Hamlet

This summer's Hamlet is the hipster's version. A modern day retelling set in contemporary New York starring Ethan Hawke as Hamlet (moving up the intellectual ladder from Pip in Dicken's Great Expectations). Teen star Julia Stiles plays love interest Ophelia, the hilarious Bill Murray does Polonius, and actor/playwright Sam Shepard shows up as Hamlet's father. Not a bad cast. Too bad Miramax didn't pick a play we didn't know inside and out, but nonetheless, this appears to be excellent summer fare. The reviews are raves.

MPAA Rating: R (for some violence)
Distributor: Miramax

Cast: Ethan Hawke (Hamlet), Kyle MacLachlan (Claudius), Julia Stiles (Ophelia), Bill Murray (Polonius), Sam Shepard (Hamlet's father), Diane Venora (Gertrude), Casey Affleck (Fortinbras), Liev Schrieber (Laertes), Karl Geary (Horatio), Steve Zahn (Rosencrantz), Dechen Thurman (Gildenstern), Jeffrey Wright (Gravedigger)

Director/Screenplay Adaptation: Michael Almereyda

Reviews

LA Times
Director Michael Almereyda imagines Hamlet taking place in present-day Manhattan with such vigor, insight and originality that the power and immediacy of his film makes Shakespeare accessible in an exciting and provocative manner beyond all expectations.

Salon
If anything, Almereyda's Hamlet is a meditation on the timelessness of the material. It's deeply inventive within the framework of the story, and it's funny in unexpected places.

More

The Official Site

Ethan Hawke answers Eight Questions about Hamlet
The If Magazine Interview

Indie Films Make Fine Summer Reading
With summer films like Hamlet, Loves Labour's Lost, and Jesus's Son, why pick up a book?