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Kenneth Branagh's As You Like It brings one of
Shakespeare's most accessible plays to life for HBO
audiences. Stylishly set among Westerners living in 19th
century Japan, the play tells the tale of Rosalind, daughter
of a banished Duke, who is forced to flee the court and
enter the Forest of Arden when her uncle threatens to have
her killed. Accompanied by her cousin Celia, Rosalind
disguises herself as a man for safety's sake. The disguise
comes in handy when Rosalind tests the devotion of her
noble admirer Orlando, another exile, and teaches him
lessons of the heart. Some of the Bard's most poetic
language flows as a merry and melancholy series of
misunderstandings, gender confusions, and mistaken
identities unfolds amidst court exiles and forest natives.
With Rosalind's wit leading the way, the forces of true love
and justice eventually triumph.
As You Like It is Branagh's fifth directorial screen adaptation
of Shakespeare, joining 2000's Love's Labour's Lost, 1996's
Hamlet, 1993's Much Ado About Nothing, and 1989's Henry
V. Perhaps our generation's most celebrated interpreter of
the Bard, Branagh has been likened to Laurence Olivier for
his imaginative renderings of Shakespeare, both as an actor
and director.
For Branagh, the idea of making a movie version came to
him while playing Touchstone, the court fool, in repertoire in
the mid-'80s (the role here is played by Alfred Molina). "As
You Like It is a classic feel-good romantic comedy," explains
Branagh, "and I've seen it have a delirious effect on
audiences. The combination of light and shade means that
Shakespeare's comedies are often as beautiful and moving
as the tragedies."
As You Like It features a superb cast that includes Romola
Garai (Vanity Fair), Bryce Dallas Howard (Spider Man 3),
Kevin Kline (Oscar®-winner for A Fish Called Wanda),
Adrian Lester (Hustle), Janet McTeer (Songcatcher),
Alfred Molina (The DaVinci Code, Spider-Man 2), David
Oyelowo (The Last King of Scotland, HBO Films' upcoming
Five Days) and Brian Blessed (I, Claudius).
A co-production of HBO Films and BBC Films, As You Like It
was shot at London's Shepperton Studios and (for four
weeks) at Wakehurst Place, a park that dates from the 13th
century and is in an area of outstanding natural beauty in
West Sussex. Benefiting from several different styles of
garden and a dramatic ravine stuffed with Asian woodland
plants, it is the perfect location for the Forest of Arden
scenes. Incredibly, it has never been seen before on film.
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