To Star, Perchance to Act.

• Author: Kehr, Dave
• Position: Shakespeare on the big screen - Brief Article

Ethan Hawke takes on Hamlet, and to his own self is true

A report that two thirds of leading American universities had dropped the Shakespeare requirement for English majors prompted worries in some circles that the Bard had become a has-been. Well, rest easy. This spring, actor Ethan Hawke, 29, will hit the big screen in the latest adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet, this one set in the modern corporate world and co-starring Bill Murray and Sam Shepard. Asked why he'd taken the role, Hawke answered, "I don't want to wake up at 65 hot having done it."

He isn't the only one. Over the years, more than 40 productions of Hamlet have appeared on TV and film, helping to make its author one of Hollywood's most successful writers ever. Not only was Shakespeare the most produced playwright in 1990s America, a poll by the British Broadcasting Corporation named him "the Briton of the Millennium."

BIG YEAR FOR THE BARD

Last year alone, filmmakers mounted nine different versions of Shakespeare's works. Among them: A Midsummer Night's Dream, starring Calista (Ally McBeal) Flockhart, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Kevin Kline; Othello, recast as the tale of a black student at an all-white school; Love's Labour's Lost, done as a 1930s musical with Alicia Silverstone and Nathan Lane; Titus starring Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange; and Romeo Must Die, an adaptation of the classic love story, with rap singer Aaliyah.

Since the box-office take for Shakespeare films is generally much more modest than for megastar action flicks, why are so many pampered, big-name actors taking pay cuts for the privilege of being in one? A possible answer: because they're not being hired as stars, but as actors. And their reward, no doubt, lies in the opportunity to reach beyond the constricting, stereotypical roles that earn them millions in order to touch the truth of more human, complex characters. It's their chance, as acting teachers like to say, to tune their instrument.

And producers choose the marquee stars over more practiced Shakespearean actors for reasons of their own--to attract the money needed to bankroll a movie, and to draw audiences. Hawke's proven appeal in mainstream films like Great Expectations and Reality Bites could well draw moviegoers who don't know Hamlet from ham and eggs.

A HOLLYWOOD PLAYER

The truth, though, is that Shakespeare has always been a big man with the Hollywood crowd. After all, his themes are universal, his characters complex, his plots filled...