SHAKESPEARE

Synopsis

Feature film. A female buddy-film action comedy. Two very different women (one bold and brassy, the other a prissy snob) meet at auditions at an acting class given by an eminent Russian director. The two women soon find that they are dating the same man, who they later discover is a spy. The women unwittingly sabotage his plans to stage his own death and disappear. Lauren dreams of starring in Hamlet. Early in the film she performs the ‘to be or not to be’ soliloquy with vowel sounds only. At the close of the film there are excerpts from a successful stage production with Lauren as Hamlet and Sandy as Ophelia.

Language

English

Country

United States

Medium

Film

Technical information

Colour / Sound

Year of release

1987

Duration

99 mins; 8,905 feet

Credits

Director

Arthur Hiller

Producer

Robert W. Cort; Ted Field

Cinematographer

David M. Walsh

Screenplay

Leslie Dixon

Music

Alan Silvestri

Production Design

James D. Vance

Costume

Gloria Gresham

Cast

Shelley Long	Lauren Ames (Hamlet)
Bette Midler	Sandy Brozinski (Ophelia)
Peter Coyote	Michael Sanchez

Additional Details

Production type

Fiction Films

Plays

Hamlet

Keywords

Shakespeare, William; Gender reversal

Notes

Notes

Available on DVD region 1 only (9/2007).

Production Company

Name

Interscope Communications

Name

Silver Screen Partners II

Name

Touchstone Pictures

Online Retailer

Name

amazon.co.uk

Web

http://www.amazon.co.uk External site opens in new window