Words, Words, Words: Talking Hamlet

While in Boston last week, Ethan Hawke gave a whirlwind media tour to promote his latest vehicle-an adaptation of William Shakespeare's Hamlet-with director Michael Almereyda. The Crimson sat down with the two of them in a college cattle call (er. . . round table) interview to share twenty minutes of their time.

THC: There have been a plethora of Shakespeare remakes in the past years, and Shakespeare is the trend you could say. What made you decide to do Hamlet?

Ethan Hawke: I really wouldn't say that it's a trend. I would say that pretty much always, consistently, since they've been making movies, have been people been adapting Shakespeare. I mean they've only been making movies for one hundred years, but wasn't one of the first films a screen adaptation of Hamlet?

Michael Almereyda: Yes, a Thomas Edison production. The thing that's kind of exciting about working on Shakespeare is the chance to bring something new.

The Harvard Crimson: So then what's your response? Hamlet, as far as roles are concerned is the brass ring for many actors. When someone calls offering the role of Hamlet, what do you say?

EH: Well, I wasn't interested in playing Hamlet just for the sake of playing [him]. It wouldn't really interest me. But Michael had a real idea for the production as a whole, and that's what kind of excited me, to be a part of a production. You don't really want to just see "this person" say those lines. You want to be part of a production and that's what was so exciting about it, the rest of the cast. Shakespeare draws so many interesting people. Basically, your reaction is just to say "yes". What was really exciting about this film ...

MA: We gave it a context to try to make it accessible and intimate in a way I've seldom seen it.

THC: What do you see particularly in the play that warrants accelerating it to the 90s?

MA: The play is a kind of a mirror, and I think it allows us to look at contemporary anxiety and confusion in a very direct way that's very immediate to the moment. It felt like contemporary times and Shakespeare could speak to each other, and there's a tradition of that. It's not a novel idea, it's not like I thought of it. There's a great tradition of updating Shakespeare and making it contemporary.

EH: What you're saying about "warrants" a production, that's what is so amazing about Shakespeare, the ideas and the themes, they're still so relevant. As a performer what's interesting is to think "if Hamlet were alive today, who would he be?". Let's say he's the son of the CEO of Time Warner, you've got millions of dollars at your hands, and everyone wants you to go into big business. The metaphor is very easily adaptable. In Denmark, Hamlet's being shoved into war, they want him to lead a country into a battle, and he's not interested. I think all that is very, very relevant. Who is Opheila now, what would she wear? It makes you experience her dilemma, and his dilemma with all the character situations. It makes you understand them in a visceral way, instead of respectfully studying it. It makes Hamlet a living part.

THC: And then James Dean appears on television during the "O what rogue and peasant slave am I" speech". Where did the impetus to turn Hamlet into a filmmaker come from?

MA: It came naturally. Writing the adaptation was the easiest part, because the play just seemed to yield. It felt like a good fit with contemporary reality. It was simply a matter of having your eyes open, and being sensitive to all the parallels and metaphors. To that inventory of Hamlet-like figures, Ethan added Kurt Cobain, someone who seems to embody the voided promise, someone who was brilliant, and ran off the rails. Someone who was marred and tormented. It's not hard to find Hamlet in contemporary reality. The play is called "Hamlet", but it's actually about a series of interlocking relationships. It's really rich, and we were lucky to have so many great actors jump in. I'm not sure if you know how cheaply the movie was made. It was shot in super 16 mm film, all the actors worked for scale. It's a miracle this movie was done. It was done fast and cheap in New York - it's very hard to do a movie like this. Part of the challenge was just physically getting it done, but it felt great. It was actually a cinch.

THC: And in terms of actors, were there certain people that came to mind? Bill Murray, for example is one actor that fits well in his role as Polonius.

MA: He was our first choice. We talked to him through his agent, and he said he was "interested". His agent said he usually turns everything down, and when Bill Murray says "maybe", it usually means "yes". So, we just had to wait for the Cubs to lose the pennant, because if they had won, he would have been too busy, and he has his priorities. But, they didn't win, and we were very fortunate.

EH: Shakespeare attracts all kinds of interesting people. Like Diane Venora, who played Gertrude in a production of Hamlet last December.

MA: Diane had also played Hamlet in her twenties, and also played Ophelia with Kevin Klein onstage, so she knew the play better than anyone. EH: She was a great resource, in three different capacities. She was Clare Danes' mother in _Romeo + Juliet_.

THC: With both somewhat being the introspective artist, what do you think of comparisons between this Hamlet and your character in _Reality Bites_?

EH: Actually, I hadn't really thought of it. I mean, I played them both, and I look pretty much the same.

MA: He didn't wear that hat in _Reality Bites_.

EH: I think it's accurate in that it's been a goal of mine to present Hamlet, to call up the notion of Kurt Cobain, that kind of modern mind. That contradiction between the desire to have some authentic connection and intimacy in your life, mixed with real apathy. All that is with Hamlet. There's part of him that wants to change everything, and this other part that says "aww, f**k it, none of this means anything anyway. What does it matter?" So, there's something in the spirit of both.