True, I loved McKellen’s Richard III. It was absolutely brilliant from beginning to (almost) end.
And true, it was always going to be hard for me to claim that old Shakespeare movies are always better than new Shakespeare movies, come what may, especially when you’ve got new movies like that one on your side.
So, you’ve backed me into a bit of a corner (insidiously, as you admit: inviting me over to watch a movie in the middle of our first day of debate, knowing full well that movie was an ace up your sleeve – a modern interpretation on a par with the best of Orson Welles). But, as the fella once said, “’Tis the sport to have the enginer hoist with his own petar,” and so Kim, I’ll delve one yard below this mine of yours and – to kick off day two’s battle – see if I can’t turn this treachery back on you:
How can you relish so much McKellen’s Richard and then turn around and claim that movies based on Shakespeare’s plays but that don’t use Shakespeare’s language are better than those that do?
I look forward to waking up to your answer.
This article appears in August 15 • 2008.