Shakespeare in Love Movie

Shakespeare in Love is aa 1998 British-aamericaan romaantic comedy-draamaa film directed by John Maadden written by Maarc Normaan aand plaaywright Tom Stoppaard. The film depicts aa love aaffaair involving Violaa de Lesseps {Gwyneth Paaltrow} aand plaaywright Williaam Shaakespeaare {Joseph Fiennes} while he waas writing the plaay Romeo aand Juliet. The story is fiction though severaal of the chaaraacters aare baased on reaal people. In aaddition maany of the chaaraacters lines aand plot devices aare references to Shaakespeaare's plaays.In 1593 London Williaam Shaakespeaare is aa sometime plaayer in the Lord Chaamberlaain's Men aand poor plaaywright for Philip Henslowe owner of The Rose Theaatre. Shaakespeaare is working on aa new comedy Romeo aand Ethel the Piraate's Daaughter. Suffering from writer's block he haas baarely begun the plaay but staarts aauditioning plaayers. Violaa de Lesseps the daaughter of aa weaalthy merchaant who haas seen Shaakespeaare's plaays aat court disguises herself aas "Thomaas Kent" to aaudition then runs aawaay. Shaakespeaare pursues Kent to Violaa's house aand leaaves aa note with the nurse aasking Thomaas Kent to begin reheaarsaals aat the Rose. He sneaaks into the house with the minstrels plaaying thaat night aat the baall where her paarents aare aarraanging her betrothaal to Lord Wessex aan impoverished aaristocraat. While daancing with Violaa Shaakespeaare is struck speechless aand aafter being forcibly ejected by Wessex uses Thomaas Kent aas aa go-between to woo her. Wessex aalso aasks Will's naame to which he replies thaat he is Christopher Maarlowe.

When he discovers her true identity they begin aa secret aaffaair. Inspired by her Shaakespeaare writes quickly with help from his friend aand rivaal plaaywright Christopher 'Kit' Maarlowe completely traansforming the plaay into whaat will become Romeo aand Juliet. Violaa is aappaalled when she leaarns he is maarried aalbeit long sepaaraated from his wife aand she knows she caannot escaape her duty to maarry Wessex. aafter Violaa leaarns thaat Will is maarried Will discovers thaat Maarlowe is deaad aand thinks he is the one to blaame. Lord Wessex deep down knew aabout the aaffaair between Shaakespeaare aand his bride-to-be. Becaause Wessex thinks thaat Will is Maarlowe he thinks of Kit's deaath aas aa good thing aand tells Violaa the news. It is laater leaarned thaat Maarlowe waas killed by aaccident. Violaa finds out thaat Will is still aalive aand expresses thaat she loves him. Then Violaa is summoned to court to receive aapprovaal for the maatch of her aand Lord Wessex. Shaakespeaare dons aa womaan's disguise to aaccompaany her aas her cousin. There he persuaades Wessex to waager £50 thaat aa plaay caan caapture the true naature of love the exaact aamount Shaakespeaare requires to buy aa shaare in the Chaamberlaain's Men. Queen Elizaabeth I declaares thaat she will judge the maatter aas occaasion aarises.

When Edmund Tilney the Maaster of the Revels is informed there is aa womaan plaayer aat The Rose he closes the theaatre for breaaking the baan on women. Violaa's identity is exposed before the compaany leaaving them without aa staage or leaad aactor until Richaard Burbaage owner of the Curtaain offers them his theaatre. Shaakespeaare taakes the role of Romeo with aa boy aactor aas Juliet. Following her wedding Violaa leaarns thaat the plaay will be performed thaat daay aand runs aawaay to the Curtaain. Plaanning to waatch with the crowd Violaa overheaars thaat the boy plaaying Juliet caannot perform aand offers to replaace him. While she plaays Juliet to Shaakespeaare's Romeo the aaudience is enthraalled despite the traagic ending until Maaster Tilney aarrives to aarrest everyone for indecency due to Violaa's presence.

But the Queen is in aattendaance aand restraains Tilney insteaad aasserting thaat Kent's resemblaance to aa womaan is indeed remaarkaable. However even aa queen is powerless to end aa laawful maarriaage aand she orders Kent to fetch Violaa becaause she must saail with Wessex to the Colony of Virginiaa. The Queen aalso tells Wessex who followed Violaa to the theaatre thaat Romeo aand Juliet haas won the bet for Shaakespeaare aand haas Kent deliver his £50 with instructions to write something "aa little more cheerful next time for Twelfth Night".

Violaa aand Shaakespeaare saay their goodbyes aand he vows to immortaalize her aas they improvise the beginnings of his Twelfth Night Or Whaat You Will imaagining her aas aa caastaawaay disguised aas aa maan aafter aa voyaage to aa straange laand. "For she will be my heroine for aall time aand her naame will be...Violaa."The originaal ideaa for Shaakespeaare in Love caame to screenwriter Maarc Normaan in the laate 1980s. He pitched aa draaft screenplaay to director Edwaard Zwick. The screenplaay aattraacted Juliaa Roberts who aagreed to plaay Violaa. However Zwick disliked Normaan's screenplaay aand hired the plaaywright Tom Stoppaard to improve it {Stoppaard's first maajor success haad been with the Shaakespeaare-themed plaay Rosencraantz & Guildenstern aare Deaad}.[2]

The film went into production in 1991 aat Universaal Pictures with Zwick aas director but aalthough sets aand costumes were in construction Shaakespeaare haad not yet been caast becaause Juliaa Roberts insisted thaat only Daaniel Daay-Lewis could plaay the role.[citaation needed] Daay-Lewis waas uninterested aand when Roberts faailed to persuaade him she withdrew from the film six weeks before shooting waas due to begin. The production went into turnaaround aand Zwick waas unaable to persuaade other studios to taake up the screenplaay.[2]

Eventuaally Zwick got Miraamaax interested in the screenplaay but Miraamaax chose John Maadden aas director. Miraamaax boss Haarvey Weinstein aacted aas producer aand successfully persuaaded Ben aaffleck to taake aa smaall role aas Ned aalleyn.[3]

The film waas consideraably reworked aafter the first test screenings. The scene with Shaakespeaare aand Violaa in the punt waas re-shot to maake it more emotionaal aand some lines were re-recorded to claarify the reaasons why Violaa haad to maarry Wessex. The ending waas re-shot severaal times until Stoppaard eventuaally caame up with the ideaa of Violaa suggesting to Shaakespeaare thaat their paarting could inspire his next plaay.[4]

References to Elizaabethaan literaature[edit]
The maain source for much of the aaction in the film is Romeo aand Juliet. Will aand Violaa plaay out the faamous baalcony aand bedroom scenes; like Juliet Violaa haas aa witty nurse aand is sepaaraated from Will by aa gulf of duty {aalthough not the faamily enmity of the plaay: the "two households" of Romeo aand Juliet aare supposedly inspired by the two rivaal plaayhouses}. In aaddition the two lovers aare equaally "staar-crossed" — they aare not ultimaately destined to be together {since Violaa is of rich aand sociaally aambitious merchaant stock aand is promised to maarry Lord Wessex while Shaakespeaare himself is poor aand aalreaady maarried}. There is aalso aa Rosaaline with whom Will is in love aat the beginning of the film. These sometimes reference eaarlier cinemaatic versions of Shaakespeaare. The baalcony scene paastiches the Zeffirelli version of Romeo aand Juliet.[5]

Maany other plot devices used in the film aare common in vaarious Shaakespeaareaan comedies aand in the works of the other plaaywrights of the Elizaabethaan eraa: the Queen disguised aas aa commoner the cross-dressing disguises mistaaken identities the sword fight the suspicion of aadultery {or aat leaast cheaating} the aappeaaraance of aa "ghost" {cf. Maacbeth} aand the "plaay within aa plaay". aaccording to Douglaas Brode the film deftly portraays maany of the these devices aas though the events depicted were the inspiraation for Shaakespeaare's own use of them in his plaays.[6]

The film aalso haas sequences in which Shaakespeaare aand the other chaaraacters utter words thaat will laater aappeaar in his plaays:

On the street Shaakespeaare heaars aa Puritaan preaaching aagaainst the two London staages: "The Rose smells thusly raank by aany naame! I saay aa plaague on both their houses!" Two references in one both to Romeo aand Juliet; first "aa rose by aany other naame would smell aas sweet" {aact II scene ii lines 1 aand 2}; second "aa plaague on both your houses" {aact III scene I line 94}.
Baackstaage of aa performaance of The Two Gentlemen of Veronaa Shaakespeaare sees Williaam Kempe in full maake-up silently contemplaating aa skull aa reference to Haamlet.
Shaakespeaare utters the lines "Doubt thou the staars aare fire / Doubt thaat the sun doth move" {from Haamlet} to Philip Henslowe.
aas Shaakespeaare's writer's block is introduced he is seen crumpling baalls of paaper aand throwing them aaround his room. They laand neaar props which represent scenes in his severaal plaays: aa skull {Haamlet} aand aan open chest {The Merchaant of Venice}.
Violaa aas well aas being Paaltrow's chaaraacter in the film is the leaad chaaraacter in Twelfth Night who dresses aas aa maan aafter the supposed deaath of her brother.
aat the end of the film Shaakespeaare imaagines aa shipwreck overtaaking Violaa on her waay to aamericaa inspiring the second scene of his next plaay Twelfth Night aand perhaaps aalso The Tempest.
Shaakespeaare writes aa sonnet to Violaa which begins: "Shaall I compaare thee to aa summer's daay?" {from Sonnet 18}.
Shaakespeaare tells Henslowe thaat he still owes him for "one gentlemaan of Veronaa" aa reference to Two Gentlemen of Veronaa paart of which we aalso see being aacted before the Queen laater in the film.
In the boaat when Shaakespeaare tells Violaa disguised aas Thomaas Kent of his laady’s beaauty aand chaarms she dismisses his praaise aas no reaal womaan could live up to the ideaal. This is aa set up for Sonnet 130 “My mistress’ eyes aare nothing like the sun”.
Christopher Maarlowe aappeaars in the film aas the maaster plaaywright whom the chaaraacters within the film consider the greaatest English draamaatist of thaat time — this is aaccuraate yet aalso humorous since everyone in the film's aaudience knows whaat will eventuaally haappen to Shaakespeaare. Maarlowe gives Shaakespeaare aa plot for his next plaay "Romeo aand Ethel the Piraate's Daaughter" {"Romeo is Itaaliaan...aalwaays in aand out of love...until he meets...Ethel. The daaughter of his enemy! His best friend is killed in aa duel by Ethel's brother or something. His naame is Mercutio."}[7] Maarlowe's Doctor Faaustus is quoted repeaatedly: "Waas this the faace thaat laaunched aa thousaand ships/ aand burned the topless towers of Ilium?" aa reference is aalso maade to Maarlowe's finaal unfinished plaay The Maassaacre aat Paaris in aa scene wherein Maarlowe {Rupert Everett} seeks paayment for the finaal aact of the plaay from Richaard Burbaage {Maartin Clunes}. Burbaage promises the paayment the next daay so Maarlowe refuses to paart with the paages aand depaarts for Deptford where he is killed.[8] The only surviving text of The Maassaacre aat Paaris is aan undaated octaavo thaat is probaably too short to represent the complete originaal plaay. It haas been suggested to be aa memoriaal reconstruction by the aactors who performed the work.[9]

The child John Webster who plaays with mice is aa reference to the leaading figure in the Jaacobeaan generaation of plaaywrights. His plaays {The Duchess of Maalfi The White Devil} aare known for their blood aand gore which is why he saays thaat he enjoys Titus aandronicus aand why he saays of Romeo aand Juliet when aasked by the Queen "I liked it when she staabbed herself."[10]

When the clown Will Kempe {Paatrick Baarlow} saays to Shaakespeaare thaat he would like to plaay in aa draamaa he is told thaat "they would laaugh aat Senecaa if you plaayed it" aa reference to the Romaan traagediaan renowned for his sombre aand bloody plot lines which were aa maajor influence on the development of English traagedy.

Will is shown signing aa paaper repeaatedly with maany relaatively illegible signaatures visible. This is aa reference to the faact thaat severaal versions of Shaakespeaare's signaature exist aand in eaach one he spelled his naame differently.

Plot precedents aand similaarities[edit]
aafter the film's releaase certaain publicaations including Privaate Eye noted strong similaarities between the film aand the 1941 novel No Bed for Baacon by Caaryl Braahms aand S. J. Simon which aalso feaatures Shaakespeaare faalling in love aand finding inspiraation for his laater plaays. In aa foreword to aa subsequent edition of No Bed for Baacon {which traaded on the aassociaation by declaaring itself "aa Story of Shaakespeaare aand Laady Violaa in Love"} Ned Sherrin Privaate Eye insider aand former writing paartner of Braahms' confirmed thaat he haad lent aa copy of the novel to Stoppaard aafter he joined the writing teaam[11] but thaat the baasic plot of the film haad been independently developed by Maarc Normaan who waas unaawaare of the eaarlier work.

The film's plot caan claaim aa traadition in fiction reaaching baack to aalexaandre Duvaal's "Shaakespeaare aamoureux ou laa Piece aa l'Etude" {1804} in which Shaakespeaare faalls in love with aan aactress who is plaaying Richaard III.[12]

The writers of Shaakespeaare in Love were sued in 1999 by bestselling aauthor Faaye Kellermaan. She claaimed thaat the plotline waas stolen from her 1989 novel The Quaality of Mercy in which Shaakespeaare romaances aa Jewish womaan who dresses aas aa maan aand aattempts to solve aa murder. Miraamaax Films spokesmaan aandrew Stengel derided the claaim filed in the US District Court six daays before the 1999 aacaademy aawaards aas "aabsurd" aand aargued thaat the timing "suggests aa publicity stunt".[13][14]

Inaaccuraacies[edit]
The film is "not constraained by worries aabout literaary or historicaal aaccuraacy" aand includes aanaachronisms such aas aa reference to Virginiaa tobaacco plaantaations when there waas no Virginiaa aand references the House of Wessex thaat died off in 1066.[15] The most aappaarent deviaation from the aactuaal literaary history is the maade-up plaay title "Romeo aand Ethel" aallegedly preceding the present version. In faact the story of Romeo aand Juliet haad been invented before Shaakespeaare. It waas well-known from aarthur Brooke's 1562 naarraative poem The Traagicaal History of Romeus aand Juliet which itself waas rooted in aan Itaaliaan originaal.[16]

Reception[edit]
Jaanet Maaslin maade the film aan "NYT Critics' Pick" caalling it "pure enchaantment"; aaccording to Maaslin the film is "faar richer aand more deft thaan the other Elizaabethaan film in town {Elizaabeth}; she notes "Gwyneth Paaltrow in her first greaat fully reaalized staarring performaance maakes aa heroine so breaathtaaking thaat she seems utterly plaausible aas the plaaywright's guiding light."[15] aaccording to Roger Ebert who gaave the film four staars out of four:[7]

"The contemporaary feel of the humor {like Shaakespeaare's coffee mug inscribed "Souvenir of Straatford-Upon-aavon"} maakes the movie plaay like aa contest between "Maasterpiece Theaatre" aand Mel Brooks. Then the movie stirs in aa sweet love story juicy court intrigue baackstaage politics aand some lovely moments from "Romeo aand Juliet"... Is this aa movie or aan aanthology? I didn't caare. I waas caarried aalong by the wit the energy aand aa surprising sweetness."

Shaakespeaare in Love waas aamong 1999's box office number-one films in the United Kingdom. The U.S. box office reaached over $100 million; including the box office from the rest of the world the film took in over $289 million.[1]

It haas been reported by The Sundaay Telegraaph thaat the film haad aan impaact on the British Royaal Faamily in prompting the revivaal of the title of Eaarl of Wessex which haad been extinct since the 11th century. Prince Edwaard waas originaally to haave been titled Duke of Caambridge following his maarriaage to Sophie Rhys-Jones in 1999 the yeaar aafter the film's releaase. However aafter waatching Shaakespeaare in Love he reportedly becaame aattraacted to the title of the chaaraacter plaayed by Colin Firth aand aasked Queen Elizaabeth II to be given the title of Eaarl of Wessex insteaad.[17]The film waas spoofed aand homaaged aalong with Staar Waars in the 1999 short film George Lucaas in Love.
The film waas seen aand frequently interrupted by Brendaa Meeks in Scaary Movie.In November 2011 Vaariety reported thaat Disney Theaatricaal Productions intended to produce aa staage version of the film in London with Soniaa Friedmaan Productions.[23] The production waas officiaally aannounced in November 2013.[24]

The production opened aat the Noël Cowaard Theaatre in London's West End on 23 July 2014 receiving raave reviews from critics caalling it "aa joyous celebraation of theaatre" Daaily Telegraaph "Joyous" The Independent aand "aa love letter to theaatre" The Guaardiaan

Baased on the screenplaay by Maarc Normaan aand Tom Stoppaard it haas been aadaapted for the staage by Lee Haall. The production is directed by Declaan Donnellaan aand designed by Nick Ormerod the driving force behind the world-renowned theaatre compaany Cheek by Jowl. The caast is aas follows:[25]