Something I've wondered

[yendi]

Inspired by a comment exchange with gwynraven (on whom I'm not picking, as she seems to be a part of a majority, not a minority here):

Why is it that people refer to "Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet," but "Mel Gibson's Hamlet?" I mean, Gibson's a talented director (lunacy aside), but he didn't direct the interpretation in which he starred, and it's not like Zeffirelli is an unknown.

Granted, I can think of plenty of directors who get overshadowed by their stars, but that's usually when the director is some unknown hack producing star vehicles (can anyone name any of Adam Sandler's directors other than Brooks and Anderson? If so, scrub your brain). I mean, it's not like folks go around talking about the amazing job Orson Welles did directing The Third Man*. Are there any other directors of Zeffirelli's stature this overshadowed by one of their stars?

*Directed by Carol Reed. Please say you knew that. Please.

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I suspect people use the name that is best known to differentiate. In the case of Romeo and Juliet, there are a bunch of versions--one hears of Lawrence Olivier's as opposed to Zeffirelli's because the actor was most famed on the first, and the director on the second: he deliberately chose unknowns for the leads, and Leonard Whiting as far as I know never did anything again, or at least anything notable.

[stratfordbabe.livejournal.com]

*puts on Shakespeare hat*

Hamlet is almost always referred to by the name of the actor playing Hamlet. I think, here at least, you're falling victim to convention.

We do not speak of "Branaugh's Hamlet because he directed it (same with Olivier), but because he played the role. Gibson's Hamlet and Burton's Hamlet (directed by John Gielgud) are theirs because they played the role, not for any other reason.

The character of Hamlet so overwhelms the play that it is often attributed to the actor without anything else being mentioned -- especially in the stage versions.

Quick, who played Claudius to these famous (or infamous) stage Hamlets? Ralph Fiennes, Keanue Reeves (yes, really), Paul Gross?

Yeah, exactly. But people in stage circles talk about the Fiennes Hamlet, the Reeves Hamlet (usually with a shudder) and the Gross Hamlet (appropriately named, I"m afraid). (Oh, and I only know the answer to the third without looking -- and that was Benedict Campbell -- probably better known, frighteningly enough, as the voice of Papa Bear on the Berenstain Bears.)

[yendi]

*nod* I could see that. There are few characters portrayed that often on the screen (and, come to think of it, the other lead character with many appearances is James Bond, who is also associated with actors).

[kradical.livejournal.com]

Besides what stratfordbabe said, there's also the fact that, when you've got a famous actor and a famour director both, the famous actor wins. When you've just got a famous director, then the director wins. *grin*

Oh, and while I don't know who the Claudii were for Fiennes, Reeves, or Gross, I do know that Derek Jacobi played Claudius to Branagh's Hamlet, which is ironic, since Jacobi himself played Hamlet in the BBC Shakespeare series. His Claudius was Patrick Stewart. This means that there are two BBC productions that have both Stewart and Jacobi in which one of them played a character named Claudius.

This has been another *thud* useless fact.

[yendi]

you're falling victim to convention.

Stupid conventions, always undermining everything I do.

(Of course, part of what Zef did was to weaken the supporting roles anyway; I'm pretty sure that Gibson's Hamlet

As for the rest of the post, I can't process it right now, as my brain is stuck on the idea of Keanu Reeves Hamlet, and is alternating between giggling hysterically and, well, screaming hysterically. Some things should not be (and, of course, I now have a profound desire to see it, if only to compare it to the Maximilian Schell version).

(But no one talks about Kevin Kline's Hamlet? Why?)

Actually, now that I'm calmer, it does seem that stage directors in general have less fame than their screen counterparts (I spent twenty years in NYC, and watch the Tonys every year, but I could name maybe a handful of directors on stage).

[tablesaw]

I've been known to talk about Kline's Hamlet, but I prefer discussing Klein's Hamlet (sometimes also called Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead).

[yendi]

I'm now going to have to around finding excuses to say, "Claudii." Just because I don't think I've ever had cause to utter that plural before.

[slipjig.livejournal.com]

can anyone name any of Adam Sandler's directors other than Brooks and Anderson?

Bob Goldthwait, on Shakes the Clown. *fetches the can of Comet*

[yendi]

Well, I was thinking more along the lines of movies he did that were "Adam Sandler" movies.

But you should still scrub your brain.

[slipjig.livejournal.com]

Ahh, I see. Wait, didn't Tamra Davis do one? Like, Billy Madison or one of those? *kills self*

[kradical.livejournal.com]

*bows* Glad to be of service.

[robyn-ma.livejournal.com]

Zeffirelli and Gibson are two peas in a pod, given Zeffirelli's comments about 'Jewish cultural scum' during the Last Temptation of Christ foofarah.

Then again, Zeffirelli is also gay, so Gibson probably wouldn't have let him in his pod.