Kenneth Branagh and The Art of the Adaptation: or, There Is Method In’t

Performing every single word in 1996's Hamlet.

In 1995, between Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (the subject of last week's essay) and Hamlet (the subject of the essay you're reading), Kenneth Branagh would play the role of Iago in Oliver Parker's film of Othello, starring Laurence Fishburne. It was a critical success, and Branagh would receive a SAG Award nomination for his performance.

In a way, this would complete his Shakespearean trifecta, playing one of the most regal kings in Henry V, one of the brattiest lovers in Much Ado's Benedick, and now one of the most vile villains in Iago. If at all in doubt, his range was now on full display. It was finally time to tackle Shakespeare's most complicated character, the title character in his magnum opus, Hamlet.

But just doing it wouldn't be enough. Hell, he had already done it on stage and could probably do that again any time he wanted. No, if he was committing this play to film, he was going to do the whole thing. Between the different versions of the text, doing "all of it" requires over four hours of screen time (plus an intermission!) and Branagh would give it the pomp and circumstance that it deserved. Shot on 70mm, on location with an all-star cast, Ken set out to make the definitive version of Hamlet, epic and extravagant - just as the play requires.