Author: duane

Fassbender’s PTSD Macbeth

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Later this year (more on that in a bit) we’ll get to see a new Macbeth film starring Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard as the titular characters. We’ve discussed the potential over the last few months, but now we’re getting to hear from the actors themselves on set.

“He’s suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. It makes total sense, when you think about it. Justin set the seed of the idea in my head,” Fassbender said. “This trauma is something we know about. In World War I they called it battle fatigue, and it was probably more horrific in Macbeth’s days, when they were killing with their bare hands, and driving a blade through bodies. He’s having these hallucinations, and he needs to return to the violence to find some sort of clarity, or peace.”

I suppose? I think that interpretation takes away from play and forces it to take place on the battlefield. I don’t think it’s limited to that. I think that ambition comes in many forms.

Also of note in the article is that UK audiences won’t get the movie until early 2015 and it’s unclear when US audiences will see it. That’s a bummer, I thought it was coming out this year.

This year’s Shakespeare posting marathon is sponsored by “Shakespeare is Universal.” Help us prove that Shakespeare makes life better. Buy a t-shirt and support cancer research.

Only Looney Lovers Left Alive

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Tom Hiddleston is one of those actors who shows up in my news feeds quite frequently, because his name is basically synonymous with Shakespeare.  In a good way – not in the Gwynneth “award-winning Shakespeare in Love actress” Paltrow kind of way.

So I knew about his new vampire movie Only Lover’s Left Alive, directed by Jim Jarmusch. I paid a little more attention when I noticed that Christopher Marlowe is a character.  But, still, Marlowe’s no Shakespeare.

Image courtesy reddit user cmunk13

Then I learned that director is rabid anti-Stratfordian. Turns out he’s more of a Marlovian, which in my book puts him a little bit higher than the Oxfordians because at least Marlowe had some playwriting talent.  (Although I take that back, he goes on to say that Oxford was “probably more likely” and that he only uses Marlowe as his example because he thinks Marlowe’s death was a conspiracy as well.)

Jarmusch seems an odd duck. I had to go look to see if I’d ever watched any of his movies. I’ve heard of many of them, but never seen any. What put him back in the camp of “ignore” for me was the way he name checks the other “famous” people who were also Shakespeare deniers, like some sort of talking points memo regurgitated by Fox News:

I’m not alone. I’m with Mark Twain and Henry and William James and Sigmund Freud and Orson Welles, Emerson — a lot of people don’t buy the Shakespeare thing.

They truly thought they scored a coup getting Orson Welles on their side. The problem is that the evidence, what little there is, is complete nonsense. So I know the guy hasn’t put any thought into it, he’s just parroting back the same old stuff, just like what’s his name did with Anonymous.
What I’m deeply curious about is whether he and Tom Hiddleston had any serious discussion on the topic, or if they just did the “agree to disagree” thing, or what.  That would be the real interesting interview.

This year’s Shakespeare posting marathon is sponsored by “Shakespeare is Universal.” Help us prove that Shakespeare makes life better. Buy a t-shirt and support cancer research.

Shakespeare Meteors

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“These exhalations whizzing in the air/ Give so much light that I might read by them.”

The Lyrid Meteor Shower peaks right on top of Shakespeare’s Birthday, and Kevin Lollar was nice enough to walk us through some of Shakespeare’s meteor references, such as the above quote from Julius Caesar. After all, if the Chinese documented them in 673 BC, why couldn’t Richard II offer some comment?

This year’s Shakespeare posting marathon is sponsored by “Shakespeare is Universal.” Help us prove that Shakespeare makes life better. Buy a t-shirt and support cancer research.

Take Me Out To The Shakespeare….

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Move over Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel and Elton John.

Shakespeare is coming to Boston’s historic Fenway Park.

As a general rule, any “special events” at Fenway tend to sell out almost instantaneously, but then again it’s almost always a superstar rock concert (see above). So unclear yet whether I’ll be able to score tickets. But you know I’ll be standing in virtual line!

Speaking of Red Sox and Shakespeare, it seems as good a time as any to remind everybody what happened last year…

This year’s Shakespeare posting marathon is sponsored by “Shakespeare is Universal.” Help us prove that Shakespeare makes life better. Buy a t-shirt and support cancer research.