14 posts tagged “hamlet2”
| Filmdaten | |
|---|---|
| Deutscher Titel: | Hamlet 2 |
| Originaltitel: | Hamlet 2 |
| Produktionsland: | USA |
| Erscheinungsjahr: | 2008 |
| Länge (PAL-DVD): | ca. 92 Minuten |
| Originalsprache: | Englisch |
| Stab | |
| Regie: | Andrew Fleming |
| Drehbuch: | Pam Brady, Andrew Fleming |
| Produktion: | Eric Eisner, Leonid Rozhetskin, Aaron Ryder |
| Musik: | Ralph Sall |
| Kamera: | Alexander Gruszynski |
| Schnitt: | Jeff Freeman |
| Besetzung | |
|
|
Check out the new Wikipedia entry
Hamlet 2 in German
Hamlet 2 ist eine US-amerikanische Filmkomödie aus dem Jahr 2008. Regie führte Andrew Fleming, der gemeinsam mit Pam Brady auch das Drehbuch schrieb.
Handlung [Bearbeiten]
Der in Tucson tätige High-School-Lehrer Dana Marschz unterrichtet Dramaturgie. Er bezeichnet sein eigenes Leben als eine Parodie einer Tragödie. Marschz erfährt, dass sein Unterricht abgeschafft werden soll. Er schreibt eine Fortsetzung des Theaterstücks Hamlet, die an der Schule aufgeführt werden soll.
Kritiken [Bearbeiten]
Duane Byrge schrieb am 23. Januar 2008 für die Zeitschrift The Hollywood Reporter, der Film sei ein Patchwork der Elemente aus mehr inspirierten Komödien wie Ace Ventura – Ein tierischer Detektiv und Borat. Sein rowdyhafter und unorthodoxer Humor könne für „fürstliche“ Einnahmen an den Kinokassen sorgen.[1]
Hintergründe [Bearbeiten]
Der Film wurde in Albuquerque (New Mexico) gedreht.[2] Seine Weltpremiere fand am 21. Januar 2008 auf dem Sundance Film Festival statt.[3] Kurz nach der Festivalvorführung kaufte das Unternehmen Focus Features das Verleihrecht für fast 10 Millionen US-Dollar.[4]
Weblinks [Bearbeiten]
- Hamlet 2 in der Internet Movie Database (englisch)
- Kritiken zu Hamlet 2 auf Rotten Tomatoes (englisch)
Einzelnachweise [Bearbeiten]
- ↑ Zitat auf uk.reuters.com, abgerufen am 25. Januar 2008
- ↑ Drehorte für Hamlet 2, abgerufen am 25. Januar 2008
- ↑ Premierendaten für Hamlet 2, abgerufen am 25. Januar 2008
- ↑ Finally Gets Sales Going at Sundance im Wall Street Journal vom 23. Januar 2008, abgerufen am 25. Januar 2008
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Quint dances along with Steve Coogan’s Sexy Jesus in HAMLET 2 at Sundance!
March 5th, 2008
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here finally catching up on my Sundance coverage. In the last month I’ve seen somewhere in the neighborhood of 50-60 films theatrically and another half dozen screeners to add onto that pile.
Of all those movies only about a fifth were damn good and of those only a handful that are what I’d call fuckin’ good or better.
HAMLET 2 made the cut.
Steve Coogan. If that name puts a smile on your face, then get in line now. This is Coogan at his finest. If his name got a “Huh?” response, then that’s okay, too. You’ll be a new fan of his once Hamlet 2 hits and then, I’m sure, you’ll dive into the hilarious world of Alan Partridge.
While Ricky Gervais, Martin Freeman, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost broke over here Mr. Coogan was biding his time.
In HAMLET 2, Coogan plays an Arizona drama teacher. In his mind he’s a great actor and in the opening moments of the movie we’re treated to his highlight reel, which consists of bit parts on infomercials and speaking roles in STD treatment commercials.
He gets paid next to nothing, his wife (played by Catherine Keener) is always bitchy to him (she married him and waited for his bit acting career that never came), he’s got a live-in hanger-on (played almost silently by David Arquette) and he’s struggling in a school system that doesn’t value the arts. His classroom has been moved into the cafeteria where his lectures have to compete with the lunch ladies noisily cooking.
In short, his life’s a mess, but he still has a hopeful smile on his face, an almost childlike optimism.
In his new year of teaching he is given a class of delinquents. The irony is not lost on him or the movie as he studies films like DANGEROUS MINDS in order to learn how to make the transition from his pure white-bread theater snob class to a multi-cultural class just trying to get an easy A.
This same year, he finds out that the school has finally cancelled theater and that situation brings the class together to achieve Coogan’s game plan: He’s going to put on a play that is so popular, so good, that the school board will be forced to reinstate the class.
In the past, Coogan’s plays all consisted of stage remakes of popular movies. We’re treated to a glimpse at one of his previous works, a stage version of ERIN BROKOVICH. He has a heated conversation with his biggest critic, the high school newspaper’s entertainment reviewer (a child no older than 12). He asks this kid why he always gets a negative review. The kid simply states that his shows suck. Of course, Coogan breaks down and the kid has to console him and gives him a piece of advice. Do your own thing, don’t just copy everybody else.
With that in mind, Coogan is inspired to create his masterpiece… HAMLET 2. But… everybody dies at the end of Hamlet, right? Aha! Well, that’s where the time machine comes in.
Seriously, the final version that ends up onstage is something they should tour with. You have time travel, historical figures coming in to change the events of the first HAMLET and a dance number involving Christ called SEXY JESUS.
And yes, his main inspiration to sequelize HAMLET is that he thought Shakespeare’s original was too much of a bummer and he wanted a chance to make it happier. He takes the tragedy out of HAMLET, essentially.
I can’t write this up without mentioning a particular actress. One of the secondary stories is the difficulty Keener and Coogan are having conceiving a child. So they go to a sperm bank and while they’re waiting, Coogan bumps into a cute nurse, played by Elisabeth Shue. His mouth hangs open and he says, “Excuse… but you look exactly like my favorite actress Elisabeth Shue.” She smiles and says, “I am Elisabeth Shue.”
And so it goes. She quit acting and became a sperm bank nurse in Arizona… and she’s not a throwaway joke. She is a real character in the movie, playing herself, and boy does she still have it. I’ve had a crush on her since my childhood viewings of ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING and KARATE KID. She’s looking great and is as charming as she’s ever been.
The script was whip-smart, as should be expected from Pam Brady. She works with Trey Parker and Matt Stone a lot on South Park, the South Park movie as well as TEAM AMERICA. She doesn’t disappoint here.
The flick just finished filming in November, so the cut we saw in January I’m sure is still rough. There was a little drag in the middle, but I’m sure they’ll tighten the film a bit before release. Even if they don’t, it’s already hilarious.
It was the biggest pick-up at Sundance, with Focus Features dishing a reported $10 million for it, so you know you’ll see a big release. This’ll be one Sundance movie I”m sure will be at a theater near you no matter where near you is.
Anyway, that’s it for HAMLET 2. Still more Sundance/Santa Barbara flicks to go through before I’m done. Keep an eye peeled, squirts!
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Everything needs a Wiki Entry, here goes Hamlet 2:
Hamlet 2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Hamlet 2 | |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Eric Eisner Leonid Rozhetskin Aaron Ryder |
| Written by | Andrew Fleming Pam Brady |
| Starring | Steve Coogan Catherine Keener Amy Poehler David Arquette |
| Music by | Ralph Sall |
| Cinematography | Alexander Gruszynski |
| Editing by | Jeff Freeman |
| Distributed by | Focus Features |
| Release date(s) | TBA |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $9 million |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Hamlet 2 is an upcoming comedy film directed by Andrew Fleming and starring Steve Coogan, Catherine Keener, Amy Poehler, and David Arquette. It was filmed primarily at a high school in New Mexico from September 2007 to October 2007. The film premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and will be distributed by Focus Features. A release date has yet to be announced.
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Contents[hide] |
[edit] Premise
A high school is removing its drama department, but a drama teacher (Coogan) writes a sequel to the Shakespeare play Hamlet to save the department.[1]
[edit] Production
Screenwriters Andrew Fleming and Pam Brady began writing the script in 2003, but they incorporated the Shakespeare play Hamlet into the premise later on. The play shown within the film was written on deadline for production.[2] The film was budgeted at a little over $9 million.[3] Production began in September 2007 in New Mexico.[4] Filming took place mainly at West Mesa High School in Albuquerque, where actual students were permitted to perform as extras in the film.[5] Filming concluded on Halloween, October 31, 2007.[6] The film was executive produced by Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa, who also produced Little Miss Sunshine.[3]
[edit] Cast
[edit] Release
A rough edit of Hamlet 2 was prepared for the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, where it was a late addition, three days before its scheduled screening.[3] The film premiered at the festival on January 21, 2008. After the screening, an all-night bidding war took place for rights to distribution, which Focus Features won for $10 million, acquiring worldwide rights to the film.[1] The purchase of Hamlet 2 nearly broke the Sundance Film Festival record set by Little Miss Sunshine, which sold for $10.5 million in 2006.[3]
[edit] Critical reaction
Duane Byrge of The Hollywood Reporter described Hamlet 2 as "a slam-bang patchwork of more inspired comedies, such as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Borat". Byrge described the premise as "a twist on the formula of let's-put-on-a-show, with the twist being that no one wants the show". He thought that the screenwriters had put together "a string of gags in a hit-and-miss dither".[8]
Edward Douglas of ComingSoon.net described Hamlet 2 as "outrageously funny but it does require a certain type of sense of humor and the ability to laugh at very odd behavior and situations". Douglas thought that Coogan played his character over-the-top, but found that through the film, "you really start to love him". He described the premise as "ludricous" but said, "Sometimes, you just have to turn off your brain and allow yourself to laugh."[9]
The New York Times noted of the film, "It made sure to take shots at Christians, gays, Latinos, Jews, the American Civil Liberties Union and Elisabeth Shue, one of its lead actresses."[2]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f Anne Thompson. "Focus Features acquires 'Hamlet 2'", Variety, 2008-01-22. Retrieved on 2008-01-24.
- ^ a b David M. Halbfinger. "Done Deals Finally Start To Appear At Sundance", The New York Times, 2008-01-23.
- ^ a b c d Lauren A.E. Schuker. "Comic 'Hamlet 2' Finally Gets Sales Going at Sundance", Wall Street Journal, 2008-01-23.
- ^ Francesca Martin. "Great Danes go head to head", The Guardian, 2007-09-12.
- ^ Megan Martin. "Students learn about making movies from an on-the-set perspective", Albuquerque Journal, 2007-11-06.
- ^ Dan Mayfield. "N.M. movies make Sundance cut", Albuquerque Journal, 2008-01-11.
- ^ a b Gregg Goldstein. "'Hamlet 2' to be among New Frontiers", The Hollywood Reporter, 2007-12-20. Retrieved on 2008-01-24.
- ^ Duane Byrge. ""Hamlet 2" sends up suburbia in rowdy fashion", The Hollywood Reporter, Reuters, 2008-01-23. Retrieved on 2008-01-24.
- ^ Edward Douglas. "Reviews: The Great Buck Howard & Hamlet 2", ComingSoon.net, 2008-01-23. Retrieved on 2008-01-24.
[edit] External links
Categories: Upcoming films | American films | English-language films | Comedy films | 2008 Sundance Film Festival
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Via Entertaiment Weekly
If you're a fan of Steve Coogan, that King Leer of a motormouth British comedian who starred in 24 Hour Party People, came to Hollywood (remember his glorious performance as his own trumped-up self in Jim Jarmusch's Coffee and Cigarettes?), and saw his crossover American career do a nosedive before it had even gotten off the ground, then you won't want to miss Hamlet 2, in which he's like the son of Peter Sellers crossed with a more handsome version of Tiny Tim. This is the movie that Coogan cultists have been waiting for — the one that finally lets him cut his inner wildman loose, only within a structure that lends method to his madness.
He plays a godawful failed actor, despised by his wife (a scalding Catherine Keener), who has become a self-loathing high-school drama teacher, and Coogan turns this pathetic yet insistently egomaniacal creature into a loser-nerd of genius. He mugs, he glowers, he hams up his telling of jokes too corny-horrible to print, and — most mesmerizingly — he comes on like a sarcastic geek acting like a swishy queen trying to pass himself off as a ''normal'' heterosexual Middle American.
Make no mistake: The gay/not gay camp-theatrical weirdness is built right into Hamlet 2, which Andrew Fleming has directed and cowritten like a broader, more looney-tunes version of Waiting for Guffman. To save his job, Coogan's lowly drama instructor writes and stages a musical sequel to Hamlet 2, in which a time machine returns the great Dane to life, so that he can save himself and everyone else in the play. As opening night approaches, the show becomes hugely controversial, because it is blasphemous (and demented) in almost every way. Yet really, it's a high school musical that would make John Waters proud. You may wonder what could possibly be funny about a song called ''Raped in the Face,'' but when you see this and other numbers, such as ''Rock Me Sexy Jesus,'' they give off such a happy blast of cluelessness that the show seems to be rediscovering — through its very offensiveness — the unhinged glory of showbiz.
Hamlet 2 doesn't have the exquisiteness of Guffman; with Coogan as its maestro/vamp in chief, it's more like a one-man demolition derby of bad taste. But you will laugh, and, with any luck, you will become a believer in Steve Coogan, who in this film proves as uproarious an anarchist as Sascha Baron Cohen. At Sundance 2008, that's what independence looked like.
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After the huge succes of Hamlet2 at the sundance film festival.
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announces to produce " Three Wolves" a tale of the Russian Mafia.
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'Hamlet 2' is big buy at Sundance Fest
AP Entertainment Writer
Actress Elisabeth Shue poses for a portrait during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah on Monday, Jan. 21, 2008. Shue is at Sundance promoting the feature film "Hamlet 2" in which she has a starring role.
PARK CITY, Utah
Steve Coogan is the toast of Sundance. The British actor stars in the biggest acquisition of the film festival, "Hamlet 2," a bawdy comedy directed by Andy Fleming that takes politically incorrect jabs at inspirational teacher flicks like "Mr. Holland's Opus."Focus Features bought the film for a reported $10 million in the wee hours of Tuesday after a premiere the night before at which it was greeted with loud laughter.
Catherine Keener co-stars as Coogan's unhappy wife, and Elisabeth Shue plays herself, under the concept that she has given up on Hollywood and moved to Tucson, Ariz., to become a nurse.
"Choke," starring Sam Rockwell, sold to Fox Searchlight with trade papers putting the deal at $5 million. Actor-director-writer Clark Gregg adapted the screenplay from "Fight Club" author Chuck Palahniuk's 2001 novel.
In announcing the buy, the studio described the dark comedy's themes as "mothers and sons, sexual compulsion, and the sordid underbelly of Colonial theme parks."
"Henry Poole is Here," a spiritual comedic drama starring Luke Wilson, sold for a reported $3.5 million to Overture Films. "We think we managed to find a little gem," Overture CEO Chris McGurk said Wednesday.
Before the festival, filmmakers and sellers had hoped the halt in production due to the writers strike would put pressure on buyers. It turned out that distributors were actually more reticent than usual.
"There did seem to be more caution this year, I guess, as opposed to prior years," McGurk said. "There were some instances of buys that were made last year that with 20/20 hindsight, that amount of money shouldn't be paid."
Among documentaries, HBO Documentary Films purchased "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired" for U.S. distribution, while the Weinstein Co. got international rights. "The Black List" sold to HBO, and "American Teen," a cinema verite crowd favorite tracking four high school seniors, went to Paramount Vantage for about $1 million.
The Sundance Film Festival runs through Sunday.
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Sundance Q&A: The Cast of ''Hamlet 2''
Steve Coogan, Elisabeth Shue, and David Arquette talk about their high-school-set comedy, likely to remain the fest's biggest acquisition
STEVE COOGAN (left, with Catherine Keener) on Hamlet 2: ''Ours is a film that makes you laugh. It's not a film that makes you think. But if you want to think, you can''
By the eighth day of this year's Sundance Film Festival, director Andrew Fleming's comedy Hamlet 2 remained the biggest acquisition, selling to Focus Features for $10 million. The comedy revolves around a high-school drama teacher (Steve Coogan) who stages a sequel to Shakespeare's play in order to save his department from budget cuts.
On the afternoon before the film's premiere, EW.com chatted with Coogan and his fellow cast members David Arquette and Elisabeth Shue at EW's photo studio. (Sadly, Hamlet 2 costar Catherine Keener did not make the trip to Sundance this year.)
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Are you excited for tonight's premiere?
DAVID ARQUETTE: I haven't seen it yet, so I'm nervous. It seems like people have been enjoying it, though.
And you play...?
ARQUETTE: I play Gary. I'm the guy who lives at [Steve Coogan
and Catherine Keener's] house. They only let me live there because I
have a car. They don't have a car. I drive them everywhere. I think I'm
supposed to be a trainer in it. I'm very fitness-oriented, but I don't
have any actual clients. I have a small part. I only have about 10
lines in it. And I think one of my scenes got cut, too. I was sad. I
play a dumb guy in it. Which I tend to do well.
Well, you're playing against type.
ARQUETTE: I hope so. [Laughs] Or maybe I'm just dumb.
[Arquette gets called to get his picture taken. Elisabeth Shue steps up.]
Hello. Are you enjoying Sundance?
ELISABETH SHUE: It's really fun to be back. The most moving time
I've had at Sundance was two years ago because Davis [Guggenheim,
Shue's husband] premiered An Inconvenient Truth [which he directed] here. That will go down as the most meaningful trip to Sundance. I remember the first screening of An Inconvenient Truth, they gave it a standing ovation. I was crying so much. It still makes me cry thinking of it.
It'll be hard to measure up to that ever again.
SHUE: I know, it'll never measure up to that, but it doesn't
have to. I love this movie, actually. It's really funny. Unique and
different. And I just think Steve is a brilliant comedian. I want to do
another comedy — and with him. [She points to Coogan, who's been sitting nearby, ostensibly minding his own business.] I want him to write me a movie where we can be lovers. [Laughs]
[To Coogan] Would you like to join our conversation?
SHUE: Don't you think he's hot?
He's not bad.
STEVE COOGAN: I'm not too pale for a Brit.
SHUE: With his new haircut! He's got really funny hair in the movie.
COOGAN: It's kind of '80s: long, wavy. I had this long, fair
hair. It was dyed and bleached and straightened. And then it got so
brittle I just had to get rid of it all.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: [To Shue] How did you like working with the great Steve Coogan?
ELISABETH SHUE: Ah.... It was really incredible. It's so easy.
STEVE COOGAN: We had great chemistry.
SHUE: We did.
COOGAN: We still have great chemistry.
SHUE: I want him.
COOGAN: I want her.
Well, don't let me stand in the way. [To Coogan] So, what about working with the wonderful Elisabeth Shue?
COOGAN: It was tremendous and stupendous and chemically...
SHUE: Destabilizing.
COOGAN: Destabilizing!
SHUE: He plays this has-been actor whose most important role was being in the background of a herpes commercial.
COOGAN: I was in the foreground of a herpes commercial! The herpes commercial was all about me. And I've had a cold sore in real life. Carry on.
SHUE: And then, I play myself, Elisabeth Shue. I've quit the
business and I've gone to Tucson, Ariz., to become a nurse. He comes
into the fertility clinic where I work and he's so excited to see me, because he's a great lover of film and he thinks I'm just so wonderful.
COOGAN: I'm obsessed with Elisabeth Shue. I metaphorically and
literally kiss her ass. And I invite her to my school to give a talk.
It's very exciting. She says some very explicit things. I won't tell
you what they are. But they're shocking for fans of Elisabeth Shue.
You play yourself — or a version of yourself?
SHUE: It was definitely a version of myself. The first day, I
was really self-conscious and nervous because I didn't know anybody.
There were no rehearsals so I just showed up and started shooting. But
Steve made me feel comfortable because he was so excited to see me in
the scene that it just made me laugh every single time. [She laughs just talking about it] I felt like I understood the version I was supposed to play once he started to react to me.
[To Coogan] And your character — was he fun to play?
COOGAN: Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I play kind of a heroic fool
whose heart's in the right place, but he's a bit of a jackass and he
tries to save the drama department at his school by writing a sequel to
Hamlet.
SHUE: It's a musical!
COOGAN: It's a happy version. He figures that the original Hamlet — Hamlet 1 — it's a bit depressing when everyone dies at the end. So he wants he want to do a more uplifting, positive, Hollywood version.
SHUE: Jesus is in it. He comes in a time machine.
COOGAN: Jesus Christ. And Albert Einstein. He travels through time and meets a bunch of people.
Wow, so it's like Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure?
COOGAN: It is like that, except that...it doesn't star Keanu Reeves.
How does it feel to be at Sundance with a comedy?
COOGAN: Great. [At film festivals, there tends to be a lot of]
interesting, quirky, odd, individualistic, kind of esoteric films that
make you sad. Ours is a film that makes you laugh. It's not a
film that makes you think. But if you want to think, you can. It's a
kind of optional-thinking movie. You don't have to think too much.
SHUE: Not at all.
COOGAN: Not at all, actually
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Focus Features Acquires Hamlet 2
Written by on January 22, 2008 – 2:35 pm -
Focus Features has acquired worldwide rights to Andrew Fleming’s comedy Hamlet 2,
a world premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Focus Features
CEO James Schamus and president Andrew Karpen made the announcement
today.
Directed by Andrew Fleming (Dick, Threesome) from an original screenplay he wrote with Pam Brady (”South Park,” Team America: World Police), Hamlet 2 is produced by L+E Pictures’ Eric Eisner & Leonid Rozhetskin and Aaron Ryder (Memento, The Prestige). The movie was executive-produced by Bona Fide partners Albert Berger & Ron Yerxa (Election).
In the irreverent comedy, a failed actor-turned-worse-high-school-drama teacher (Steve Coogan of Night at the Museum) rallies his Tucson, AZ students as he conceives and stages a politically incorrect musical sequel to Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” The film also stars David Arquette (the “Scream” movies), Melonie Diaz (soon to be seen in Be Kind Rewind), two-time Academy Award nominee Catherine Keener, Amy Poehler (”Saturday Night Live”), and Elisabeth Shue as herself.
Schamus and Karpen commented, “Andrew Fleming and an extraordinary filmmaking team have brought everyone at Focus an amazing New Year’s present. We can’t wait to share this riotously inventive movie with the whole world.”
Eisner said, “We’re extremely excited to work with the talented Focus group on ‘Hamlet 2,’ and we look forward to a bright future for the movie after what was an exceptional response at Sundance.”
Rozhetskin added, “‘Hamlet 2? is the most auspicious imaginable launch for L+E Pictures.”
L+E Pictures was formed in 2007 by Eisner and Rozhetskin with a mission to finance and develop feature-length films. L+E Pictures provides equity financing for films with budgets in the range of $5 to $30 million dollars.
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Sundance BuzzCheck™:
The festival’s top seller, ‘Hamlet 2′
Jan 23, 2008, 07:48 PM | by Pop Watch
Categories: Sundance Film Festival 2008
To sell or not to sell? That has been the question dogging every fledgling filmmaker at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, where sales have been remarkably slow. But it wasn’t a concern for the producers of Hamlet 2
— the bizarro comic farce about an about an eccentric high school drama
teacher (Steve Coogan, pictured) who tries to save his drama program
and his marriage to his fed-up wife (Catherine Keener) with his
production of a sequel to Shakespeare’s masterwork. Their quandary was
more about how much to sell their movie for, and to whom.
The raucous comedy had been the subject of tremendous buzz coming into Sundance…before it was even completed, and without a mere mention in the event’s catalogue. Indeed, the unfinished film was such a late entry into the festival that Park City’s primary premiere location, the Eccles Center, was fully booked. But that didn’t stop Hamlet 2 from knocking Sundance out of its mid-festival doldrums with a rowdy debut screening Monday night at the Library Center theater. The room erupted in hysterics about two minutes into the show, and things stayed that way for nearly two hours.
Afterward, Harvey Weinstein hovered by the door, ready to kick off the deal-making. He was far from alone. Producer Eric Eisner and Leonid Rozhetskin, whose L+E pictures financed the film, fielded offers “from all the usual suspects,” including Fox Searchlight and Lionsgate. But it wasn’t until after he spent the whole night hashing things out at the bargaining table in his condo that he finally settled on a deal to sell the worldwide rights to Focus Features for an astronomical $10 million — one of the highest sums ever fetched by any movie in the history of Sundance. Eisner insists it wasn’t simply Focus’ deep pockets that helped that distributor win the bidding war. “We love their whole overall approach to marketing and filmmaking,” say Eisner and Rozhetskin, who will confess that Hamlet 2 outperformed even his high expectations. “It’s been quite a ride. Now it would be nice to get some sleep.” —Christine Spines (with additional reporting by Missy Schwartz)
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Sundance, Day 7:
Why Hamlet 2 Is Hot, Hot, Hot
Categories: sundance, hamlet 2
Finally, there’s a huge sale at Sundance. Hamlet 2 is a satirical comedy about a failed actor turned high school teacher (Steve Coogan) who stages a musical sequel to Hamlet. And it screened so well that Focus Features snapped it up for $10 million. That’s the second-biggest sale in history, the first being Little Miss Sunshine.
So, what are the ingredients to the most appetizing Sundance spread?
1. Set the Table with Mickey Mouse-Themed Place Mats! Hamlet 2 producer Eric Eisner has a dad named Michael Eisner. You might have heard of Michael? He worked for some company called Disney or something. Anyway, Eisner didn’t make the deadline for Sundance. But he used his pull to secure a last-second screening of the rough cut so that the film could be shown. Well done, Eric.
2. Break Open a Bottle of Superexpensive 1787 Château Lafite! Hamlet 2 is classy. Even common folk moviegoers will hear the title and think, Dang, Shakespeare, that’s probably good.
3. Open Up a Box of Twinkies! Hamlet 2 sends up Dangerous Minds. Phew. It’s not all about Shakespeare.
4. Garnish with Eight Packs of NutraSweet! Everyone at Focus should send a fruit basket as a gesture of gratitude to Paris Hilton. The reformed party girl has been ditzing about, helping remind buyers we need Shakespearean-themed entertainment to distract us from, well, Paris.
5. Laugh So Hard That You Spit the Wine All over the Twinkies! Hamlet 2 star Elisabeth Shue had this to say to the New York Times: “I just got the script and it said, ‘A famous actress who’s a has-been, lives in Tucson and is a nurse.’ I had to do it.” Ha.
6. Light Estrogen-Scented Candles! Catherine Keener costars, which is reason enough to think seriously about buying or seeing any movie. Plus, Hamlet 2 is cowritten by South Park vet Pam Brady. And while less than 30 percent of the WGA is women, fortysomething percent of this year’s Oscar-nominated screenwriters are women. Neat!
