O
- Synopsis
- Retelling of Othello for a contemporary audience, with a teenage cast and set in a high school. A young man becomes blinded with jealousy and rage when his friend captains the basketball team instead of him. The film often crudely paraphrases Shakespeare’s lines and there is not enough at stake to reach tragic intensity.
- Language
- English
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Film
- Technical information
- Colour / Sound
- Year of release
- 2001
- Duration
- 95 mins
- Availability
- OUT OF DISTRIBUTION
Credits
- Cinematographer
- Russell Lee Fine
- Art Direction
- Jack Ballance
- Cast
Andrew Keegan Michael Cassio Rain Phoenix Emily (Emilia) Elden Henson Roger Rodriguez (Roderigo) John Heard Dean Brable (Brabantio)
Additional Details
- Production type
- Fiction Films
- Plays
- Othello
- Subjects
- Drama; Literature
- Keywords
- film adaptations; Shakespeare, William (1564-1616); Teen movie
Notes
- Notes
- The 2-disc DVD includes the theatrical trailer, director’s commentary, interviews with the cast, deleted scenes, basketball analysis and Dmitri Buchowetski’s OTHELLO (1922).
- History
- The film’s release was delayed by almost two years following the distributor’s fears that the scenes of gun violence in a high school setting would draw parallels to the Columbine massacre which occurred while the film was being edited.
- Reviews
- Brown, Eric C. ‘Cinema in the Round: ‘Self-Reflexivity in Tim Blake Nelson’s O’ in Almost Shakespeare: Reinventing His Works for Cinema and Television’ edited James R. Keller and Leslie Stratyner. Jefferson, NC: McFarland &Co 2004. pp 73-85. For an analysis of the marketing campaign behind the film see Emma French, Selling Shakespeare to Hollywood: The Marketing of Filmed Shakespeare Adaptations from 1999 into the New Millennium (Hatfield: University of Hertfordshire Press, 2006), pp. 123-129.
Production Company
- Name
Chickie the Cop
Distributor
- Name
Metrodome Distribution
- Notes
- Specialist distributor of quality, independent films, both theatrically and subsequently on DVD. DVD releases include new films, classic cinema, documentaries, animation, stage adaptations, television programming and historical drama. NB. Metrodome Distribution went into administration in 2016
Distributor (Sale)
- Name
Retail outlets
How to cite this record
Shakespeare, "O". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/shakespeare/search/index.php/title/av34996 (Accessed 19 Sep 2024)