes, but this is a worthwhile adaptation.
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Riz Ahmed stars in ‘Hamlet’.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Riz Ahmed about his work on ‘Hamlet’, taking on the iconic role, shooting the “To be or not to be” speech, and why Shakespeare’s work is so timeless and universal.
You can watch the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interview.
Riz Ahmed stars in ‘Hamlet’. Photo: Focus Features.
Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about the challenges of playing the iconic role of Hamlet, and is it a role that you’ve always wanted to play?
Riz Ahmed: I’ve wanted to play this since I was 17 and I was in English class feeling like this is some stuffy, boring museum artifact, and that Shakespeare is not for me. I had an amazing English teacher who put it in front of me and made me realize, “Wow, this is pretty close to how I’m feeling.” The central feeling, I would say for Hamlet is, “Is the world going crazy or have I lost my mind?” I think that’s how we’re all feeling. That’s how I was feeling then, and it’s how I’m feeling now, and dare I say, it’s how most of the world feels now. So, I wanted to play it because it was very relatable. I think that’s the challenge and the gift of taking on something like ‘Hamlet’, a role like this, is it’s been done so many times. I think the challenge is, what is specific and personal about your interpretation? That’s also a gift. It’s been done so many times, there’s no illusion that someone’s going to perform a definitive Hamlet. You’re liberated in a way to just do something as uniquely specific and personal to you and your experience as possible. So, it’s a strange combination of feeling like, “We’re going to step into these big old shoes that don’t belong to us.” While at the same time going, “Well, actually we get to run around in these shoes however we want.”
(L to R) Morfydd Clark and Riz Ahmed in ‘Hamlet’. Photo: Focus Features.
MF: Shakespeare’s work is universal and can be adapted to any time-period or culture. What is it about his work that you think has made it stand the test of time?
RA: I think it’s a couple of things. Firstly, a lot of the stories are drawn from myths that are not British, that are ancient. The first words you hear in our Hamlet are words from the Bhagavad Gita, which is the foundational Hindu myth. That’s because that story is very similar to the story of ‘Hamlet’. It predates ‘Hamlet’ by thousands of years. This idea of choosing family loyalty or doing the right thing, that’s a timeless theme. So, I think that’s one reason why it can cross barriers of culture. It belongs to myth that belongs to all of us. The second reason is because it’s like music. The logical understanding of every word was not something that even audiences were doing in Shakespeare’s time when it comes to these plays. Shakespeare made up like 4,000 new words. They didn’t understand half of what he was saying, but it’s music. It’s rhythm, its flow, its percussion, its energy, and it’s intention. If you hear it like music, it moves you like music and music crosses all boundaries.
(Far Left) Riz Ahmed stars in ‘Hamlet’. Photo: Focus Features.
MF: Finally, I’ve never seen the ‘To be or not to be” speech depicted the way you did it, with the character in a car speeding towards oncoming traffic. Can you talk about shooting that scene and how that added urgency to the speech?
RA: Absolutely. Our interpretation of “To be or not to be” is that it’s not about, “Should I kill myself or not?” Which is how it’s usually performed, right? It’s a much more urgent, confronting question. The question is, “Should we fight back against injustice, even if it means we might die?” That’s a contemporary, radical question. Then if you look at the language itself rather than looking at the traditional way it’s performed, that’s what it’s saying. So, we had to stage it in a way and have that confrontation and that urgency. If the speech is a game of chicken, we’re going to stage it like a game of chicken. So, he is literally doing that. He’s driving down a freeway, heading towards a lorry a hundred miles an hour, asking himself, does he have the guts to take on something bigger than himself? So, we staged it that way in a way. We’re just trying to honor the DNA of this speech rather than honoring the traditional way it’s done. We really tried to make something that’s for people who feel like Shakespeare isn’t normally for them and hopefully it gives them a visceral experience.
‘Hamlet’ opens in theaters on April 10th.
What is the plot of ‘Hamlet’?
Haunted by his father’s ghost (Avijit Dutt), Prince Hamlet (Riz Ahmed) descends from elite London society into the city’s underground, moving between Hindu temples and homeless camps. In seeking to avenge his father’s murder, he begins to question his own role in his family’s corruption.
Every frame of ‘Hamnet’ is beautifully designed and captured by director Chloe Zhao (‘Eternals’) and her team, rendering England during the life and times of William Shakespeare in both ethereal and grimy terms. Life is hard, but also mysterious, and those who still connect with the forces of nature are an increasingly rare breed – like Anne ‘Agnes’ Hathaway (Jessie Buckley), who becomes the Bard’s wife and is the true center of ‘Hamnet.’
Agnes, the daughter of an alleged ‘forest witch,’ is both luminously beautiful and slightly feral, which makes her all-intoxicating for Shakespeare himself (Paul Mescal). ‘Hamnet’ chronicles that passion, their deep love, and the creation of their family in poignantly simple terms – until tragedy rips at their very core. But that tragedy also manifests itself in a way that reverberates through history, and it’s only when that happens that ‘Hamnet’ wobbles, with the film not providing enough time for that aspect of the story to breathe and take root in the same way that its first part does.
A young William Shakespeare is drawn to the magnetic Agnes (pronounced ANN-yes) in 16th century Stratford, and after a quick courtship they’re going at it hot and heavy in a stable. That leaves Agnes pregnant with the first of their three children, initiating a marriage that is frowned upon by Shakespeare’s brutish father (David Wilmot) and stern mother (Emily Watson). But William, Agnes, and their children – Susanna, and the twins Judith and Hamnet – find happiness in their existence, even if William has to travel frequently to London to write and produce his plays.
It’s only when the unimaginable (at least for us; it was much more common then) hits the clan, resulting in the death of perhaps the most precocious family member, that the clan’s entire dynamic is in danger of disintegrating – particularly as a shattered Agnes begins to bitterly resent her husband for not being there for that child’s last moments, and for throwing himself into his work instead of sharing in her grief. But William has his own method for dealing with the loss and his unspeakable anguish – and it expresses itself through the creation of one of his greatest plays (at least according to this movie, and the Maggie O’Farrell novel it was based on; the truth, as with many aspects of the real Shakespeare’s life, remains elusive).
For its first two-thirds, ‘Hamnet’ builds a magnificent edifice of love, emotion, and empathy that borders on the mystical, primarily through the force of nature that is Jessie Buckley’s Agnes. Her love for William – and his reciprocation – is the core of the movie’s first act, with their endearing family life the center of its second. It all comes crashing down during an extended, agonizing sequence in which Agnes’ feral, soul-crushing response is a heartbreaking howl of loss that could reverberate through the soul of every parent.
After reaching that height of sorrow, Zhao doesn’t completely find a way to balance the scales, or at least give the rest of the narrative the weight it deserves. Agnes’ fury toward William doesn’t seem earned – even if he becomes a distant figure during the middle of the film — and her journey during the closing sequences, both physical as she travels to London to see what the hell her husband is doing there and psychological as she sees his latest play and realizes where it’s coming from, seems rushed. Where ‘Hamnet’ should reach a powerful crescendo of forgiveness and acceptance, it never quite brings down the house, leaving one feeling like something’s missing.
Whatever the flaws in narrative structure, there are none whatsoever in Jessie Buckley’s performance. She has been cited as the favorite to take home an Oscar this year and there’s no question about it. We meet Agnes curled at the base of a tree; she returns to that tree to give birth to her first child. The woman is connected to nature in ways both beautiful and enigmatic, and Buckley captures every aspect of her – her mystical nature, her undeniable charisma, her fierce love, and her excruciating grief – just right. It’s a powerhouse piece of work, and although it’s one of several delivered by women this year, it will be hard to top.
We were somewhat soured on Paul Mescal after his miscasting in ‘Gladiator II,’ but he’s returned to our good graces here. Mescal’s Shakespeare, while not nearly as present onscreen as Agnes, is nevertheless a complex presence, a man torn between his love for his family and the work that takes him away from them, both physically and mentally. Mescal’s portrayal here is soulful and empathetic, giving us a glimpse into the beating heart of one of literature’s greatest geniuses (there’s only one scene, in which he spouts some of his most famous lines while considering the end of his own life, that doesn’t ring true).
Attention must be paid as well to Emily Watson’s Mary Shakespeare, whose relationship with Agnes evolves from dour disapproval to love and understanding, and especially Jacobi Jupe as Hamnet Shakespeare, about whom we’ll say little but who also rips one’s heart out during several key scenes.
Chloe Zhao seems most comfortable as a director in exploring the human psyche, the depths of our emotion and empathy, and the intimacy of our connection to both other people and the world around us. Perhaps that’s why her sole attempt to date at spectacle, ‘Eternals,’ didn’t quite work, while films like ‘Nomadland’ are so powerful.
She re-centers herself here with ‘Hamnet,’ finding all the elements of her best work while adding a powerful message about the ways in which we process grief and how the creation of art can channel the deepest and most intense of human emotions. Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ is not a recreation of events in the Bard’s life (which may or may not have happened as they do in this film), and neither is Chloe Zhao’s ‘Hamnet.’ But both take on a single, universal query: can art can provide empathy, understanding, and even healing? That is the question indeed.
William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) and Anne ‘Agnes’ Hathaway (Jessie Buckley) marry and have three children, until the family is shattered by an unthinkable tragedy that leads to the writing of one of the Bard’s greatest plays.
(L to R) Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles in ’10 Things I Hate About You’. Photo: Touchstone Pictures.
Preview
A new trilogy of movies spun off from ‘10 Things I Hate About You’ is planned.
Director Gil Junger is behind the new development.
The 1999 original starred Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger.
It might not have run with the popular crowd at the box office, but fizzy, witty comedy ‘10 Things I Hate About You’ certainly made an impact in the popular culture, riding a wave of Shakespeare-to-modern times adaptations (see also: ‘Clueless’) and helping to boost the careers of stars Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger, who both brought considerable charisma to the roles of unlikely high school sweethearts.
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There have been some minor developments since the original (more on that lower down the page), but if original director Gil Junger has his way, there could be much bigger ideas on the horizon. He’s working with original producer Andrew Lazar to develop a new movie called ’10 Things I Hate About Dating’ based on the original that could launch a potential trilogy.
“‘ 10 Things I Hate About Dating’ is definitively in the works as a feature film. We’re developing it right now. We have some pretty good ideas.”
If all goes to plan, Junger, Junger — who is currently co-writing the script with Naya Elle James — plans to make it the first in a trilogy, with two more subsequent installments titled ‘10 Things I Hate About Marriage’ and ‘10 Things I Hate About Kids.’
There’s no specific word yet on how closely the movie would link to the original, but it appears Junger has plans for cast cameos from the first film:
“If it resonates with the original cast and I can have some cameos or even real parts, I’d love that. I’d love Larry Miller to come back because he’s so great.”
And while the original had Shakespearian DNA, the new movie is inspired by Molière’s 1666 play ‘The Misanthrope.’
Julia Stiles in ’10 Things I Hate About You’. Photo: Touchstone Pictures.
The 1999 teen comedy, based on William Shakespeare’s spiky romantic comedy play ‘The Taming of the Shrew,’ follows teen Kat Stratford (Stiles), a high-achieving, sharp-tongued loner who is constantly compared to her perky, popular younger sister Bianca (Larisa Oleynik) by their overprotective single dad, Walter (Miller).
But Kat’s world is soon turned upside down by Patrick Verona (Ledger), an edgy new student who changes her life.
Until, that is, he hatches a plan with Patrick to sweep Kat off her feet –– no easy task.
While the movie, made for $30 million, only ended up with $53 million at the worldwide box office, it still sparked a healthy fanbase.
Here’s what Junger told People about appreciating the movie following a 25th anniversary screening:
“I thought, ‘God, I was so on my game.’ I remembered exactly where I was standing, what notes I gave there and what I did. And then I look out to the audience during my Q&A, and my 22-year-old and my 19-year-old were sitting in the front row with their dates. And they weren’t born when the movie came out. They weren’t even a thought.”
What else has spun off from ’10 Things I Hate About You’?
(L to R) Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles in ’10 Things I Hate About You’. Photo: Touchstone Pictures.
There have been follow-ups since the original movie. A ’10 Things’ TV series landed on ABC Family in 2009, featuring little of the original cast save Larry Miller, and seeing Kat and Bianca navigating other high school challenges. It only lasted one season.
Even now, as has been the case for a variety of movies, a Broadway musical is in development with musician Carly Rae Jepsen co-writing the score with Ethan Gruska, and filmmaker/ ‘Girls’ creator/star Lena Dunham working on the book with playwright Jessica Huang.
Jepson took to Instagram recently to enthuse about working on the stage show:
Junger himself has had sequel ideas before now, admitting that he offered Ledger a role in a follow-up he was developing shortly after the original movie called ‘10 Things I Hate About Me.’
He’s confident that any new movie would feature a nod to the star, who died in 2008 aged 28:
“I think that’s a beautiful idea, and the answer is now going to be yes. He deserves to be loved.”
When might we see the first new ‘10 Things I Hate About You’ movie?
There’s the rub right now –– since the movies are only in development, we’ll have to wait and see if it makes it to the greenlight stage.
But given rights holders Disney’s love for classic IP it can exploit (see: the TV version, the musical, etc.), we’d say this could be more than love’s labour’s lost.
Heath Ledger in ’10 Things I Hate About You’. Photo: Touchstone Pictures.
Al Pacino and Jessica Chastain will lead the cast of ‘Lear, Rex’.
Bernard Rose adapted the play for the new movie and will direct.
Rachel Brosnahan, LaKeith Stanfield and Peter Dinklage are also all among a starry cast.
Al Pacino just can’t stay away from the Bard. The actor, who has appeared in several Shakespeare adaptations (and one or two movies inspired by his work), will once more tackle the legendary playwright’s work with a new interpretation of ‘King Lear’.
And he’ll be joined in what is called ‘Lear, Rex’ (“Rex” meaning “king”, “monarch” or “ruler” in Latin, language fans!) by occasional co-star Jessica Chastain and a host of famous faces.
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What’s the story of ‘Lear Rex’?
Oscar® nominee, Al Pacino arrives on the red carpet of The 92nd Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre in Hollywood, CA on Sunday, February 9, 2020.
From the sounds of it, writer/director Bernard Rose is sticking relatively close to the story as laid out by the play… Pacino will be an aging King who divides his land between his three daughters to prevent future conflict.
But he rejects the youngest daughter, Cordelia who loves him and places his trust in her malevolent sisters, who strip him of his power and condemn him to a wretched wasteland of horror and insanity. Tch… you kids today, with your lust for power and your overthrowing of the monarchy!
(Far Left) Rachel Brosnahan on Prime Video’s ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.’ (Center Left) LaKeith Stanfield in ‘The Changeling,’ now streaming on Apple TV+. (Center Right) Peter Dinklage as Casca Highbottom in ‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.’ Photo Credit: Murray Close. (Far Right) Ariana DeBose at the 5th Annual Hollywood Critics Association Awards.
Alongside Pacino and Chastain (who plays Goneril, one of the older daughters who plot against their naive old dad), the already impressive cast for this one also includes Ariana DeBose as Cordelia (the youngest daughter), Rachel Brosnahan as Regan (Goneril’s scheme-happy sister), Peter Dinklage as the Fool, Danny Huston as Albany, Chris Messina as Cornwall, LaKeith Stanfield as Edmund, Ted Levine as Kent, Matthew Jacobs as Gloucester, Rhys Coiro as Oswald and Stephen Dorff as Poor Tom.
Barry Navidi is reuniting with Pacino to produce the new film, having worked on several movies with the star (including ‘Salomé’ and ‘Wilde Salomé’, which also starred Chastain.)
‘Lear Rex’: the director and producer speak
Al Pacino at the 94th Oscars® at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles, CA, on Sunday, March 27, 2022.
“It is enormously exciting to get the opportunity to work with this extraordinary cast that Al, Barry and Sharon [casting director Sharon Howard-Field] have put together to tackle this radical, but accessible adaptation of Shakespeare’s greatest play.”
And here’s what producer Navidi had to say:
“I am delighted to have the opportunity to collaborate with Bernard Rose. His artistic vision, combined with a talented ensemble cast of players led by Al Pacino, promises to take us on a remarkable and unforgettable cinematic experience. We are merging the worlds of Shakespeare and Hollywood. This marks the commencement of an exciting new chapter, one that Al has poured his heart and soul into. It is a privilege for me to join forces with my dear friend once more, and to contribute to his enduring legacy.”
When will ‘Lear Rex’ be in theaters?
With the distribution rights yet to be sold, there is no current release date for ‘Lear Rex’. The cameras are set to start rolling on August 12th and we can’t imagine such a star-studded film –– even a Shakespeare adaptation with its occasional cultural language barrier –– sitting in the marketplace for too long.
Al Pacino, Francis Ford Coppola and Robert De Niro onstage during the 50th anniversary tribute of “The Godfather” at the live ABC telecast of the 94th Oscars® at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles, CA, on Sunday, March 27, 2022.
