Shakespeare rolls over in his grave: She's The Man

[Campion]

I saw a trailer for She's the Man (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454945/) this weekend. As I'm watching the trailer, though, the names start to sound very, very familiar. The main characters, twins Viola and Sebastian, are in love with people named Duke and Olivia. And then Sebastian goes missing, so Viola has to dress up as him and pretend to be him. And Viola likes Duke, who likes Olivia, who likes Sebastian, but the Sebastian Olivia likes is actually Viola dressed up as Sebastian.

That's right, folks. Twelfth Night is now a teen comedy set in a posh private school. And, yes, I'm going to go see it. ;)

[silenus]

The only way I would watch this is if it had rampant nudity (which is doesn't) and with the sound off.

I'm waiting for the "teen comedy" version of Hamlet.

[Colibri]

I'm waiting for the "teen comedy" version of Hamlet.

I would pay to see the teen version of Titus Andronicus.

[Thudlow Boink]

Well, we've already had the teen comedy version of The Taming of the Shrew (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0147800/). And Othello (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0184791/).

[RealityChuck]

I saw a trailer for She's the Man (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454945/) this weekend. As I'm watching the trailer, though, the names start to sound very, very familiar. The main characters, twins Viola and Sebastian, are in love with people named Duke and Olivia. And then Sebastian goes missing, so Viola has to dress up as him and pretend to be him. And Viola likes Duke, who likes Olivia, who likes Sebastian, but the Sebastian Olivia likes is actually Viola dressed up as Sebastian.

That's right, folks. Twelfth Night is now a teen comedy set in a posh private school. And, yes, I'm going to go see it. ;)Why is this any different from any adaptation of Shakespeare? We've had Much Ado about Nothing set in both Tuscany and 1898 America, the "slacker" Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet set in southern California, Richard III set in 30s Britain, A Midsummer Night's Dream with bicycles, etc. Some were good, some were bad, but nothing about this is particularly shocking.

[What Exit?]

Lets not forget multiple updated versions of Romeo and Juliet.
The Classic West Side Story and the Leonardo DeCaprio one in the last decade.
Romeo + Juliet (1996) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117509/)

Jim

[Marley23]

Well, we've already had the teen comedy version of The Taming of the Shrew (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0147800/).
And as much as I ragged on it when I heard about it, it was a good movie.

[ultrafilter]

Don't forget Tromeo and Juliet (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114733/).

[wolf_meister]

There's also the 1991 film "Men of Respect"
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102432/
based on Macbeth. (kind of, sort of)

[panamajack]

Lets not forget multiple updated versions of Romeo and Juliet.
The Classic West Side Story and the Leonardo DeCaprio one in the last decade.
Romeo + Juliet (1996) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117509/)

Jim

That Romeo & Juliet only used the original for its script, so (aside from the editing & soundtrack) it's little different from a many stage productions.

And I don't know what you're talking about. West Side Story is a zombie movie (http://www.alldumb.com/item/15976/).

[lissener]

If you can set Hamlet in a pride of cartoon lions, you can set Twelfth Night in a modern highschool.

[Baine]

Wasn't there a movie from the 80's with that same premise? I believe it was called Just One of the Guys.

[Skald the Rhymer]

Well, we've already had the teen comedy version of The Taming of the Shrew (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0147800/). And Othello (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0184791/).

By no means was "O" a comedy. I actually rather enjoyed it, though it could have used signficantly more Julia Stiles.

[Sampiro]

I'm waiting for the "teen comedy" version of Hamlet.

That could be cool. I'd call it "Summer Vacation". A hot teen, Dane (Ryan Reynolds), comes home from studying abroad and finds that his dad (John Lithgow) has died and his mom (Jennifer Coolidge) has married his dad's brother (John Lithgow- this time with a moustache). Only Dane can see his dad's ghost hanging around the house, and his dad's guardian angel (Morgan Freeman) tells him he can't get into heaven unless Dane makes his lookalike brother admit to murdering him, so Dane makes his mom and stepdad/uncle watch a DVD of Mel Gibson's Hamlet, but it doesn't work because the Blockbuster made a mistake and gave him Madagascar. Dane pretends to have severe adult ADD and OCD which causes hijinks when his psychology major girlfriend Ophelia (Alicia Silverstone) tries to diagnose him, and Dane's friends Rosenberg (Adam Goldberg) and Stern (Jason Ritter) are secretly working for the evil uncle because he's agreed to finance their porn film if they get Dane medicated and put away. Throw in Joe Pesci's dad as mob boss family friend Jimmy "Polo Pony" Pollonari and a wacky gay houseboy (Jai Rodriguez) and, of course, a happy ending, and I think you've got a hit.

[What Exit?]

That Romeo & Juliet only used the original for its script, so (aside from the editing & soundtrack) it's little different from a many stage productions.

And I don't know what you're talking about. West Side Story is a zombie movie (http://www.alldumb.com/item/15976/).


Awesome, I had seen the Shining remix not too long ago. This was even
better.

Jim

[Skald the Rhymer]

By no means was "O" a comedy. I actually rather enjoyed it, though it could have used signficantly more Julia Stiles.

That is, Julia Stiles NUDITY. :smack:

[BrainGlutton]

There's also the 1991 film "Men of Respect"
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102432/
based on Macbeth. (kind of, sort of)

Based rather more closely, IMO, than My Own Private Idaho was based on Henry IV.

[Amaranta]

Don't forget Tromeo and Juliet (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114733/).

And Gnomeo and Juliet (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377981/).

[Atticus Finch]

Meh. We've had Shakespeare with samurai swords in Kurosawa's Throne of Blood (Macbeth) and Ran (Lear).

[August West]

Don't forget the slightly muddled retelling of Hamlet in Strange Brew

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086373/

[Love Rhombus]

Also, the 70's fast-food version of the Scottish play: Scotland, PA. (http://imdb.com/title/tt0265713/)

[Giles]

Shakespeare rolls over in his grave
To the contrary, if Shakespeare were still alive, this is exactly what he would be doing. Almost all of his plays retell a story originally written by someone else. (The exception is The Merry Wives of Windsor, where he just reused his own characters from Henry IV.)

[Otto]

Wasn't there a movie from the 80's with that same premise? I believe it was called Just One of the Guys.
JOOTG was about a female journalism student who went undercover as a boy to another high school. She does fall in love with someone who knows her only as a boy but thre's no one who goes missing, no pretending to be an existing other person, etc.

[Marley23]

To the contrary, if Shakespeare were still alive, this is exactly what he would be doing. Almost all of his plays retell a story originally written by someone else. (The exception is The Merry Wives of Windsor, where he just reused his own characters from Henry IV.)
And The Tempest, although I think it's slightly influenced by writings about a contemporary shipwreck.
If you can set Hamlet in a pride of cartoon lions, you can set Twelfth Night in a modern highschool.
I always thought the resemblance to Hamlet in The Lion King was overstated. Once you get past the beginning, I don't see it.

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

I would pay to see the teen version of Titus Andronicus.
Not with teens.

But add automatic weapons, & set it in an unnamed jungle nation, & you have that Stallone/Schwarzenegger script everybody wanted in the late 80's.

[Stranger On A Train]

I would pay to see the teen version of Titus Andronicus.Not with teens.

But add automatic weapons, & set it in an unnamed jungle nation, & you have that Stallone/Schwarzenegger script everybody wanted in the late 80's.Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of Kill Bill or House of 1000 Corpses.

Titus Andronicus seemed to be Shakespeare trying to be as utterly brutal as possible and pretty much disregarding any logical character development to get there.

As for Twelfth Night, it seems ready-made as an adaption into a teen movie, unlike say, Othello or Hamlet. I've often though that MacBeth could easily be transferred into the "teenage angst drama" genre as well, but I fear that I might find myself at the wrong end of a character defamation suit should I too closely portray someone from my past history in the role.

Stranger

[Larry Mudd]

Don't forget the slightly muddled retelling of Hamlet in Strange Brew

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086373/"Shakespeare horked our script, eh?"

[Annie]

That could be cool. I'd call it "Summer Vacation". A hot teen, Dane (Ryan Reynolds), comes home from studying abroad and finds that his dad (John Lithgow) has died and his mom (Jennifer Coolidge) has married his dad's brother (John Lithgow- this time with a moustache). Only Dane can see his dad's ghost hanging around the house, and his dad's guardian angel (Morgan Freeman) tells him he can't get into heaven unless Dane makes his lookalike brother admit to murdering him, so Dane makes his mom and stepdad/uncle watch a DVD of Mel Gibson's Hamlet, but it doesn't work because the Blockbuster made a mistake and gave him Madagascar. Dane pretends to have severe adult ADD and OCD which causes hijinks when his psychology major girlfriend Ophelia (Alicia Silverstone) tries to diagnose him, and Dane's friends Rosenberg (Adam Goldberg) and Stern (Jason Ritter) are secretly working for the evil uncle because he's agreed to finance their porn film if they get Dane medicated and put away. Throw in Joe Pesci's dad as mob boss family friend Jimmy "Polo Pony" Pollonari and a wacky gay houseboy (Jai Rodriguez) and, of course, a happy ending, and I think you've got a hit.

Copyright this premise. NOW, dammit!

BTW, Alicia's got to over 25 by now, so they'd have her playing Gertie.

[Larry Mudd]

Throw in Joe Pesci's dad as mob boss family friend Jimmy "Polo Pony" Pollonari and a wacky gay houseboy (Jai Rodriguez) and, of course, a happy ending, and I think you've got a hit.Capo, and matrone, to run your mouth about what being a boss is about, what duty is, why day is day and night is night, why we got time and all that, that's nothing but a waste of night, day and time. Since wiseguys talk straight, and I don't want to wear myself out, I'll get to the nut: your bright boy is oogatz: I say "oogatz," because what's oogatz? It's just oogatz. Fuggetaboutit!"

[Ranchoth]

I would pay to see the teen version of Titus Andronicus.

How bout the grade school version of Henry V?

[TheOnlySaneOne]

Well, we've already had the teen comedy version of The Taming of the Shrew (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0147800/). And Othello (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0184791/).
Yeah, but this one loses points for not having Julia Stiles to distract me.

[ArrMatey!]

That could be cool. I'd call it "Summer Vacation". A hot teen, Dane (Ryan Reynolds), comes home from studying abroad and finds that his dad (John Lithgow) has died and his mom (Jennifer Coolidge) has married his dad's brother (John Lithgow- this time with a moustache). Only Dane can see his dad's ghost hanging around the house, and his dad's guardian angel (Morgan Freeman) tells him he can't get into heaven unless Dane makes his lookalike brother admit to murdering him, so Dane makes his mom and stepdad/uncle watch a DVD of Mel Gibson's Hamlet, but it doesn't work because the Blockbuster made a mistake and gave him Madagascar. Dane pretends to have severe adult ADD and OCD which causes hijinks when his psychology major girlfriend Ophelia (Alicia Silverstone) tries to diagnose him, and Dane's friends Rosenberg (Adam Goldberg) and Stern (Jason Ritter) are secretly working for the evil uncle because he's agreed to finance their porn film if they get Dane medicated and put away. Throw in Joe Pesci's dad as mob boss family friend Jimmy "Polo Pony" Pollonari and a wacky gay houseboy (Jai Rodriguez) and, of course, a happy ending, and I think you've got a hit.

I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry. Bravo!

[mobo85]

And Gnomeo and Juliet (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377981/).

It's hard to forget it when it hasn't even come out. Unless, of course, Bob Iger can travel through time and has already realized it failed.