I'm putting together a list of movies that are based on story lines from Shakespeare, without being actual movies of Shakespeare plays like Much Ado About Nothing.
Most of them seem to be teen movies. Can anyone think of any others?
West Side Story (Romeo and Juliet)
She's the Man (Twelfth Night)
10 Things I Hate About You (Taming of the Shrew)
Get Over It (Midsummer Night's Dream)
They don't have to be comedies, even though all of those are.
Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
Romeo Must Die? Posted by Carrie (Member # 394) on :
Don't forget "Kiss me Kate," which is still my favorite adaptation.
Also: Here you go. Posted by Javert (Member # 3076) on :
Well...would 'Shakespeare in Love' qualify? It's one of my favorite movies.
Posted by SenojRetep (Member # 8614) on :
Before looking at Carrie's linked Wikipedia list, the only one I had thought of was "O," a teenage adaptation of Othello, which Julia Stiles made not too long after "10 Things I Hate About You."
After seeing "Two Gentlemen from Verona" last Summer I decided it was perfect for a modern, American set adaptation. The wiki-link doesn't list any known movie adaptations; I should get started on a script.
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
I hadn't realized that O was an adaptation of Othello. I'll have to see it.
Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone.
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
It is more of an "actual" Shakespeare, but I absolutely love Much Ado about Nothing where Denzel Washington and Keanu Reeves are brothers. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107616/
And it has Emma Watson in it too!
(I don't know if this is the version you were referring to in your first post Lisa or not)
[ January 23, 2008, 12:55 PM: Message edited by: BannaOj ]
Posted by theamazeeaz (Member # 6970) on :
"Deliver us from Eva"? Isn't that another remake of the Taming of the Shrew?
Posted by Javert (Member # 3076) on :
I can't believe I forgot.
"The Lion King"
Hamlet, anyone?
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
Loosely, anyway. If it was closely based on Hamlet, most of the main characters would have died.
And besides, Disney based it more on Osamu Tezuka's Jungle Emperor Leo, known in America as Kimba and Leo the White Lion...though they usually try and not draw attention to that.
My own favorite "based on, but not" Shakespeare film is Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood, loosely adapted from Macbeth. Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
Strange Brew (Hamlet)
Posted by MEC (Member # 2968) on :
Puffy beat me to it, but yeah, I second that.
Posted by breyerchic04 (Member # 6423) on :
Gargoyls used a lot of MacBeth stuff, but wasn't directly based.
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
Strange Brew? The Bob and Doug thing?
Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
I can think of at least three movies that fall into a similar category for Jane Austen, if you're interested. Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
Strange Brew is Hamlet.
Bob and Doug are Rosencrantz and Gildenstern.
Elsinore Brewery is Elsinore castle.
The girl that befriends Bob and Doug is Hamlet.
The hockey player from the insane asylum is Ophelia.
Her uncle Claude (Claudius) killed her father in order to take over the brewery. Her father's ghost comes to her and tells her that this happened. Sound familiar?
In the beginning of the scene where the Ophelia character "drowns" along with Bob and Doug (they're saved by breathing beer bubbles), he's even holding flowers.
Posted by Liz B (Member # 8238) on :
Scotland, PA is based on MacBeth and is definitely a movie for adults. And it's FUNNY.
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
Lion King II tried to be Romeo and Juliet, but it doesn't really work without the big finish. Also, it was just generally awful.
Posted by aeolusdallas (Member # 11455) on :
Forbidden Planet is a very good adaptation of the Tempest
Posted by Jim-Me (Member # 6426) on :
quote:Originally posted by BannaOj:And it has Emma Watson in it too!
I believe you mean Emma Thompson. I checked and Ms. Watson was 3 when that movie was released. But yes it was great. I liked Michael Keaton.
I am stunned to find out about Strange Brew... I will now have to go watch it (for the first time in a couple of decades).
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
I recall there actually being more parallels, but it's been too long since I've seen it.
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
quote:Originally posted by aeolusdallas: Forbidden Planet is a very good adaptation of the Tempest
Forbidden Planet from the 50s?
Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
quote:Originally posted by aeolusdallas: Forbidden Planet is a very good adaptation of the Tempest
Forbidden Planet from the 50s?
Yes
Posted by The Rabbit (Member # 671) on :
quote:Originally posted by pooka: Lion King II tried to be Romeo and Juliet, but it doesn't really work without the big finish. Also, it was just generally awful.
The Lion King I was Hamlet.
Posted by Snail (Member # 9958) on :
quote:Originally posted by Puffy Treat: My own favorite "based on, but not" Shakespeare film is Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood, loosely adapted from Macbeth.
Also Kurosawa's Ran, which is a version of King Lear.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
quote:Originally posted by The Rabbit: The Lion King I was Hamlet.
Except only the good king and his evil brother died, and everyone else lived happily ever after.
-That- wasn't Hamlet. Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
Lion King II tried to be Romeo and Juliet, but it doesn't really work without the big finish.
Disney couldn't get the double teenager suicide to pan out beyond the storyboard stage,
Also, it was just generally awful.
"Scar had a band of evil lioness wives on his side in the first film! You just never saw 'em! And one of them has a son who looks just like Scar, but isn't REALLY his son so it won't be incest when he falls in love with Simba's daughter! It's brilliant I tell you, BRILLIANT!"
*sigh*
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
There was a book by Lawrence Block where his protaganist, who wrote term papers and theses and dissertations for a living, wrote a paper maintaining that Hamlet was actually a comedy, rather than a tragedy.
Posted by Tara (Member # 10030) on :
This is a cool thread.
Posted by Uprooted (Member # 8353) on :
I never saw the movie, but A Thousand Acres the book was King Lear.
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
"High School Musical" is Romeo and Juliet,
Except with Singing instead of Suicide.
and Cliques instead of feuding families murdering each other.
and Basketball instead of sword fights
and set in Generic California, not Venice Italy (though it could be Venice California. I never saw the movie so I don't know)
So, maybe not to much like it after all.
Posted by Liz B (Member # 8238) on :
I took a Shakespeare staff development where one of our activities was to choose a new setting for Romeo and Juliet. (The idea is that, similar to many modern productions, you keep all of Shakespeare's words but set the play in a different time/ place to make it ,ore relevant/ make people think.)
Our group set it in modern day Northern Virginia (where our district is). Juliet was Hispanic (her father was a Spanish-speaking immigrant from, I believe, El Salvador, involved in construction); Romeo was white and the son of a contractor. They met when Romeo crashed her quinceanera, but they had further associations through the local Catholic church, where the young, cool youth pastor Father Lawrence (Laurence?can't remember) was trying to get the white kids and Hispanics to find common ground. It was shocking how well it fit our current situation in NoVa.
Gosh, it was a fun activity. And obviously very transferable to the classroom. How much more interesting than taking turns reading the play out loud.
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