Book of TV AdaptationsĪ little rusty on Romeo? We can remind you. In love with Shakespeare in Love? Like it on Facebook. Miramaximize your Shakespeare in Love experience with choice film clips here. Plus, who would have thought Billy Shakespeare was a total dreamboat? No one actually knows how Shakespeare got his inspiration, and this film is a fun way to imagine it. But although Shakespeare in Love might be a little light on history, it's a fun look at the creative process. It's much more HBO than it is Masterpiece Theatre, putting entertainment value ahead of historical accuracy. Now this doesn't mean Shakespeare in Love is a biography. By seeing how one of his greatest plays, Romeo and Juliet, was inspired, we can better relate to it and many of his other works. It shows us his thoughts and emotions, without a single dramatic monologue in sight. Luckily, Shakespeare in Love is here to humanize the guy.
How can someone so influential be a snorefest? Well, Shakespeare lived over four hundred years ago, and if you have trouble relating to your parents' generation, Shakespeare is, oh, about sixteen generations removed from them. Shakespeare can be zany (he invented that word), a little obscene (that word, too), and on occasion craptacular (okay, that was one was coined by our modern-day bard, Bart Simpson).īut if you're not learning about Shakespeare with say, someone awesome like Shmoop, he can be-sorry, Will-kinda boring.
We quote him all the time his plays have been copycatted a zillion times dude even invented words. Shakespeare and his influences are everywhere. What is Shakespeare in Love About and Why Should I Care? If you haven't yet fallen in love-or at least fallen in like-with Shakespeare, now's the time to give it a try. If Gwyneth keeps up her organic, vegan, soy-free diet, maybe she'll be around to do commentary on the film then. We're not sure if Shakespeare in Love has the same longevity, but decades later, people still love it.
Shakespeare probably never imagined his plays would be performed four hundred years later. Oh, and it won seven of 'em, stealing the Best Picture trophy from Saving Private Ryan. The film earned the most Oscar nominations that year-thirteen, count 'em-making it as popular in 1999 as Shakespeare was in 1599. (Let's face it, Dame Judi makes pretty much every film she's in better.) The romantic comedy entertained millions, even stodgy old English majors who complained about the film's historical inaccuracy… but still had to admit that Judi Dench was amazing as Queen Elizabeth I.
Shakespeare wrote comedies and tragedies, and this film is a little bit of both. Let's just say it involves him using his, um, quill pen in a variety of different ways. The film imagines Shakespeare's creative process as he struggles to bring Romeo and Juliet to life on stage. That's right, you can thank the Bard for Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, and Goop. Shakespeare established Paltrow's power as a lead actress. The film was directed by John Madden ( Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) and stars Joseph Fiennes (Ralph's brother, who puts the "fine" in Fiennes), Gwyneth Paltrow, and Ben Affleck as stage actor Ned Alleyn. Miramax and Universal released Shakespeare in Loveat the end of 1998. (We think one of those is actually Taylor Swift's creation… she wrote Twelfth Night, right?) Today he exists more as an idea than as a person, but what was life like in Shakespeare's day? Where did he get the inspiration for his greatest plays, like Romeo and Juliet, Bad Blood, and Twelfth Night. He's one of those people we seem to be born knowing, like Albert Einstein, Abraham Lincoln, or Taylor Swift. William Shakespeare needs no introduction. Stars: Joseph Fiennes, Gwyneth Paltrow, Geoffrey Rush