Notes from the Shakespeare Film Company
What follows are the preliminary
production ideas for Ken's upcoming film adaptations. They were
printed in a promotional presskit designed for fundraising for
The Shakespeare Film Company.
ALL INFORMATION IS SUBJECT
TO CHANGE. (And most likely will :)
**thanks to Jude
written by Kenneth Branagh
LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST is a superbly
funny, heartbreaking romance, based on one of Shakespeare's most
easily understood and brilliantly entertaining comedies.
The original play has all the
ingredients of classic film romantic comedy and it is to these
classics that we have looked for our production ideas.
The film will be set between
the casual elegance and sexiness of Fred Astaire's 30's hits
and the more vigourous and robust 50's movies of Gene Kelly.
To convey Shakespeare's potent
mixture of romance, style and delicious slapstick we will draw
on the inspirations of cinema greats such as Busby Berkeley.
The great Edwardian theatre critic
Harley Granville Barker suggested the play could be understood
most effectively in terms of song and dance. We've taken him
at his word along with the genius of Cole Porter, Irving Berlin,
George Gershwin and Jerome Kern. Love's Labour's Lost will be
our valentine to the unforgettable world of classic screen musicals,
with songs such as "Let's Face the Music and Dance",
"Dancing Cheek to Cheek", "They Can't Take That
Away from Me".
These classics will be combined
with many more 20th century songs and together they will make
for a joyful, instantly hummable, life affirming experience.
The ultimate aim is to reach
an audience unfamiliar with any of the films antecedents and
make it sexy, glamourous and funny in a way that will speak to
a younger audience of today. The romantic leads and their hilarious
sidekicks will be drawn from both new and established performers
from around the world.
With a unique style and an overt
contemporary frission, Love's Labour's Lost will be a movie treat
for people of all ages and cultures.
MACBETH
The tragedy is transplanted to
the beginning of a new millennium. An utterly modern setting
in which Shakespeare's warfare takes place amid the corridors
of power in financial centres around the world.
The bloody battle for leadership
centres on the control of a global media empire. The motives
are the same. Ruthless ambition, lust and envy. But here the
murders take place on Wall Street. At stake, the fates of nations,
the lives of innocent people....the future of the world's economy.
At the centre of the film, an
impossibly glamourous and successful couple, who's passionate
union will stop at nothing to attain their diabolical ends.
Sex, money, power and the spectre
of pure unadulterated evil make this most chilling of Shakespeare's
tragedies, a modern morality tale to quicken the pulse of even
the most jaded of thriller audiences.
AS YOU LIKE IT
The sunniest and most heart-warming
of Shakespeare's comedies. A love story of tenderness and joy.
A universal tale of family reunions and happy endings, set in
the giddy, magical world of Shakespeare's Forest of Arden.
To convey the mystery and charm
of this magical wood we take the play to Japan's Kyoto. Here
at cherry blossom time, the story unfolds with all the excitement
and pageantry of Samurai tradition. European influences clashing
dramatically with the ancient order.
In the midst of it all, the beautiful
Rosaline, disguised as a boy, finds her father and her lover
with the aid of Shakespeare's usual help - Comedians, Royals,
Spirits and in this case, a sumo wrestler!
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