HBO's Rome

Re: HBO\'s Rome

Well certainly HBO has more latitude (and maybe more money) than any TV production studio ever, as well as the critical respect to be taken seriously. But, I dunno, I got sufficiently creeped out by Caligula and Nero in I, Claudius. Implied action can be creepier than when it's shown.

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I agree completely. Implied evil is actually stronger in my mind that graphically splayed-out-in-your-face evil is. The latter tends to just look over the top to me anymore. Not that I was ever a fan of it, to begin with.

Besides, in the wonderful "I,Claudius" didn't John Hurt play Caligula? Can't go wrong, there.

"I, Cluadius" was very much written to make Claudius the hero. It made for better drama. But the real Claudius wasn't as lilly-white-oh-so-nice as the miniseries made him out to be.

But I did adore that miniseries. Man, I'm really pissed off that I can't remember of the lead actor, he's done so much fine work.


Completely off-topic, I wish HBO or even Hollywood would tackle something historical that hasn't been done. I mean, this serious is like, what, the 70th billion Rome thing done on screen? How about the Byzantine Empire? Or the Olmecs or some such... something different, something that really open people up to chunks of history they never think about.

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Re: HBO\'s Rome

Derek Jacobi.

Re: HBO\'s Rome

SIR Derek Jacobi, luvvie!

VB

Re: HBO\'s Rome

SIR Derek Jacobi, luvvie!

VB

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Really? Well, good for him! He's a marvelous actor.

What exatcly does knighting, or whatever it's called, DO?

I'm not trying to be insulting, I promise, but what kind of duties/responsibilities come with the title when it is bestowed? What rewards come with it, other than a fancy new title? I honestly don't have a clue.

And when will Rome be shown at a decent hour? My god-awful schedule gives me a 7:45 a.m. class twice a week, so watching t.v. from 9-10 p.m. is a no go. I do hope it reairs soon, episode 1.

Next week I'll try to remember to keep the cable box turned on when I want to record a show.

Re: HBO\'s Rome

If you're recording anyway, just record one of the many many many many repeats. And if you have HBO2, then you have many many many many many many many many many repeats. And if you have HBO Latin, you have many many... etc... repeats in Spanish (not, ironically, in Latin, which would make more sense for a series about Rome).

Derek Jacobi is the go-to guy for my favorite cinematic Shakespeare interpreter, Kenneth Branaugh. He's the king in Hamlet and the opening narrator in Henry V, as well as a supporting character in the cute film Dead Again.

Re: HBO\'s Rome

Yea, I have the HBO package. I'll look up this afternoon when it's repeated on one of the HBO channels.

And I shall remember the cable box must be on.

What does "go-to guy for .. Shakespeare interpreter" mean?

Re: HBO\'s Rome

"I, Cluadius" was very much written to make Claudius the hero.

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Of course the premise of I, Claudius and Claudius the God was that they were the lost autobiography that Claudius is known to have written, translated by Graves. So naturally Claudius is the hero and presented in the best possible light. The literary device makes him the presenter, after all, and everyone edits their life a bit and puts a little spin on the ball in an autobiography. (Some to the point where they are more fiction than the Graves novels, but that's a subject for another thread. )

Regards,

Joe

Re: HBO\'s Rome

SIR Derek Jacobi, luvvie!

VB

Click to expand...

Really? Well, good for him! He's a marvelous actor.

What exatcly does knighting, or whatever it's called, DO?

I'm not trying to be insulting, I promise, but what kind of duties/responsibilities come with the title when it is bestowed? What rewards come with it, other than a fancy new title? I honestly don't have a clue.

And when will Rome be shown at a decent hour? My god-awful schedule gives me a 7:45 a.m. class twice a week, so watching t.v. from 9-10 p.m. is a no go. I do hope it reairs soon, episode 1.

Next week I'll try to remember to keep the cable box turned on when I want to record a show.

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Other than a title, not much, but in our 'wonderful' throwback feudal social and politcal system, it carries a lot of weight. Its really just a reward for services to the nation, or even to the labour party.

Some named peers can also vote in the house of lords, I belive, but not Knights, iirc. Not that that is worth anything these days, thank god...

http://www.answers.com/topic/british-honours-system

Re: HBO\'s Rome

Kenneth Branagh is a British actor who is probably most famous for his work in updating Shakespeare's plays for the modern audience. Anyone who producers and/or performs Shakespeare has to make specific decisions on how to, if at all, bridge the gap between the Elizabethan writing and modernity- interpretation (like a conductor interpreting centuries old repertoire for an orchestra).

Branagh's approach is to make the action and speech as immediate and cinematic as possible. Wereas Laurence Olivier, the most successful Shakespeare movie maker of all time, chose to basically make his films plays on camera, Branagh turns them into real movies, a totally different experience than going to a live performance. Battle scenes are filmed with closeups and with actual killing, and cameras are used like any other non-Shakespeare film. Most importantly, he treats the dialogue as just any scripted dialogue. He doesn't frame it formally as if he's reading poetry, he's using it to tell the story.

One interesting aspect of his Shakespeare films is the casting. He uses a mix of regular actors that are just great at doing Shakespeare and Hollywood stars in order to rope in a mass audience and as a vehicle for them to be shown in a new light. One of his regular actors is Derek Jacobi. Another his ex-wife, the extremely charming, lovely and talented Emma Thompson.

His first Shakespeare film was the brilliant Henry V (one of my favorite films period). Jacobi starts the film off as the narrator (chorus, I guess) and Thompson has a brief but charming turn as the French princess who Henry must charm into marriage.

It should be noted that he directed all of these as well, which is why I call him an interpreter- not just in presenting the roles, but in everything.

He then made a charming little film (non Shakespeare) callled Dead Again, again with Thompson and Jacobi, about a past-life regression. It's an absurd plot that can only work if the cast is likeable and whimsical and it does succeed here.

Much Ado About Nothing is the most entertaining Shakespeare film of all time, both because some of it is great and the rest is a train wreck. Thompson is again here and the centerpiece of the play is the battle-of-the-sexes bickering between their two characters, and it's fantastic. The rest of the play uses Hollywood stars in awkward and amusing ways that is hilarious. Denzel Washington tries his damndest to embrace the part but it just fails (Denzel will always be a top actor in my book for his stunning portrayal of Malcolm X, but this and Mo Better Blues are him stretching a bit too far). Kate Beckinsale makes a charming but, for a woman as beautiful as she, surprisingly dull character. Michael Keaton adds a truly wonderful, quirky cameo performance. But the topper is Keanu Reeves as the villain. Think of Mel Brook's take on To Be Or Not To Be. I laughed and laughed and laughed.

He was Iago in a version of Othello starring Laurence Fishburne which he didn't direct and I haven't seen (I can't imagine Fishburne cutting it as Othello, frankly).

He also played the starring role in the most recent adaptation of Frankenstein, with Anthony Quinn as the Creature, a fine film.

His masterpiece was Hamlet. The most complete (and thus longest) version of the play on screen, this simply blows Olivier and Gibson out of the water (the idea of even comparing Mel Gibson and Branagh as actors is laughable). Jacobi is an excellent and sympathetic King Claudius and Julie Christie adds an intense and vaguely Oedipal quality to Gertrude. Branagh cast and huge array of stars for the other supporting roles but, unlike Much Ado, they actually work here. The gorgeous Kate Winslet is Ophelia, Robin Williams and Billy Crystal have solid and unobtrusive cameos, Charlton Heston plays a stage actor, and I'm sure some others I'm forgetting.

Then he did a musical version of Love's Labour's Lost. I just can't bring myself around to watch that.

Apparently he's working on As You Like It now.

Re: HBO\'s Rome

I wasn't entirely satisfied with Branagh's Hamlet, but I'm in love with his Much Ado About Nothing. But I'm not really as picky about acting as some; I can even tolerate Reeves as Don John and thought Denzel did fine as Don Pedro. And all the little quirky details, gestures, and asides that weren't really in the play but are in the movie were wonderful.

Has anyone seen "Conspiracy?" Branagh and Stanley Tucci star as Heydrich and Eichmann, the leading architects of the Final Solution.... a very intense film, quite strong.

Re: HBO\'s Rome

I saw like the second half of that flick. Creepy.

Re: HBO\'s Rome

"I, Cluadius" was very much written to make Claudius the hero.

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Of course the premise of I, Claudius and Claudius the God was that they were the lost autobiography that Claudius is known to have written, translated by Graves. So naturally Claudius is the hero and presented in the best possible light. The literary device makes him the presenter, after all, and everyone edits their life a bit and puts a little spin on the ball in an autobiography. (Some to the point where they are more fiction than the Graves novels, but that's a subject for another thread. )

Regards,

Joe

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Wow, I did not know that. I mean, I know the story in "I, Claudius" was written from an autobiographical perspective, but that's all I knew.

"Claudius, the God" I have never heard of. Hmmm, that might make my must-read list this year.

Thanks, Joe!

Re: HBO\'s Rome

The mini-series was based on both books and presented the story under the single title I, Claudius. The books covered Claudius's life up until the death of Caligula and the legion's selection of Claudius as emperor in I, Claudius and his reign in Claudius the God.

Brannagh is terrific, and GKE and I have previously discussed our mutual crush on Emma Thompson and fondness for Dead Again, an intricately plotted gem of a mystery with great performances all around, including a non-annoying cameo by Robin Williams. (And Jacobi "quotes" from his I, Claudius performance in a way that is so perfect for the moment and the film that I couldn't help laughing out loud at one of the pic's tensest moments .)

Two other non-Shakespeare performances that are worth catching Brannagh in are the TV biopic Shackleton and the little-seen independent film How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog.

Brannagh, one of the best known actors in Britain on both stage and screen, and a supreme interpreter of the greatest English playwright is not English hmself, but Irish.

Regards,

Joe

Re: HBO\'s Rome

I had not heard of either of those films.

Once again, thanks!

Go, Irish!

Re: HBO\'s Rome

Oh... beloved Kenneth and Derek.

KB knows how to do the Shakespeare thing, I tell ya. I've yet to see another Benedick as fine as he. And his Henry V? Ahh, the St. Crispin's day speech still gives me shivers.

Oh, and the soundtracks for all of KB's films just rock. God Bless Patrick Doyle.

Re: HBO\'s Rome

I've had the pleasure of seeing Sir Derek Jacobi on stage out here in Australia last year, and I have to tell you, he does have a commanding stage presence.

He was here with Donald Sinden, Ian Richardson and Dame Diana Rigg in a performance of The Royal Shakespeare's production of The Hollow Crown. Excellent stuff.

Re: HBO\'s Rome

Man I don't even remember Robin Williams in Dead Again. I should watch it with my girlfriend, she'd like it.

I don't know what is Branagh's greatest gift to the world: making Shakespeare vibrant for our generation or figuring out how to put Robin Williams on the silver screen without annoying the shit out of me.

(Since we're going off on cinematic tangents anyway, check out an early Williams film called Moscow on the Hudson, a delightful relic of 80s Cold War pop culture, and the only film in which Williams stars and isn't irritating).

An interesting film Branagh appears in is called Rabbit Proof Fence, about Australian Aboriginal girls escaping a government institution. It stars non-professional actors. Branagh is a small supporting role. Soundtrack by Peter Gabriel.

Re: HBO\'s Rome

I loved Dead Again. Wasn't Robin Williams some kook who believed in reincarnation that either Emma or Kenneth went to for advice? Some guy in a little grocery store?

Re: HBO\'s Rome

Oh yeah! Branagh's character's advisor.

Re: HBO\'s Rome

Oh yeah! Branagh's character's advisor.

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Right, the defrocked (or whatever the term is) shrink who got caught boning his patients has been reduced to stocking shelves at a cheap bodega. ("Right now it is my karmic burden to stack cat food.")

Moscow on the Hudson was fun. The fact that Maria Conchita Alonso was in it didn't hurt. I loved it when Williams' defecting Soviet citizen confronts a man who seems to be following him on the streets of New York:

Williams: Who are you? CIA? KGB?
Man: G-A-Y



Regards,

Joe