Shakespeare in Love

(Miramax, 1998) Directed by: John Madden Written by: Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard William Shakespeare

Trivia

� The play performed before the Queen is Two Gentlemen of Verona.

While disguised as Thomas Kent, Viola quotes this a soliloquy from this

play as her audition for Shakespeare. The other auditioning actors quote

Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus. (“Is this the face

that launched a thousand ships…”)

� Titus Andronicus would logically be John Webster’s favorite

Shakespeare play. It is, by far, Shakespeare’s goriest play and such a

departure in style for Shakespeare that some Shakespeare scholars do not

believe he wrote it at all. Webster did become a playwright; his signature

pieces are The Duchess of Malfi, a gory play itself, and The White Devil.

� Some scholars believe that Shakespeare did not write all his plays by

himself. Some believe that he collaborated with Marlowe on some, while

some believe that Marlowe simply wrote them for Shakespeare – even after

his “death.” The movie Anonymous addresses the theory that Edward

DeVere, earl of Oxford, wrote the plays.

� Many scholars think Marlowe may have “pulled a Tupac/Elvis,” faking

his own death to get out of trouble he fell into as a spy. According to this

conspiracy theory, Marlowe moved to the English countryside, where

Shakespeare visited him whenever he needed a play.

� Many scholars also believe that had Marlowe survived, we would be

studying Marlowe, not Shakespeare.

� Shakespeare in Love won seven Academy Awards in 1998: Best

Picture, Best Actress -- Gwenyth Paltrow ; Best Supporting Actress -- Judi

Dench; Art Direction; Costume Design; Set Decoration; Screenplay Written

Directly For The Screen.

� Joseph Fiennes has a thing for Queen Elizabeth, Shakespeare and

Marlowe. Along with Geoffrey Rush, he appeared in the biopic Elizabeth,

which came out in 1999, shortly after Shakespeare in Love. He played

Queen Elizabeth I’s married lover.

� Fiennes was trained at the Royal Shakespeare Company in London. He

has performed in many Shakespeare plays, most recently appearing in

Love’s Labor’s Lost. He has also starred as Bassanio in the film version of

Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. Bassanio is a lover with a cash

flow problem.

� Fiennes also spent two seasons performing in Marlowe’s Edward II, a

play about a reputedly gay king of England.

� Colin Firth has gone on to star in the Bridget Jones movies as Mark

Darcy, Bridget’s love interest and in the movie version of Mamma Mia! He

also played the painter Vermeer in Girl with a Pearl Earring. He won an

Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of King George VI in The

King’s Speech.

� Several of the stars of this movie have worked together in other

productions. Judi Dench, Colin Firth and Rupert Everett were all in The

Importance of Being Earnest. Joseph Fiennes and Gwyneth Paltrow were

in Running with Scissors. Mark Williams and Imelda Staunton appear in

two Harry Potter movies with Ralph Fiennes, Joseph’s brother.

� Kenneth Branagh, Daniel Day-Lewis, Winona Ryder, Meg Ryan and

Julia Roberts were all considered for the lead roles.

� When Shakespeare in Love was being made, Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben

Affleck were romantically involved. Gwyneth went on to marry Coldplay

singer Chris Martin, while Ben married Jennifer Garner.

� Ned Alleyn married Henslowe’s stepdaughter. Alleyn went on to found

Dulwich College

� Henslowe managed the Rose and Fortune theaters. His diary is

considered by many as an invaluable source of information about the

Elizabethan theater.

� Prince Edward, son of Queen Elizabeth II of the British Commonwealth,

currently holds the title Earl Of Wessex, bestowed upon him when he

married Sophie Rhys-Jones in 1999. Edward expressed interest in the title

after watching Shakespeare in Love.