10 Great Movies That Are Hidden Adaptations of Shakespeare (11 Photos)

The great English poet and playwright William Shakespeare had a huge influence on world culture. Like the works of other classics, his plays almost every year become the subject of rethinking, adaptation and discovery.





And we are talking not only about modernized paintings, but also about the merciless borrowing of famous Shakespearean plots and techniques. The latter most often happens in pop culture, which is free to experiment with the classics.

Today we are talking about the most notable film adaptations of Shakespeare's plays of varying degrees of merit, which in one way or another made an impression on audiences of the late 20th century and our time.

West Side Story (2021)



A Steven Spielberg musical starring rising star Rachel Zegler. The first “West Side Story” was filmed in 1957, also based on W. Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet.” The main conflict of both films is based on ethnic differences.

Thousand Acres (1977)





Michelle Pfeiffer, Jessica Lange and Jennifer Jason Leigh play the daughters of tyrannical Larry Cook. As in Shakespeare's King Lear, their family tragedy ends bleakly.

My Own Private Idaho (1991)



River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves play close friends whose adventures and relationships are based on several historical plays: Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2 and Henry V. Avant-garde independent drama takes the best motives of plays that seem to be unrelated to modernity: the motives of returning to one’s home, forgiveness, old age, etc. And just as in any Shakespearean work one cannot do without a jester or a witch, so this drama does not forget about humor.

Love Virus (2001)



A teen comedy in which Berke Landers (Ben Foster) tries to win back his ex-girlfriend, who is participating in a school play with his new boyfriend. A simplified but definitely fun adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream that doesn't end with a wedding, but leaves hope for such development.

You never dreamed of it... (1981)



A film adaptation of the story of the same name by Galina Shcherbakova about high school students Katya and Roma, whose parents hinder the development of their relationship. But sincere and pure love overcomes even geographical distances. The open ending softens the end of the tragedy "Romeo and Juliet", which clearly served as inspiration for the work.

10 Things I Hate About You (1999)



Julia Stiles played the main character of Shakespeare's play The Taming of the Shrew in a rather loose adaptation, which did not stop her from receiving the MTV Breakthrough of the Year Award. In the story, she is the younger sister who needs to find a guy, otherwise the older one won’t be able to date either. The names of Shakespeare's heroines are retained in the film - Katarina and Bianca, but their roles change. By the way, Kat’s named boyfriend is played by Heath Ledger.

O (2001)



Critics say it's a less-than-successful but well-intentioned study of teen violence. The plot of the tragedy “Othello” is transferred to the school reality of the beginning of the 21st century: Hugo Goulding, out of envy, is ready to ruin the lives of the black basketball player Odin and his beloved, the dean’s daughter, Daisy (Julia Stiles).

She's the Man (2005)



Plots with cross-dressing were invented long before such film comedies. But unlike Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, cross-dressing in this film is based on the desire to prove that a girl has the right to be interested in non-girly things (here we are talking about football) and to achieve success in it. The film partially preserves the main love affairs, names, and also gives the school its name after the name of the country in the play - Illyria.

The Lion King (1994)



It’s probably no secret to anyone that this cartoon is based on the plot of Hamlet. And although there is no talk of any “quintessence of dust”, we still love him for his skillful presentation of worldly wisdom.

Warmth of our bodies (2013)



The names of the characters: a zombie (Nicholas Hoult) named “R” and a girl Julie (Teresa Palmer) – themselves refer to the names of the heroes of “Romeo and Juliet”, and the plot itself about warring parties and two loving hearts leaves no chance of not remembering the painfully familiar plot of the tragedy, the end of which in the film, fortunately, is rethought.