Hamlet (2000)

Directed by

Michael Almereyda

Genre

drama film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 47m

Rated

R

Rating

5.8 of 10 from 142 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A young film student in New York City seeks revenge after his uncle takes over his father's corporation by murder. The story uses the original Shakespearean dialogue but places it in a world of video cameras and corporate power.

melancholiccerebralgrittyslow-burntenseunsettlingmodernvisually stark

What happens

Hamlet, also known as Hamlet 2000, is a 2000 American drama film written and directed by Michael Almereyda, set in contemporary New York City, and based on the Shakespeare play of the same name. Ethan Hawke plays Hamlet as a film student, Kyle MacLachlan co-stars as Uncle Claudius, with Diane Venora as Gertrude, Liev Schreiber as Laertes, Julia Stiles as Ophelia, Steve Zahn as Rosencrantz, Bill Murray as Polonius, and Sam Shepard as Hamlet's father. In this version of Hamlet, Claudius is the CEO or "king" of the Denmark Corporation, having taken over the firm by killing his brother, Hamlet's father. This adaptation keeps the Shakespearean dialogue but presents a modern setting, with technology such as video cameras, Polaroid cameras, and surveillance bugs. For example, the ghost of Hamlet's murdered father first appears on closed-circuit TV. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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