Dakota Johnson as Imogene and Ed Harris as Cymbeline in Michael Almereyda's screen adaptation of William Shakespeare's Cymbeline. Courtesy Benaroya Pictures
Dakota Johnson as Imogene and Ed Harris as Cymbeline in Michael Almereyda's screen adaptation of William Shakespeare's Cymbeline. Courtesy Benaroya Pictures

Director Michael Almereyd on his new film Cymbeline



William Shakespeare is not usually considered the god- father of pulp fiction.

But the Bard's richly textured characters and high-octane plots become the ingredients of a gangland thriller in Cymbeline, which sets the action of the play of the same name in an anonymous American city in which outlaw bikers battle police.

Michael Almereyda's movie adaptation takes a troupe of rising stars and familiar faces – including Ed Harris, Ethan Hawke, Milla Jovovich, John Leguizamo and Fifty Shades of Grey star Dakota Johnson – and puts them in black leather for a saga full of love, violence and revenge.

But the American director says any resemblance to a certain biker TV show is pure coincidence.

"I've had people wagging their finger and saying, 'It's from Sons of Anarchy' because that's based on Hamlet," Almereyda says, with a touch of weariness. "And it may be, but that's a natural conceit," he adds, given that Shakespeare is an inexhaustible source of material for movies and TV.

“He’s got more than 1,000 credits on IMDB, so he must be doing something that people find is rewarding.”

The director says the biker genre seemed to be a natural fit for the tribal relationships and “mythic, almost comic-book archetypes” in Shakespeare’s play about an ancient British king and his clashes with the Roman occupiers.

The film, which debuted at the Venice Film Festival in September last year, stars Harris as the head of the Britons motorcycle gang, fighting with police while juggling a complex family life.

Cymbeline's virtuous daughter (Johnson) is in love with a penniless gentleman (Gossip Girl's Penn Badgley), while his scheming second wife (Jovovich) and her rapacious son (Anton Yelchin) are embroiled in evil conspiracies.

The script trims but stays faithful to the twists and turns of the play, a mash-up of romance, humour and tragedy that is one of Shakespeare’s less-often performed works. Almereyda concedes that it is wild, messy and complicated.

“The core of it to me is about men and women relating to each other and mistrusting each other,” he says.

“The strands of jealousy and misdirected love and lust and the resulting confusion – that feels modern.”

This is hardly the first time Shakespeare has been given an American twist. After all, West Side Story is just Romeo and Juliet with singing street gangs. And Almereyda himself transplanted Hamlet to modern-day New York in a 2000 movie, also starring Hawke.

With Cymbeline, the director returns to what he calls "American Shakespeare", an approach he contrasts with the more formal rhythms of traditional English performance.

“It’s about being unapologetic about, if not our ignorance, our rawness,” he says. “It has to do with a more natural approach, not being bombastic, not being declamatory.”

For the actors, that meant some intense preparation and work to absorb Shakespeare’s verse.

“I’d be showering and saying my lines, brushing my teeth, going to the toilet – just constantly, constantly saying it and putting it in my mouth so it becomes really conversational,” said Leguizamo, who plays put-upon biker foot-soldier Pisanio.

The result – coming in at a little over 90 minutes – is vivid and pacey. Trade magazine Variety says the film "dazzles with its colours and textures" although The Hollywood Reporter felt nothing could disguise the play's underlying status "as a second-rate Romeo and Juliet".

Leguizamo – who played Tybalt in Baz Lurhmann's teen-friendly 1996 movie version of Romeo and Juliet – said he knew from experience how a film can hook younger viewers and "sucker them to like Shakespeare".

He says that as a teenager he thought Shakespeare "wasn't for me", until he saw Franco Zeffirelli's sensuous 1968 film version of Romeo and Juliet.

“All of a sudden I was like, ‘This stuff is so beautiful’,” he says.

For Almereyda, comic books were the key to unlocking the works of the Bard.

"Marvel comics referenced Shakespeare, funnily enough," he says. "I was a pre-teen reading Shakespearean dialogue in Thor.

“It was a sort of midway drug to Shakespeare.”

artslife@thenational.ae

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
 
Started: 2020
 
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
 
Based: Dubai, UAE
 
Sector: Entertainment 
 
Number of staff: 210 
 
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
  • 2018: Formal work begins
  • November 2021: First 17 volumes launched 
  • November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
  • October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
  • November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
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  • US domestic suppliers might benefit from higher prices, but overall oil consumption is expected to decrease due to elevated costs
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Women’s World T20, Asia Qualifier

UAE results
Beat China by 16 runs
Lost to Thailand by 10 wickets
Beat Nepal by five runs
Beat Hong Kong by eight wickets
Beat Malaysia by 34 runs

Standings (P, W, l, NR, points)

1. Thailand 5 4 0 1 9
2. UAE 5 4 1 0 8
3. Nepal 5 2 1 2 6
4. Hong Kong 5 2 2 1 5
5. Malaysia 5 1 4 0 2
6. China 5 0 5 0 0

Final
Thailand v UAE, Monday, 7am

Tailors and retailers miss out on back-to-school rush

Tailors and retailers across the city said it was an ominous start to what is usually a busy season for sales.
With many parents opting to continue home learning for their children, the usual rush to buy school uniforms was muted this year.
“So far we have taken about 70 to 80 orders for items like shirts and trousers,” said Vikram Attrai, manager at Stallion Bespoke Tailors in Dubai.
“Last year in the same period we had about 200 orders and lots of demand.
“We custom fit uniform pieces and use materials such as cotton, wool and cashmere.
“Depending on size, a white shirt with logo is priced at about Dh100 to Dh150 and shorts, trousers, skirts and dresses cost between Dh150 to Dh250 a piece.”

A spokesman for Threads, a uniform shop based in Times Square Centre Dubai, said customer footfall had slowed down dramatically over the past few months.

“Now parents have the option to keep children doing online learning they don’t need uniforms so it has quietened down.”

Disclaimer

Director: Alfonso Cuaron 

Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville 

Rating: 4/5

Farasan Boat: 128km Away from Anchorage

Director: Mowaffaq Alobaid 

Stars: Abdulaziz Almadhi, Mohammed Al Akkasi, Ali Al Suhaibani

Rating: 4/5

The specs
 
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE. 

Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on

Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part one: how cars came to the UAE

 

Engine: 5.6-litre V8

Transmission: seven-speed automatic

Power: 400hp

Torque: 560Nm

Price: Dh234,000 - Dh329,000

On sale: now