CROWE SLAMS FIENNE'S SHAKESPEARE PERFORMANCE

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[nickcarraway]

Antipodean star RUSSELL CROWE has slammed JOSEPH FIENNES for his portrayal of legendary playwright WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE in OSCAR-winning film SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE.

The GLADIATOR actor liked the script of the 1999 MIRAMAX movie, which gave its stars DAME JUDI DENCH and GWYNETH PALTROW ACADEMY AWARDS, but was left unimpressed by Fiennes' casting.

Crowe tells the American edition of GQ magazine, "It was a 100 per cent f**king home run except the central character of William Shakespeare was not a writer - he was not smelly enough.

"He was not unshaven enough, and obviously he hadn't had enough to drink.

"He was some prissy pretty boy."

[nickcarraway]

I though Shakespeare in Love a pathetically awful movie. (Shakespeare ghost should come back and find someone to avenge those horrible writers)

I saw Joseph Fiennes in a terrible Hamlet at the Royal Shakespeare Company, but he was okay in Troilus and Cressida and maybe one other play.

[Cecily]

Joseph Fiennes - feh. I love Ralph Fiennes.

[mountaineer]

He was not unshaven enough, and obviously he hadn't had enough to drink.

Looks like Russell saw himself in the role.

[apackof2]

I love Ralph Fiennes

He is a babe

[LibFreeOrDie]

?Crowe tells the American edition of GQ magazine, "It was a 100 per cent f**king home run except the central character of William Shakespeare was not a writer - he was not smelly enough. He was not unshaven enough, and obviously he hadn't had enough to drink. He was some prissy pretty boy."

Perhaps Crowe has confused Shakespeare with Christopher Hitchens? Or maybe Crowe is channeling Hitchens...

[meowmeow]

Crowe Bump

[SunkenCiv]

"He was not unshaven enough, and obviously he hadn't had enough to drink."

Obviously the latter isn't one of Crowe's deficiencies.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

Let's question, in jest, the spirit of William Shakespeare:

Civil Unions?

The Bard:


Unsex me here!

Who is he that is not of woman borne? Surely, the angel they must serve would have told them that they were borne of woman.

Divinity of Hell!

When devils will the blackest of sins put on, they do suggest at first with heavenly shows, as they do now.

They are of a free and open nature, that thinks men honest that but seem to be so, and will as tenderly be led by the nose as asses are.

All the world is a stage for such villainous parody from these that have so slender a claim to be admitted to the table of the Saints.

[Borges]

It was written by Tom Stoppard who may be the world's greatest living dramatist and has spent his career deconstructing Shakespeare. It was witty and romantic. What didn't you like about it?

[nickcarraway]

I found it to have an amazing lack of wit and romance. Give me an example of the wit. I've read instruction manuals for calculators that had more wit. I love Shakespeare and I was looking forward to seeing the movie, but I was gobsmacked at how bad it was. Shakespeare was an ignorant dullard. Almost every charcter in the movie was unlikeable.

[Oberon]

"I sawr'er bubbies!"

[Borges]

There were all sorts of references to his plays and parallels with Elizabethan drama in general. I'll agree that Fiennes's Shakespeare was the weak point. But the performance at the end was as good as one could have could have hoped for. And there's the appearance of John Webster which no one picked up on (a schlockmeister known for lurid violent plays like 'The Duchess of Malfi'). Picking Romeo and Juliet as the transition between his early work and great work was perfect. The plays before it were substandard.

[nickcarraway]

Actually, the part about Webster was one of the few interesting things, but a bit to obvious. Yes, there were quotes from Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Romeo, etc., but none of them were done in a particularly witty or interesting way. Having Shakespeare as a dolt could work if it were done right, but that's not what they were going for.

I wasn't looking for historical accuracy, but it is interesting that Tom Stoppard would make all those mistakes. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Must Die was a brilliant idea.

[Borges]

Stoppard's contributions were the witty asides and offhand concepts (that mug that says 'Property of Stratford Upon Avon'). The overall plot and conception were the work of the other writer. How about Geoffrey Rush telling Will to 'talk prose'? That was a great touch.