Hamlet (1996)

Director:

Kenneth Branagh

Writers:

William Shakespeare (play)
Kenneth Branagh (screenplay)

Release Date:

25 December 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Romance | Thriller

Plot:

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, returns home to find his father murdered and his mother remarrying the murderer, his uncle. Meanwhile, war is brewing.

Plot Keywords:

Madness | Denmark | King | Prince | Murder

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 6 wins & 12 nominations

Cast

Riz Abbasi	...	Attendant to Claudius
Richard Attenborough	...	English Ambassador
David Blair	...	Attendant to Claudius
Brian Blessed	...	Ghost of Hamlet's Father
Kenneth Branagh	...	Hamlet
Richard Briers	...	Polonius
Michael Bryant	...	Priest
Peter Bygott	...	Attendant to Claudius
Julie Christie	...	Gertrude
Billy Crystal	...	First Gravedigger
Charles Daish	...	Stage Manager
Judi Dench	...	Hecuba
Gérard Depardieu	...	Reynaldo
Reece Dinsdale	...	Guildenstern
Ken Dodd	...	Yorick
Angela Douglas	...	Attendant to Gertrude
Rob Edwards	...	Lucianus
Nicholas Farrell	...	Horatio
Ray Fearon	...	Francisco
Yvonne Gidden	...	Doctor
John Gielgud	...	Priam
Rosemary Harris	...	Player Queen
Charlton Heston	...	Player King
Ravil Isyanov	...	Cornelius
Derek Jacobi	...	Claudius
Rowena King	...	Attendant to Gertrude
Jeffery Kissoon	...	Fortinbras's Captain
Sarah Lam	...	Attendant to Gertrude
Jack Lemmon	...	Marcellus
Ian McElhinney	...	Barnardo
Michael Maloney	...	Laertes
John Spencer-Churchill	...	Fortinbras's Captain (as Duke of Marlborough)
John Mills	...	Old Norway
Jimi Mistry	...	Sailor Two
Sian Radinger	...	Prologue
Melanie Ramsey	...	Prostitute
Simon Russell Beale	...	Second Gravedigger
Andrew Schofield	...	Young Lord
Rufus Sewell	...	Fortinbras
Timothy Spall	...	Rosencrantz
Thomas Szekeres	...	Young Hamlet (as Tom Szekeres)
Ben Thom	...	First Player
Don Warrington	...	Voltimand
Perdita Weeks	...	Second Player
Robin Williams	...	Osric
Kate Winslet	...	Ophelia
David Yip	...	Sailor One
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Christopher Bowles	...	Cadet in Play Scene (uncredited)
Frank Morgan	...	Pyrrhus (uncredited)
Royston Munt	...	Horse Stunts (uncredited)
Melanie Ramsay	...	Prostitute (uncredited)
Orlando Seale	...	Boatman (uncredited)
Jimmy Yuill	...	Alexander (uncredited)

Directed by
Kenneth Branagh

Writing credits
William Shakespeare		(play "The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark")
Kenneth Branagh		(screenplay)

Produced by
David Barron	....	producer

Original Music by
Patrick Doyle

Cinematography by
Alex Thomson

Film Editing by
Neil Farrell

Casting by
Simone Ireland
Vanessa Pereira

Production Design by
Tim Harvey

Art Direction by
Desmond Crowe

Costume Design by
Alexandra Byrne

Makeup Department
Richard Glass	....	contact lens optician
Sian Grigg	....	makeup artist
Peter Montagna	....	makeup artist
Kerrie R. Plant	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Iona Price	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Sara Desmond	....	third assistant director
Sallie Anne Hard	....	second assistant director (as Sallie-Ann Hard)
Simon Moseley	....	first assistant director
Richard Styles	....	second assistant director
Tom White	....	third assistant director

Art Department
Celia Bobak	....	production buyer
Mick Chubbock	....	plasterer
Don Dossett	....	assistant art director
Danny Hunter	....	property master
Richard Lyon	....	construction buyer
Michael Redding	....	construction coordinator
Alan Hausmann	....	carpenter (uncredited)

Sound Department
Peter Glossop	....	production sound mixer
Tom Glossop	....	sound assistant
Tim Hands	....	adr editor
Micki Joanni	....	synchron editor
Dominic Lester	....	sound re-recording mixer
Jonathan Mann	....	assistant foley editor
Shaun Mills	....	boom operator
Robin O'Donoghue	....	sound re-recording mixer
Peter Pennell	....	supervising sound editor

Special Effects by
Dave Crownshaw	....	snow effects supervisor
Michael Dawson	....	special effects administrator
Kevin Draycott	....	special effects foreman
Manex Efrem	....	special effects technician
Darrell Guyon	....	senior special effects technician
John Mason	....	snow effects technician
Kevin Mathews	....	special effects wire technician
Graham Povey	....	special effects technician
Jody Taylor	....	special effects assistant
Joss Williams	....	special effects supervisor
Dave Chagouri	....	special effects technician (uncredited)
Mark E. Raymond	....	snow effects technician (uncredited)
Mark Sanger	....	special effects apprentice (uncredited)
Lucien Stephenson	....	snow effects technician (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
David Carrigan	....	first assistant director: vfx unit
Matthew D'Angibau	....	model unit runner
Adrian De Wet	....	scanning operator
Tom Debenham	....	visual effects designer
Jessie Doyle	....	optical trainee
Dan Glass	....	visual effects designer
José Granell	....	director of miniature effects
Pete Hanson	....	studio manager: CFC
Antony Hunt	....	visual effects supervisor
Alison O'Brien	....	visual effects producer
Joe Pavlo	....	scanning operator
Daniel Pettipher	....	digital compositor: The Magic Camera Company
Catherine M. Shaw	....	assistant producer, scanning and recording: CFC
Andy Stevens	....	visual effects camera assistant: Magic Camera Co
Nigel Stone	....	director of photography: model unit
Anthony Wonsoff	....	visual effects assistant

Stunts
Andy Bennett	....	stunt performer
Simon Crane	....	stunt coordinator
Tom Delmar	....	stunt double: Hamlet's Father
Tom Delmar	....	stunts
Sarah Franzl	....	stunt performer
Steve Griffin	....	stunts
Paul Herbert	....	stunts
Sean McCabe	....	assistant stunt coordinator
Sean McCabe	....	stunt double: Hamlet
Ray Nicholas	....	stunts
Andreas Petrides	....	stunt double: Laertes
Peter Pedrero	....	utility stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
David Appleby	....	key grip
Robert Binnall	....	first assistant camera
Tony Cridlin	....	grip
Scott Holland	....	video assistant
Tony Jackson	....	camera operator
Martin Kenzie	....	camera operator
Rolf Konow	....	still photographer
Ossa Mills	....	rigging gaffer
Nic Milner	....	camera operator
David Morani	....	gaffer
Robert Palmer	....	second assistant camera
Chyna Thomson	....	first assistant camera: "a" camera
George Richmond	....	second assistant camera (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Richard Cooke	....	costume trainee
Dan Grace	....	dresser to Mr. Branagh
Andrew Hunt	....	costume assistant
Sharon Long	....	costume supervisor
Debbie Scott	....	assistant costume designer

Editorial Department
Simon Astbury	....	colorist: rushes
Jens Baylis	....	assistant editor
Robbie Broughton	....	assistant editor
Dan Farrell	....	associate editor (as Daniel Farrell)
Paul King	....	negative cutter
Melanie Viner-Cuneo	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Lawrence Ashmore	....	orchestrator
Patrick Doyle	....	music producer
Gerard McCann	....	music editor
Roy Prendergast	....	supervising music editor
Maggie Rodford	....	music producer
Randy Spendlove	....	executive music producer
Robert Ziegler	....	conductor
John Bell	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Geoff Foster	....	score recordist (uncredited)

Other crew
Ben Burt	....	floor runner
Nick Daubeny	....	location manager
Lindy Davies	....	performance consultant
Lil Heyman	....	production coordinator
Russell Jackson	....	text consultant (as Dr. Russell Jackson)
Annie Penn	....	script supervisor (as Annie Wotton)
Kevin Phelan	....	65 mm scanning and recording producer: The Computer Film Company
Nick Powell	....	fight arranger
Nick Powell	....	sword master
Helen Seery	....	assistant accountant
Rebecca Erwin Spencer	....	assistant: Mr. Williams
Phil Stoole	....	production assistant
Tamar Thomas	....	assistant: Mr Branagh
Susan Weeks	....	tutor chaperone
Tom White	....	location assistant

Thanks
Stephen Fry	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Castle Rock Entertainment
• Turner Pictures (I)
• Fishmonger Films

Distributors

• Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) (1996-1998) (worldwide) (theatrical) (sales)
• Columbia Pictures (1996) (USA) (theatrical)
• Chapel Distribution (1997) (Australia) (theatrical)
• Columbia TriStar Films (1997) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Columbia TriStar Films de Argentina (1997) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Concorde-Castle Rock/Turner (1997) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Filmayer-Castle Rock-Turner S.A. (1997) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Monopole-Pathé (1997) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (1997) (USA) (VHS) (pan and scan)
• Columbia TriStar (1997) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• LK-TEL (1997) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Finnkino (1998) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (1998) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• Turner Home Entertainment (2000) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2007) (USA) (DVD) (two-disc special edition)
• Warner Home Video (2007) (Germany) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2010) (Germany) (DVD) (Blu-ray)

Special Effects

• Computer Film Company, The (CFC)
• Magic Camera Company, The
• Moving Picture Company (MPC)
• ReelEye Company (special effects contact lenses)

Other Companies

• Shepperton Studios  movie studio
• 2020 Casting  background casting
• Cosprop  costumes (uncredited)
• Lee Lighting  grip and lighting equipment
• Reeltime Creative  trailer music
• Sapex Scripts  post-production script services
• Sony Classical  soundtrack

Also Known As:

"William Shakespeare's Hamlet" - USA (complete title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some violent images and sexuality

Runtime:

242 min | 150 min (cut version)

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby Digital (35 mm prints) | SDDS (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Finland:K-12/9 | Germany:12 (bw) | Norway:11 | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/16 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG | Australia:PG (TV rating) | Iceland:12 | Australia:PG | Netherlands:6 | Netherlands:AL (video rating) | South Korea:15

Filming Locations:

Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England, UK

Company:

Castle Rock Entertainment

Trivia:

For more than a year, Kenneth Branagh had tried shopping the project around major studios in Hollywood, but no studio was willing to finance a four-hour production, citing skepticism of the commercial viability of a Shakespeare adaptation to a late 20th-century audience. Also, most studios were aware of the negative reviews and the commercial failure of Branagh's previously-directed film, Frankenstein (1994) and some of them would only finance the film if the content and the budget is cut to half. However, Castle Rock Entertainment, agreed to finance the film and to Branagh's demands (filming in 65mm, complete control over the film, etc..) under two conditions: a star-studded cast for the show and a 35mm, abridged 2.5 hour version of the show for a wider release.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: After Hamlet speaks with his father in his woods, while he runs and is met by Marcellus and Horatio, there is a quick pan shot in the woods where you see a ladder covered by a long board on the ground.

Quotes:

Hamlet:There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Mighty Boosh: Bollo (#1.3)" (2004)

Soundtrack:

In Pace

A great adaption to a great show!

I admit I've only seen about three of Shakespeare's plays (Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth, & of course Hamlet) one I liked, the other I found so-so (Macbeth), and Hamlet I just found a masterpiece. I'm pleased to tell you that this adaptation is every bit as good as the intense and dramatic play. The acting is extremely strong (With a cast that features Kenneth Branagh, Robin Williams, and Billy Crystal how can you lose?) and the change in time period (Looks like somewhere between the 17 and 1800's) plays off beautifully as the characters move about and say their infamous lines straight from the script itself that any fan of the Shakespearean play will get chills from. If you're into this popular drama I highly urge you to watch this powerful 1996 adaptation from Shakespearean admirer Kenneth Branagh.