THEATRE & FILM STUDIES
“SHAKESPEARE IN THE CINEMA
A FILM DIRECTORS’ SYMPOSIUM”
Prof. Iris Hsin-chun Tuan
National Chiao Tung University
Taiwan

Peter Brook: Common sense.

Sir Peter Hall: The best Shakespeare
films to me—such as Kurosawa’s
Throne of Blood and Ran and the
Solzhenitsyn Hamlet—

are those that take Shakespeare’s
themes and characters and ignore
his text.
Peter Brook
WHAT IS YOUR PHILOSOPHY FOR MAKING CUTS?

Richard Loncraine: Ian McKellen
and I worked very closely together
on the film Richard III.

Baz Luhrmann: Adapting Romeo
and Juliet for the screen was to
reveal Shakespeare’s lyrical,
romantic, sweet, sexy, musical,
violent, rude, rough, rowdy,
rambunctious storytelling through his
richly invented language.
• Richard III (1955) - Drunken prophecies, libels, and
dreams
• [Full movie] Richard III (1955)
WHAT IS YOUR PHILOSOPHY FOR
MAKING CUTS?

Trevor Nunn: Twelfth Night is near a
perfect work for the theater.

It’s exquisite, as perfect as The
Marriage of Figaro is in opera, or as
perfect as Some Like It Hot is as a
movie.

Nunn introduced a prologue and did
a certain amount of transposition.

Oliver Parker: In Othello, it’s my
intention to make it fast-moving,
vibrant, and accessible to a modern
audience.
Othello directed by Oliver Parker
WHAT IS YOUR PHILOSOPHY FOR
MAKING CUTS?

Roman Polanski: not for rewriting
scenes, unless there’s really a
possibility of making them clearer
by some minute change.

In Polanski’s Macbeth, we studied
to apply various scholars’ ideas.

Franco Zeffirelli: exception like
Branagh’s Hamlet.

Adaptation is therefore inevitable.
To be or not to be - Kenneth Branagh HD (HAMLET)
WHAT IS YOUR PHILOSOPHY FOR
MAKING CUTS?

Peter Brook: Yes and/or no. A really
good actor is all that’s needed.

Sir Peter Hall: Yes.

Richard Loncraine: Yes.

Iambic pentameter is obviously the
classic Shakespearean problem in
terms of text.

Baz Luhrmann: the round vowel of
Olivier and Gielgud or “Voice
Beautiful” as it is known, is a relatively
new fashion.
Laurence Olivier, John Mills and John Gielgud dancing at the London
Palladium in 1953
SHOULD THE ACTORS IN A
SHAKESPEAREAN FILM BE CLASSICALLY
TRAINED STAGE ACTORS?

Trevor Nunn: In our Twelfth Night, Mel Smith is a
renowned English comedian. Helena (Bonham Carter)
has not done a Shakespeare play before, but she and I
had worked together before on the film Lady Jane.

Oliver Parker: My priority was to cast great film actors
who can bring the characters to life on screen.

Franco Zeffirelli: What’s needed is proper direction and
the proper talent.

The two little “green” actors playing Romeo and
Juliet—he was a Cockney boy and she was fourteen—
but I pulled out of them what I was looking for—youth,
innocence, and passion.

The photos of the young actor playing Romeo, and the
young actress playing Juliet in Zeffirelli’s film.

Zeffirelli also has used the most illustrious, experienced
actors, like Richard Burton.
• Twelfth Night Trailer
SHOULD THE ACTORS IN A SHAKESPEAREAN
FILM BE CLASSICALLY TRAINED STAGE ACTORS?
Richard Burton

Peter Brook: Neither.

Sir Peter Hall: The verse has to be
underplayed.

Baz Luhrmann: One of the great
things about Shakespeare’s text is its
musicality and rhythm.

Trevor Nunn: In Twelfth Night, the
play breaks into verse at key
moments of high romance…
• Twelfth Night (1996) - O Mistress Mine
WHAT’S YOUR VIEW OF THE PROPER
PRESENTATION OF SHAKESPEARE’S VERSE
IN A FILM?
SHOULD IT BE DELIVERED DIFFERENTLY ON
SCREEN THAN ON THE STAGE?

Oliver Parker: My preference is to
see a balance.

Roman Polanski: English actors have
a way of saying Shakespeare’s
verse in such a way that it sounds
pretty naturalistic, and yet it does
not break the musical quality of the
blank verse.

Franco Zeffirelli: It’s important to
respect the musicality in verse.
WHAT’S YOUR VIEW OF THE PROPER
PRESENTATION OF SHAKESPEARE’S VERSE IN A
FILM?

Peter Brook: Yes.

Sir Peter Hall: No. Cinema is not a
verbal medium, so it doesn’t need
Shakespeare’s text in the same way.

Richard Loncraine: Shakespeare
wrote about humanity, about things
we all know about—soap opera, if
you like.

Baz Luhrmann: Obviously when
cinematic language can replace
stage convention it may help the
telling; however, this is not specific to
Shakespeare.
DO CINEMATIC TECHNIQUES OFFER NEW
POSSIBILITIES FOR EXPLORING AND
PRESENTING SHAKESPEARE?

Trevor Nunn: I agree that a cinematic
rendering of Shakespeare requires, …,
highly developed visual imagination
and inventiveness…

Oliver Parker: Having done Othello on
stage (Parker’s Othello stage photo), I
was very excited to approach and
explore the piece cinematically.
(Parker’s Othello film photo.)

In Othello, Parker was inspired by the
verbal imagery and themes to pursue
visual one.
Laurence Fishburne and Kenneth Branagh as Othello and Iago respectively,
in a scene from the 1995 version of Othello
DO CINEMATIC TECHNIQUES OFFER NEW
POSSIBILITIES FOR EXPLORING AND PRESENTING
SHAKESPEARE?

Roman Polanski: Cinema gives you
infinite possibilities.

Franco Zeffirelli: The camera must
be at the service of the text, and
sometimes the words take on much
more powerful or subtle meanings
through the camera. Ex. In Zeffirelli’s
Hamlet.
Greatest Scenes in Movies, EVER : Franco Zeffirelli's Hamlet
with Helena Bonham Carter
DO CINEMATIC TECHNIQUES OFFER NEW
POSSIBILITIES FOR EXPLORING AND PRESENTING
SHAKESPEARE?

Peter Brook: Simplicity is not a style,
not a virtue—simply a necessity.

Sir Peter Brook: Cinema is visual, it is
about images.

Richard Loncraine: No. You cannot
upstage Shakespeare. I think the
plays can use any technique that
makes them more accessible and
entertaining.
IS IT POSSIBLE FOR FILM VERSIONS OF
SHAKESPEARE TO BE TOO VISUAL, TOO
REALISTIC?

Baz Luhrmann: whether Shakespeare or
not, the visual language has to reveal,
support, and clarify the storytelling.

Trevor Nunn: For Twelfth Night, I delighted
in embracing that capacity for
verisimilitude.

Oliver Parker: Film cannot be too visual.

Roman Polanski: I’m a fan of Orson Welles,
but for me Welles’ Macbeth is unbearable.

Olivier’s movies, particularly Olivier’s
Hamlet, was Polanski’s beloved film.

Ex. Losey’s opera Don Giovanni.
Act 1,Sc2 Olivier Hamlet 7 09 1948
IS IT POSSIBLE FOR FILM VERSIONS OF
SHAKESPEARE TO BE TOO VISUAL, TOO
REALISTIC?

Jon Finch in Macbeth (1971),
adapted by Kenneth Tynan from
Shakespeare’s play, which
translated well both to the politically
charged atmosphere of America at
the time and to the personally
afflicted life of its director, Roman
Polanski.

Franco Zeffirelli: I don’t think it’s
necessary to modernize
Shakespeare’s plays.
The tragedy of Macbeth (Roman Polanski, 1971)
Trailer
IS IT POSSIBLE FOR FILM VERSIONS OF
SHAKESPEARE TO BE TOO VISUAL, TOO
REALISTIC?

Peter Brook: Enough not to be
thought a moron, but not so much
as to forget that it has to make
sense now.

Sir Peter Hall: It think it helps.

Baz Luhrmann: As with any story,…
IS IT IMPORTANT FOR A DIRECTOR OF A SHAKESPEAREAN
FILM TO BE KNOWLEDGEABLE ABOUT THE HISTORY, THE
CULTURE, AND THE COSMOLOGY OF THE ELIZABETHAN
WORLD IN WHICH SHAKESPEARE WROTE HIS PLAYS?

Trevor Nunn: I don’t believe that
one can ever say that ignorance is
bliss.

Oliver Parker: Important, yes.
Essential, no.

Roman Polanski: Billy Wilder’s
answer.

Franco Zeffirelli: When I directed the
Brontë film Jane Eyre, I was totally
immersed in the cultural and social
problems of England at that time.
Billy Wilder
IS IT IMPORTANT FOR A DIRECTOR OF A SHAKESPEAREAN FILM
TO BE KNOWLEDGEABLE ABOUT THE HISTORY, THE CULTURE,
AND THE COSMOLOGY OF THE ELIZABETHAN WORLD IN WHICH
SHAKESPEARE WROTE HIS PLAYS?

Peter Brook: But both modern and
antiquated externals can block as much
as help.

Sir Peter Hall: I think every Shakespeare
play or film has to have its own visual
world.

Richard Loncraine: I think both are valid,
both have their place.

It was not Loncraine’s idea to set Richard
III in the Thirties—

that was decided by Richard Eyre, who
directed it as a stage play,

with Ian McKellen.
Richard Eyre
WHAT IS YOUR VIEW OF FILIMING HISTORICALLY
UPDATED VERSIONS OF SHAKESPEARE’S LAYS AS
OPPOSED TO PERIOD PRESENTATIONS?

Baz Luhrmann: Having directed
Shakespeare in theater, opera, and
film, it’s never been a question of, is
there a right or a wrong method.

Trevor Nunn: I’m all in favor of people
taking a different approach to visual
imagery in contemporary production,
be it in the theater or in the cinema.

Oliver Parker: I respect the desire to
update the plays.

Ex. Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet is a
case in point.
1996 Romeo and Juliet
WHAT IS YOUR VIEW OF FILIMING HISTORICALLY
UPDATED VERSIONS OF SHAKESPEARE’S LAYS
AS OPPOSED TO PERIOD PRESENTATIONS?

Roman Polanski: I absolutely hate
those updated versions.

Franco Zeffirelli: I don’t think dressing
the characters in modern costumes
has any advantage.

Ex. Zeffirelli did his Romeo and Juliet
period.

Help young people face the past.

Ex. The painting David by
Michelangelo.
Romeo and Juliet (1968) First Kiss
Romeo and Juliet (1968) Trailer
WHAT IS YOUR VIEW OF FILIMING HISTORICALLY
UPDATED VERSIONS OF SHAKESPEARE’S LAYS
AS OPPOSED TO PERIOD PRESENTATIONS?

Peter Brook: None willingly.

Sir Peter Hall: In Hall’s film
Midsummer Night’s Dream, I
thought it would be interesting to
use the camera as an attempt to
get closer to the text.

Ex. Reinhardt’s film is better as a
piece of film.

Richard Loncraine: Shakespeare
wrote plays for a mass audience.
A Midsummer Night's Dream
PRODUCING A SHAKESPEAREAN FILM IS USUALLY
REFERRED TO AS “POPULARIZING” SHAKESPEARE FOR A
MASS MOVIEGOING AUDIENCE. WHAT’S YOUR VIEW?

Baz Luhrmann: Do we think
Shakespeare would be turning in his
grave because his beat Sylvester
Stallone at the opening weekend of
Romeo and Juliet? I don’t think so.

Trevor Nunn: I’m convinced that,
were he alive today, Shakespeare
would be gravitating towards
cinema.

Oliver Parker: Important to reclaim
Shakespeare as a popular artist.
Stallone in 1988
PRODUCING A SHAKESPEAREAN FILM IS USUALLY REFERRED TO
AS “POPULARIZING” SHAKESPEARE FOR A MASS MOVIEGOING
AUDIENCE. WHAT’S YOUR VIEW?

Roman Polanski: When I shot
Macbeth, I didn’t compromise in
any way.

Franco Zeffirelli: Ex. In Zeffirelli’s
Romeo and Juliet, Juliet Capulet
and Roman Montague in Verona
expressed themselves more nobly,
more fully, than young people do
today.
1968 Romeo and Juliet by Franco Zeffirelli Romeo & Juliet
PRODUCING A SHAKESPEAREAN FILM IS USUALLY REFERRED TO
AS “POPULARIZING” SHAKESPEARE FOR A MASS MOVIEGOING
AUDIENCE. WHAT’S YOUR VIEW?

Peter Brook: Yes. No. No.

Sir Peter Hall: I would love to make a
film of The Merchant of Venice in
Venice, with Dustin Hoffman.

Richard Loncraine: I’m very
interested in doing The Merchant of
Venice and McKellen and I are
certainly discussing that.
The Merchant of Venice (2004) - Official Trailer
ARE YOU ENCOURAGED BY THE PRESENT VOGUE FOR
SHAKESPEAREAN FILMS?
WILL SUCH A TREND MAKE IT EASIER FOR YOU TO MAKE
ANOTHER SHAKESPEAREAN FILM?
DO YOU HAVE A SHAKESPEARE PLAY IN MIND THAT YOU
WOULD LIKE TO FILM?

Baz Luhrmann: Then one day I
experienced the stage production
of Twelfth Night by Neil Armfield.

What’s really important is, as
Benjamin Britten once said,…

Trevor Nunn: I was beaten to the
punch on Othello.

Troilus and Cresida would make a
wonderful film.
Neil Armfield
ARE YOU ENCOURAGED BY THE PRESENT VOGUE FOR
SHAKESPEAREAN FILMS?
WILL SUCH A TREND MAKE IT EASIER FOR YOU TO MAKE ANOTHER
SHAKESPEAREAN FILM?
DO YOU HAVE A SHAKESPEARE PLAY IN MIND THAT YOU WOULD
LIKE TO FILM?

King Lear (1971), directed by Grigori
Kozintsev. Kozintsev’s adaptation reflects a
concern for the poor people most
affected by Lear’s division of his kingdom.

Oliver Parker: Measure for Measure is a
notable exception.

Roman Polanski: you can do now with the
help of computers, like all those magical
things in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Franco Zeffirelli: I’ve contributed enough
to the cause of reviving Shakespeare and
bringing him to the attention of a mass
audience. I’m trying to tell other stories.
King Lear (1971) Directed by Peter Brook CLIP #1
ARE YOU ENCOURAGED BY THE PRESENT VOGUE FOR SHAKESPEAREAN
FILMS?
WILL SUCH A TREND MAKE IT EASIER FOR YOU TO MAKE ANOTHER
SHAKESPEAREAN FILM?
DO YOU HAVE A SHAKESPEARE PLAY IN MIND THAT YOU WOULD LIKE
TO FILM?