Dec 9, 2010 - Julie Taymor has come up with The Tempest that even Shakespeare would have loved riding. The film will be out in theaters this weekend with an eclectic cast that is bound to show, in the words of actor Russell Brand, that Shakespeare’s work is “not just for posh people; it’s accessible mass entertainment.”
Filmed on a private uninhabited island in Hawaii, Taymor’s adaptation’s major change from the original play is turning Prospero into Prospera by casting actress Helen Mirren. Mirren is a professional Shakespearian actress who fell in love with The Bard’s work at the age of 13 after watching an amateur production of Hamlet. “My experience with Shakespeare led me into being an actress,” Mirren said, which explains why she performed nothing but Shakespeare for the first eight years of her professional life. Mirren delivers an outstanding Prospera, with a dialogue that barely needed to be changed, other than by switching Miranda’s (played by Felicity Jones) calls to her father into calling her mother instead.
Ariel, thanks to the magic of special effects, goes from a tiny being to a giant that moves oceans in seconds. It is a spirit with male and female features that dissolves with equal ease into air or water. Ariel is played by English actor Ben Wishaw and is perhaps just the supernatural being Shakespeare envisioned.
The comic relief of the story is delivered by Caliban, Stephano and Trinculo, played respectively by Djimon Hounsou, Alfred Molina, and Russell Brand. For Hounsou, this is a first time experience with Shakespeare, which meant his having to learn an entire “new language” and surviving hours of daily make-up sessions. Originally from Benin, Hounsou said to have drawn from the sorcery and witchcraft beliefs embedded in his culture to perform his Caliban. Together with the hilarious Molina and Brand, the trio conveys funny and entertainment moments.
The Tempest is one of the top five favorite Shakespeare plays. It is also one of the last Shakespeare works and is considered one of the most complete.
If you know what is good for you, do not protect yourself from this Tempest!
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