If I were the director of the new Hamlet, I would make it as a mix of soap opera and action. I think the play Hamlet conveys seriousness, breath-taking excitement and bewilderment. Scenes where Polonius and Claudius discuss about Hamlet's queer actions reminds me of serious soap operas while the dual between Hamlet and Laertes brings up the action.
I would choose the early 1950s to the 1960s of America as the time period. That is when the United States were the most prosperous and joyful, after bringing victory from World War 2. Also, that is when there were a lot of industrial revolutions. I would make Hamlet the son of one of the wealthiest billionaire instead of a royal Danish king. As a brother of a billionaire, Claudius would murder his brother with a gun. Also, I realized that there are a lot of reference to swords in the play. Instead I would replace swords with guns, that way it would match the time period. For the two women characters in the play, I would make Gertrude a former prostitute who needs a man beside her. For Ophelia, I would make her more intelligent and sympathetic than how she is represented in the book. She would be a different characterization of woman at that time period. I would make this movie similar to the "Great Gatsby" film that came out recently made by Baz Lurman. The movie itself is very bright and the setting symbolizes extreme wealth and opulence and I would use overly dramatized music to make the movie more suspenseful and exciting. Although old English is a great way to represent Hamlet, I would make mine modern English so that everyone, including pre-teens could understand the movie.
For Characters:
For Characters:
Benedict Cumberbatch as Hamlet
Amanda Seyfried as Ophelia
Sally Field as Gertrude
Gary Oldman as Claudius
Matt Bomer as Horatio
Sean Connery as the King
For the setting:
I think re-creating Hamlet into a specific genre adds to the overall story of the play because Hamlet consists a lot of severe dilemmas and extreme emotions within the characters. By doing so, we are able to analyze the play itself more thoroughly and enhance our perspectives of Hamlet.
Would changing the mindset and backstory of the characters be a good idea? I think if you were to go a different direction in all ways, the play would almost be unrecognizable. Regardless, I really like the idea of moving towards a 50s-60s setting and the positions the characters are in.
ReplyDeleteI like your character choices for Hamlet and Gertrude (They're the same as mine ;D)
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of placing it in the 50's/60's I think it would be interesting. The only thing is that if you say Claudius will kill Hamlet Sr. with a gun then people would know it wasn't an accidental death and that he was murdered. Also, Gary Oldman in anything is always a plus!