![]() The only minor part I had trouble with was Billy Crystal as the First Gravedigger. Not fit for the front line, but good enough to keep watch over the palace (or at least as good as anyone else they have doing that job). Many people thought Lemmon miscast as Marcellus but I thought he was believable as a superannuated legionnaire. Gérard Depardieu is a quietly slimy Reynaldo. ![]() Heston gets to out-Herod Herod as the Player King. I don’t think the cameos have the same shock-and-awe effect as the sets. You have to shake your head at the theatrical release poster with all the stars listed: Julie Christie, Charlton Heston, Jack Lemmon, Robin Williams, Billy Crystal! No mention of Richard Briers (Polonius), Nicholas Farrell (Horatio), or Michael Maloney (Laertes), even though these are the third, fourth, and fifth biggest parts in the play respectively. The plan was to cast big names in small parts and less well-known actors in the major roles (this was Kate Winslet at 17, just before she did Titanic). In which of these did 70 mm make any sense? It made me think of the other movies that have been done since in 70 mm in recent years: The Master, The Hateful Eight, and Branagh’s own Murder on the Orient Express. It also made me wonder why it was being shot in the large format. It’s a distinctive look, but I don’t know what the purpose of that look is aside from being different. the spacious, orderly palace isn’t used either atmospherically or ironically, and it’s awfully pretty for the story that unfolds.” But is all change good? Lloyd Rose called this version “the film equivalent of a lushly illustrated coffee-table book. He also wanted something more political in a modern sense, more backroom and boardroom than Game of Thrones. ![]() He wanted light, and wide open spaces (which feel even wider in 70 mm). Branagh didn’t want the usual gloomy, gothic Elsinore. This, the spectacle, was a conscious choice, and is defensible. Kenneth Branagh not only makes Shakespeare play as perfectly natural, he whips the action along at a lively pace that has this movie feeling much quicker than its running time. At Blenheim Palace and a giant stage at Shepperton. ![]() The full text - meaning the First Folio text-plus, the so-called “eternity version” - done in four hours. ![]()
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