Shakespeare in Love (1998)

Comedy and Romance.
Rated R for sexuality.

Starring: Joseph Fiennes , Gwyneth Paltrow , Geoffrey Rush , Colin Firth , Ben Affleck .

Directed by John Madden and Richard Greatrex .
Produced by Donna Gigliotti , Harvey Weinstein , Edward Zwick , Marc Norman and David Parfitt .
Written by Tom Stoppard and Marc Norman .

Distributor: Miramax Films   More Credits

Shakespeare in Love Homepage : http://www.miramax1998.com/shakespeareinlove/

The Film Script of Shakespeare in Love

Synopsis

In this well-conceived Elizabethan comedy, writers Tom Stoppard and Marc Norman ask the question: who was William Shakespeare's muse? The answer: Viola de Lesseps, a young noblewoman who dreams of acting on a man's stage. The screenwriters deliver a cleverly crafted scenario which beautifully illustrates both the early aspirations of the playwright, and a glimpse into the culture of Elizabethan theater. Colorful characters, like the Globe theater owner Henslow (played by Geoffrey Rush), the lead player in the troupe (Ben Affleck), and the Queen herself (Judi Dench), give the cast charm, wit, and feasibility. The young playwright who at the start of the film is experiencing writer's block bursts forth with a lyrical text inspired by the lovely and passionate Viola. Ultimately this film is about the making of a great play, but most importantly it is about the power of words.

SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE

SYNOPSIS

SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE is a romantic comedy for the 1990s set in the 1590s. It imaginatively unfolds the witty, sexy and timeless tale behind the creation of the greatest love story ever told.

It is the summer of 1593, and the rising young star of London's theater scene, Will Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes), faces a scourge like no other: a paralyzing bout of writer's block. While the great Elizabethan age of entertainment unfolds around him, Will is without inspiration or material. No matter how he tries, and despite pressure from financiers and theater owners, he just can't seem to work up any enthusiasm for his latest play, "Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter."

What Will needs is a muse - and in an extraordinary moment in which life imitates art, he finds and falls for a woman who draws him into his own dramatic adventure of star-crossed love.

It all begins when Lady Viola (Gwyneth Paltrow), desperate to become an actor at a time when women were forbidden from such depravity, disguises herself as a man to audition for Will's play. But the guise slips away as their passion ignites. Now Will's quill again begins to flow, this time turning love into words, as Viola becomes his real-life Juliet and Romeo finds his reason to exist.

Yet all is not well in Will's world. For even as the parchment begins to pile up, he is plagued by real-life twists of fate -including the unavoidable reality that Lady Viola must marry the insufferable Lord Wessex (Colin Firth) at the command of Queen Elizabeth (Judi Dench).

In a whirl of mistaken identities, mixed-up messages and misbegotten desires - between bawdy brawls, duels with jealous husbands and dangerous kisses -- Will Shakespeare searches for a resolution not only to his play but to his own undying passion.

SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE is a funny, fast-moving romance from acclaimed director John Madden ("Mrs Brown"). The screenplay is by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard. Produced by David Parfitt, Donna Gigliotti, Harvey Weinstein, Edward Zwick, Marc Norman and executive produced by Bob Weinstein and Julie Goldstein. SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE also stars Academy Award winners Geoffrey Rush ("Shine") and Ben Affleck ("Good Will Hunting") in wonderfully comic roles.

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ABOUT SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE

1590's London - amidst the great heyday of Elizabethan entertainment, two rival theaters, The Curtain owned by Richard Burbage and The Rose owned by Philip Henslowe, competed passionately for the same audience to fill their playhouses. Under pressure to satisfy the overwhelming demand for new works, a rising young writer by the name of Will Shakespeare penned his love inspired play "Romeo and Juliet." This twisting, turning, fiery romance both on stage and off will break the hearts and inspire the souls of lovers around the world for centuries to come..

But how, in a time of plagues and monarchs, did this often comical, upstart, struggling scribe come to express such timeless passion in such perfectly life-like story and words?

Could it have been that Shakespeare himself was madly in love?

Running away with this imaginative concept, screenwriters Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard have brought forth a delightfully romantic comedy about how one lone writer navigated his own heart's outrageous choice to generate the heights of romance.

Going beyond Shakespeare's notions of love and into his love-life, SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE brings to life an Elizabethan world not unlike our own. Here is a world in which commercialism is threatening creativity, in which heads of state get involved in entertainment, in which bedroom romps affect what gets produced, in which egos rage out of control, in which artistic rivalries and feuds abound, in which children are titillated by violence and women never get any roles - and here, too, is a world in which love triumphs over all this and more.

Refreshingly contemporary, SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE is ultimately the tale of a man and woman trying to make love work in the 90s -- the 1590s.

As director John Madden summarizes: "This is a story with humor, romance, sexiness and intelligence. The script takes perhaps the greatest iconic figure imaginable and deals with him in both an incredibly mischievous and yet truly respectful way. It is a tale at once playful, irreverent, modem and deeply romantic."

BACKGROUNDER

On the Development of "Shakespeare in Love"

The SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE screenplay was written by Marc Norman and playwright Tom Stoppard, although the original idea was rooted in a third creative mind - one of Norman's son's, Zachary. It was in 1989, while studying Elizabethan drama at Boston University, that the younger Norman phoned his father with a sudden brainstorm of a movie concept - the young William Shakespeare in the Elizabethan theater. The elder Norman agreed it was a terrific idea, but he hadn't a clue what to do with it. Two years later, with bits of time stolen from other projects, the notion had formed - what if Shakespeare had writer's block while writing his timeless classic, "Romeo and Juliet"? Norman phoned his neighbor, the celebrated director Edward Zwick, and ran the idea past him. Zwick loved the concept and helped Norman pitch the idea to Casey Silver, Chairman of Universal Pictures. Their efforts succeeded; now the time arrived for Norman to sit down and write the screenplay. Later, Tom Stoppard was brought on to add his own touch to the story's historical and theatrical flavor. When the screenplay was completed, the work was greeted with overwhelming enthusiasm. However, an initial attempt to film the screenplay in 1993, with Zwick directing, had to be aborted. But the project's believers, including Zwick, Norman and Stoppard, knew that, no matter what the length of time or set of circumstances, "Shakespeare in Love" would ultimately land on the big screen Oust as, in the story itself, Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" overcomes every obstacle and makes it to the stage.)

The turning point came in 1996, when Zwick was readying his acclaimed (and soon-to-be Academy Award winning) film "Legends of the Fall." Zwick called Miramax Films Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein and told him he had a terrific script called "Shakespeare in Love." Weinstein read the script and immediately wanted to bring the project to Miramax. If acquired, "Shakespeare in Love" would represent a milestone for the company, as Miramax would need to assume not only the cost of the script, but all previous pre-production costs incurred at Universal. At the time, this would represent a larger sum than the company had ever committed to a single project.

Weinstein shared the work with several key executives, including his brother Bob, Senior Vice President -Production Development (and eventual executive producer) Julie Goldstein and Executive Vice President (and eventual producer) Donna Gigliotti. All concurred that "Shakespeare" was one of the best scripts they had ever read, and began the process of acquiring the project from Universal.

Edward Zwick, however, was just beginning pre-production work on "The Siege" and was no longer available to direct (he did remain committed to the project as a producer, joined by David Parfitt, Donna Gigliotti, Harvey Weinstein and Marc Norman). Around this time, Weinstein had become captivated with director John Madden's work on "Mrs. Brown," a film dealing with similar themes of timeless romance and British history (which Miramax released in the U.S. to overwhelming acclaim and two Academy Award nominations.) Weinstein knew Madden was the ideal choice to direct "Shakespeare in Love," and offered him the project as a follow-up to his superior work on "Mrs. Brown."

The next step was bringing together an international cast to take on Norman and Stoppard's diverse gallery of characters. To cast "Shakespeare in Love," Madden and the Miramax team headed by Co-President of Production Meryl Poster called on their renowned list of international contacts, ultimately assembling a group of actors that includes celebrated leading lady Gwyneth Paltrow, acclaimed British actor Joseph Fiennes, Academy Award winners Geoffrey Rush and Ben Affleck, "English Patient" star Colin Firth and Academy Award nominee (and "Mrs. Brown" veteran) Judi Dench.

Paltrow, already one of Hollywood's leading actresses for her star turn as the heroine of "Emma," was always the first choice to play Viola. The selection of an actor to step into the shoes of Will Shakespeare proved more challenging. After an extensive search of actors of all stature and nationality, the filmmakers finally found their Shakespeare in Joseph Fiennes, who had already built an impressive career on the London stage.

On the eve of production, Universal opted to partner with Miramax to co-produce the film. As the two companies joined in partnership, Universal played an incredibly supportive role as Miramax continued running the film's production and post-production operations.

The Life and Loves of Will Shakespeare: A Quick Primer

Although he wrote some of the world's most renown romances and comedies, William Shakespeare's personal life remains a great mystery. Little is known about the writer and what is thought to be known is hotly debated by scholars. Conspiracy theories and suggestions of hoaxes and false identities abound, but have resisted proof for centuries.

What is known about Shakespeare is that whatever his identity, his works provide insight into human nature and the nature of love. His 38 plays, as well as his many sonnets, capture themes and emotions in story-telling that continue to be the most entertaining concepts of today.

The most widely agreed upon story of Shakespeare's life suggests that he was born in Stratfordupon-Avon in 1554 to a prosperous glovemaker. In 1582, when just a lad of 18, he married Anne Hathaway and had three children, including a son who died at the age of 11.

No documentation of Shakespeare's life between 1585 and 1592 exists, lending these "lost years" to great conjecture and controversy. He re-emerged as a public figure in 1592, working in London as an actor and playwright. Though he was not yet the writer he would become, already the playwright Robert Greene referred enviously to Shakespeare in 1592 as "the upstart crow" of the London theater. He was quickly drawing the attentions of hungry theater-owners in the burgeoning Bankside district and the jealousies of bitter rivals. He began spending his summers in London, returning to his family in Stratford every winter when the public theaters were closed due to fear of spreading plague.

Throughout 1593, Shakespeare published several of his most erotic sonnets, but it was in 1594 that he really made his career breakthrough, coming to the fore with his great work of romance, "Romeo and Juliet." He joined the Chamberlain's Men, a theatrical troupe which enjoyed the patronage of the royal court and which later built the famous Globe Theater.

What accounted for this sudden turn-around in Shakespeare's creative life? Did he have a real-life muse in his hidden history that unlocked the secrets of the human heart? Several theories have been advanced by Shakespearean scholars and biographers, many involving a mysterious "darklady" to whom the bard seems to pine for in several of his sonnets. As the Shakespearean scholar Arthur Aches writes:

I believe, from what I find in the Sonnets, that our poet's connection with [a] woman commenced at almost the same period as his acquaintance with Southampton, in about 1593, . . . I believe, also, that he genuinely loved her, and fired with the passion and intensity of his love, produced in those years the marvelous rhapsodies of love in "Romeo and Juliet," . . and other of his love plays, which have so charmed the world, and still charm it, and shall continue to do so while the language lives. If ever a man lived who sounded the human heart to its depths, and gauged its heights, that man was Shakespeare, and such knowledge as he had, and shows us of life, may not be attained by hearsay, nor at second hand.

The true nature of Shakespeare's love will only ever be known through his enduring works. He is believed to have died in April 1616, on the anniversary of his birthday, after developing a fever whilst spending a night entertaining the playwright Ben Johnson. He is buried in Stratford-upon-Avon.

The Times of Will Shakespeare: An Elizabethan Intro

Shakespeare lived in tumultuous and creative times - rapidly changing times when science, religion and culture were undergoing dramatic shifts. He also lived in a theatrical era without historical par - when the popular theater first became a major source of entertainment for the masses, even if scholars of the time deemed it vulgar and puritan preachers condemned such visceral entertainment as devilishly corrupt.

He lived under the reign of Elizabeth I, the unmarried, Virgin Queen who presided over England's Golden Age. Elizabeth ushered in a time of unprecedented confidence and growth for Great Britain, establishing England as the leading naval and commercial power of the Western world; defeating the Spanish Armada in 1588 and firmly establishing the Church of England as an institution of the state.

Elsewhere during this time, Copernicus was putting his life at risk by asserting his cosmological theory that the earth was not at the center of the Universe, Galileo was setting forth his Golden Rule, and Sir Walter Raleigh was exploring the Americas.

London was also undergoing a massive transformation during this era. From 1500 to 1600 the city's population grew by 400%. The economy was booming but contrasts abounded - on the one hand the city suffered from plagues and poverty and on the other it experienced a cultural and intellectual explosion like no other.

At the center of this artistic explosion was the London theater, rife with the world's leading dramatists who were changing not only the language but the very notion of popular entertainment. In the 1580s a group of playwrights known as the University Wits - including Marlowe, Greene, Kyd and Peele - redefined the modem theater with highly entertaining dramas and comedies using blank verse and often featuring a moral hero. Their productions emphasized realism with special effects and gory, authentic death scenes a specialty.

These Elizabethan dramas drew audiences the likes of which the theater had never seen - people of all walks of life who paid the equivalent of one penny to sit in the front of the theater. The audiences were not only large but expressive, often cheering, hissing and calling out in the middle of the drama. Due to the newly lucrative nature of plays, London's theater district blossomed with theaters springing up all over the Bankside district, and competing for the talents of the leading playwrights. Plays typically ran for three days - it was said that the first day, the expenses were paid; the second day, the actors were paid; and on the third and final day, the playwright was paid.

It seemed that nothing could slow the growth of the theater district - not even those who denounced it as evil - until the Black Death, or bubonic plague, made a resurgence. Some 80 percent of those who caught the plague perished painfully within several days, so panic was well founded. Because the disease was most prevalent in winter, public spaces were often closed, including the theaters, resulting in great loss of money for their owners, actors and writers.

It was into this heady and exciting atmosphere that young Will Shakespeare arrived from Stratford-Upon-Avon. Talented to the point of genius, the writer combined the most effective elements of Elizabethan drama and classical drama with hos own highly original imagination, wit and most decidedly, passion. Shakespeare's chief rival of the day was clearly Christopher Marlowe, whose plays were most highly celebrated during his lifetime. In fact, it is said that if Shakespeare had died in 1593, rather than Marlowe, Marlowe would be known as the world's greatest dramatist. Instead, Shakespeare flourished, entering his most prolific period in the late 1590s and early 1600s, becoming the paragon of the Elizabethan artist.

From 1590s to 1990s - About The Production

SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE began as a simple question. Writer and producer Marc Norman's son, who was studying Elizabethan Drama in school, was talking with his father about Shakespeare when Norman began to wonder just what inspired the young bard to write "Romeo and Juliet." After all, it seems a story that could only have been penned by someone who had himself felt the dangerous lure of romantic love.

"With 'Romeo and Juliet' Shakespeare really finds his voice," notes Norman. "What is extraordinary about 'Romeo and Juliet' is that it mixes genres - it begins as a love story and comedy, but then shifts gears, becoming a full blown tragedy which was an extremely radical idea in its day. I began wondering what the catalyst might have been that moved his imagination so strongly and that's where the idea for a love story began."

Norman came up with the idea of Shakespeare falling in love with one of his actors, a woman who pretends to be a boy in order to appear on stage. He explains: "Because Shakespeare was already married, then by its very nature the love affair would seem to be doomed, so that led to all the mirroring and parallels with 'Romeo and Juliet."'

After the concept was pitched successfully to Universal by Marc Norman and celebrated director Edward Zwick, the screenplay took shape by the hand of Norman. Later, renowned playwright Tom Stoppard was brought on board to add his own magical touch. In his earlier work "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead," drama unfolds between two minor character in Shakespeare's "Hamlet," so Stoppard was no stranger to mixing Shakespeare's writing with his own playful imagination.

"I wondered whether, after "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern," if it was a bad idea for me to return to this theme," Stoppard admits. "However once I got to work I got carried away with the ideas and the possibilities." Taking Marc Norman's inspired screenplay, Stoppard then "played around with a lot of ideas and added a few characters, including bringing in Christopher Marlowe." "The more I did," he says, "the more involved I got and the more enjoyable it became."

The final script was delivered in a delightfully light-hearted and modem style - and at the same time it was packed with witty references to Shakespeare's work. When director John Madden read it, he felt that it had "one foot in the 16th century and one in the 20th century." Madden was particularly drawn to the film's sometimes bawdy, often deliciously pointed humor. "The first thing I got out of the script was its sense of fun; it is full of surprises, topping one surprise with another," he says. "There is something terribly attractive about taking this great world figure and dealing with him mischievously and playfully, but without debunking him. One of the script's greatest assets is that it has brilliant dialogue which is irresistibly clever yet accessible and believable - quite a unique combo."

Producer David Parfitt summarizes the enthusiasm the script elicited in everyone who came into contact with it during development: "Getting a script as good as this, one which is so beautifully written is very rare. So I didn't hesitate, I said yes straight away."

The filmmakers found similar reaction from potential cast. One of the biggest early challenges was finding two actors with the chemistry and comedic abilities to carry the two leading roles - starstruck lovers with a tendency to get their wires crossed. John Madden was acutely aware of the qualities required to carry this off successfully.

He says: "Without the appropriate chemistry between those two parts, one just wouldn't have a movie. I'd always felt that in an ideal world we would have an English actor for Will and for Viola I'd always felt we should have Gwyneth Paltrow - as simple as that really. She was a natural choice for me and I just imagined her in the part when I read the script. She has a quality of spirituality about her, which makes her believable as a muse. But she also has an earthy quality she's real and sexy -which means she can carry the part off on both levels. It goes without saying that she's also incredibly beautiful."

The process of casting the young Will Shakespeare required slightly more investigation and study. "I looked far and wide for the actor to play Will," says John Madden, "but the part required not just the qualities for a romantic lead, but also the ability to convince the audience that this man actually wrote all that beautiful poetry and all those extraordinary plays. Joseph Fiennes could do that because he has an interior quality, a natural intelligence and privateness and without that the part is stillborn. I'm a great believer that certain parts belong to certain people and there's no question in my mind that this part belongs to Joe."

Ask any of the actors in the film why they wanted to be involved and the answer is remarkably consistent: they were enchanted by the script and it made them laugh. Gwyneth Paltrow describes her initial response saying, appropriately enough for a romance, that she "fell immediately and completely in love with the script on first reading." She continues: "It was so brilliantly written and the part was fascinating. It is so rich in language it was just intoxicating. I thought I have to do this."

Joseph Fiennes concurs, saying: "The script is so unique, dazzlingly brilliant and dynamic and as an actor, I always find that teaming up with something like that is rather a good idea!" This quiet modesty is typical of Fiennes, illustrated further by his first meeting with Tom Stoppard as the writer remembers. "I was just browsing in a bookshop and this guy I didn't know came up and introduced himself to me, saying that he was currently working with John Madden," recalls Stoppard. "He made it sound like he was an assistant, or something. Then he said that he was an actor, but only when I asked what part he was playing did he quietly reply, William Shakespeare."

Once the lovers were in place the rest of the casting began in earnest, drawing an illustrious group including: Dame Judi Dench, who was Queen Victoria in John Madden's "Mrs. Brown" as Queen Elizabeth 1, Colin Firth, Tom Wilkinson, Simon Callow and two Oscar winners, Ben Affleck and Geoffrey Rush. Around them John Madden assembled his creative team, bringing back together many of those involved on Mrs. Brown, including the production designer Martin Childs, director of photography Richard Greatrex, hair and make up designer Lisa Westcott who was nominated for an Oscar for "Mrs. Brown" and composer Stephen Warbeck. The film is edited by David Gamble with costumes by Oscar nominated designer Sandy Powell ("Wings of the Dove ... .. Velvet Goldmine").

With the principal cast and crew in place there were only a few minor tasks left to undertake: just the small job of creating and constructing the whole of Elizabethan London on a plot of land at the back of Shepperton Studios, designing an array of elaborate and extravagant period costumes and the casting of hundreds of extras.

THE LOOK OF LOVE - DESIGN AND LOCATIONS

Elizabethan England was a bustling, newly urban age of sumptuous excesses and crowded city streets, of both lavish design and ramshackle neighborhoods. To capture the vibrancy and visual excitement of the day, John Madden brought in a team of highly skilled and creative designers

Production designer Martin Childs was given the task of recreating Elizabethan London, an incredible opportunity to work with his imagination in full flight. "Not only did this film give us the opportunity to build the Rose Theater, but also all the buildings in London that surrounded it," Childs explains. "There is so little left of this period and the only Elizabethan architecture that remains is the odd building surrounded by ones from the

Georgian and Victorian period. I knew we would have to build most of Elizabethan London from scratch, so from a design point of view it offered great scope."

He set to work on creating a naturalistic world that could contain the incredible tale of romance at hand - not a painstakingly accurate recreation of 16th century London, but an imaginative capturing of its essence. He comments "I had this mantra going in my head all the time that this is not a documentary, we are allowed to use our imaginations fully. The look we aimed for is somewhere that you believe people actually lived and worked. We wanted to show things almost incidentally, so there are other trades, other interests going on outside the specific world of the theater and our storyline." Childs and Madden spent weeks and weeks playing around with models built perfectly to scale before they came up with a picture of London that seemed worthy of setting in stone.

The filmmakers' vision of London in 1593 came to life on a plot of land of behind Shepperton studios, which had until recently been a garden nursery. A construction crew of 115 men in only 8 weeks constructed 17 buildings including 2 theaters, a series of meandering alley ways, a brothel, a tavern, a whole market place and, of course, the young William Shakespeare's London pad. The backlot became an alternate world of meandering streets, hidden alleyways, nooks and crannies.

Equally central to the story was the erecting of the two theaters vying for Shakespeare's new - but as yet unwritten - play. First there is the Rose Theater, owned by Philip Henslowe, a once robust place now foundering due to closures forced by the plague. Elsewhere in London is the Curtain Theater where the Chamberlain's Men perform. Most important to Martin Childs was creating a definite contrast between the two. Theater design was an important element of Elizabethan drama, although no two theaters followed exactly the same design. Research on what the original Rose Theater looked like was scant, so Childs once again delved into his imagination. "I'd do as much research as I could then throw that to the side and go with my imagination, following my instincts about what looked right and believable for the film. Retrospectively, I've discovered that a lot of the places where I was playing fast and loose were actually fairly historically accurate!"

Childs explains the look he chose for the Rose: "A lot of the feel comes from the fact that there is no roof and that links it with the earth and sky. I was very keen to make it look as though the weather had got to it as they would not have been constantly repainting it. We also kept the Rose Theater quite undecorated, but with a little bit of grandeur on the stage." Considerable records of the Curtain Theater still exist so Childs was able to follow his research - constructing a heavily decorated, elaborate theater where Queen Elizabeth I was a regular patron.

Although the vast majority of SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE was shot at Shepperton on stages or backlots, some authentic locations were utilized. These include Broughton Castle in the Oxfordshire countryside manor which stands in for Lady Viola's stately home; Hatfield House, a English country estate which was transformed into the Queen's Greenwich Palace; The Great Hall at Middle Temple for the Banqueting Hall at Whitehall Palace where "Two Gentlemen of Verona" is performed before the Queen; and several London riverside locations in the Bankside area.

Two of the most important dramatic scenes in the film were shot on location - the meadow where Viola declares her love for Will and the final scene in which an imagined Viola finds herself washed upon the shore of land. Finding the right location for these scenes was vital and proved one of the biggest challenges for the designer and the location department. They settled on a meadow and beach on the Holkham Estate on the North Norfolk coast which boasts one of the most unspoiled and spectacular beaches in the country. With a foreshore approximately 5 miles long it appears to go on forever. On the day of filming the sun shone brightly, the air was crisp and the wind flung itself along the shores creating a wild and truly magical place - a fitting spot for a brave and beautiful young heroine to end up.

BREECHES AND BRAIDS: COSTUME AND MAKE-UP

The Elizabethan era was also highly fashion conscious age, a time when sumptuous fabrics, new dyes and exuberant dress prevailed. Clothing was a primary indicator of wealth in those days so the more dramatic and opulent the costume, the better. Shakespeare himself was no stranger to fashion, using costume to greater effect than any dramatist before him.

The fashions of the day emphasized gallantry and beauty. For women, the hourglass shape was key. Wide shoulders at the bodice whittled down to a narrow cinched waist, then opened up to a belled skirt; the bosom was tightly lifted at the plunging neckline. For men, the silhouette was square, bolstered by an abundance of padding. Vents and slashes - attractive due to their relationship with sword battle - were common. Boots, breeches, a jerkin vest, a doublet and an adorned hat made for a dashing outfit.

Director John Madden knew that to really bring the Renaissance spirit of Shakespeare's times to life, the costumes and makeup would be vital. Thus, he chose two Academy Award nominees to take on the enormous task: costume designer Sandy Powell and hair and make-up designer Lisa Westcott.

Powell, who had designed in this period for Sally Potter's "Orlando" was thrilled to return to one of her favorite eras. "I was longing to throw myself into this time again," she admits. "It is really such a juicy period with these huge and rather crazy sculptural costumes." Like Martin Childs, she immersed herself in research, but enjoyed the freedom afforded by the lack of information. "My aim was not to create absolutely historically accurate costumes, but to use a bit of artistic license and as the script is so fresh and light I felt there was room for the imagination, whilst always keeping it convincing," she states.

Perhaps the most extraordinary costumes Powell was to create were for Queen Elizabeth, played with an intense presence that actually outdoes even her fashions by Judi Dench. Though her dresses and headwear appear almost surreally ostentatious - plumed with such finery as peacock feathers - Powell explains that this is one of those situations where fact is stranger than fantasy. "Queen Elizabeth apparently had over a thousand dresses - all hugely flamboyant and over-the-top -she basically carried all her wealth on her frocks, so they were literally plied high with jewels," she says. "She is also over 60 in this film, so I'm just presuming she has gone a little bit nuts. She was such an outrageous historical figure, we allowed ourselves to go completely mad."

The Queen's makeup is similarly extraordinary. Lisa Westcott explains that as "the Queen is quite old in the film she would have terrible skin - probably from mercury-poisoning - so it was covered in make-up and her hair was undoubtedly falling out, so she always wore a wig. Apparently she had over 80 wigs, all different colors and her hair line would have receded from the front, giving her that rather severe look." Lisa and her team spent 4 hours daily with Judi Dench to prepare her makeup and finery. But the work paid off - the first day Dench appeared on the stage, the entire production went dead silent in a hush. She was awe-inspiring - as Elizabeth is said to have always been in her time.

The Queen set the fashion of the time, so those around her in court copied her style. "Whatever the Queen did," says Lisa Westcott, "became de rigeur with the other ladies. Even in her old age, she was a real trendsetter. Many of the women in the film are therefore also seen wearing wigs of a similar shape."

For Gwyneth Paltrow's Lady Viola there were two challenges: not only did she have to look stunningly feminine as Viola but she also had to spend much of her time disguised as a boy. Luckily she had a costume designer who is no stranger to the world of gender-bending from her work on "Orlando," "The Crying Game" and the recent "Velvet Goldmine." "I began with Viola as a boy," says Sandy Powell, "because I was worried about getting that to be convincing. This period is actually quite easy to hide a girl's figure because it is so solid and structured and the classic male silhouette of the period is actually quite feminine, as it accentuates the hips. Even though we're not trying to trick the audience into believing this is a boy, we wanted to be convincing enough that the other characters are fooled." The effect of the classically beautiful Gwyneth Paltrow in doublet and hose, complete with a mustache and a wig of cropped hair was startling even to Powell. "I was surprised how once she was in her costume, without her long hair, how really boyish she could look," she admits.

Even though Viola de Lesseps is from a wealthy family, her costumes, in keeping with her temperament, are not in any way gaudy or over-the-top. Sandy Powell comments that "compared to other frocks of the period, Viola's are relatively simple. That is just what suits Gwyneth; she looks beautiful in the softer colors and we've scaled down things like the amount of heavy jewelry on her dress. She still looks grand but never brash."

When Will sees Viola for the first time at the dance he falls instantly in love with this simple elegance and she in turn falls for his. At this moment it matters less that this is the man responsible for the greatest plays and love poetry of all time, and more that he is a man whose feelings have caught him unawares. It was this vulnerable side of his character that the costume designer focused on. "It did not help at all for me to think of this character as William Shakespeare, the great playwright," she says. "In a sense the whole film humanizes this great figure and so I wanted to design a costume that makes Joe look good and makes him entirely convincing as a romantic lead. I'm very pleased with the result." Adds Lisa Westcott: "I obviously didn't want him to look like the classic Shakespeare image with the little forky beard and boy hair. The Will of the film is a young lad who chops his own hair, he's a struggling playwright, living a pretty hard life."

This theme of hardship and the difficulties of living at this time also informs a great deal of the work of the designers. Lisa Westcott puts it into perspective explaining that "even the Queen would have only had about four baths a year. People were basically very dirty and had pretty bad teeth. Life was tough then, there were lots of bugs around, there was no heating and no penicillin - life expectancy was pretty short."

The movie covers the whole range of social class - from the Queen and court right down to the ordinary characters in the street. It was partly this range which appealed to Lisa Westcott. "I loved this mixture of the whores, the low life and royalty all together in Elizabethan London."

THE COMPENDIUM OF CHARACTERS: FACT OR FICTION?

Many of the characters at the center of SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE can be found in the history books, but others exist only in the imagination of the authors.

What follows is a who's-who of Will Shakespeare's England, both fact and fiction - a crib sheet for those who might dare to admit they don't know their Wessex from their Essex. Also included is contemporary commentary on the characters from the actors and director who brought them to life.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (Joseph Fiennes) 1564 - 1616: FACT

William Shakespeare is categorically the most famous writer of all time, the author of 38 plays - 18 comedies, 10 history plays and 10 tragedies - some of the greatest epic poetry and the most famous love sonnets. Although his work has been studied, performed and argued about for over three centuries in all comers of the globe, very little is known about the man's personal life as there is scant documentary evidence, save inaccurate church records. The likelihood, however, is that he was a fairly regular guy who happened to earn his living in the theater where he produced brilliant writing. To many he has become more of a symbol than a human being, but the spirit of his works suggests he experienced the gamut of human hopes, troubles and emotions, including the comic tribulations of desperate love.

John Madden on Shakespeare

"The point about Shakespeare's life is that nobody knows anything. All we know is that he paid 50 pounds to join the Chamberlain's Men and that in his will he left his second best bed to his wife that's about the sum of it. My theory is that he was just a jobbing actor and writer with a knack, a true gift, but no doubt he also had money troubles and suffered from all the rivalries of the theater world he lived in. People assume he was always this great revered man and he probably wasn't."

Joseph Fiennes on Shakespeare

"For an actor the chance to play Shakespeare, this great historical figure is daunting as he is such sacred ground to so many people. But there is very little information about him and so much intrigue that it's compelling. The tragedy is when a figure is turned into an icon, they are dehumanized. This script brings out the human element; all the sentiments and problems that go with being a man of his profession in that time -falling in and out of love, having money problems, suffering from writer's block - all things you probably wouldn't associate with being a genius. But this film also acknowledges the man's brilliance, we see him as a writer of exceptional talent, but also as a man. To a certain extent I had to put aside my own reverence about the writer of such great works of English Literature and just get on with it. I had to adopt the attitude that as soon as I put on these tights I am Will Shakespeare - simple as that."

VIOLA DE LESSEPS (Gwyneth Paltrow) FICTION

Viola de Lesseps never existed, but someone like her may have in Shakespeare's life: the "dark lady" referred to in his most longing sonnets. Here, she is the daughter of wealthy parents of the merchant class and she's had the upbringing befitting such a lady. She attends the Court and has her own nurse. Although the de Lesseps have money they have no aristocratic roots. As was often the practice in those days her parents intend to marry her off to an the impoverished aristocrat. The deal is that he gets money and they get class - the classic marriage of convenience.

In one sense Viola is typical of a girl of her class, but she also is a true romantic, in love with poetry and theater and determined to achieve her greatest desire: to perform on the stage forbidden to women.

Gwyneth Paltrow on Viola

"Viola is very sensory, very passionate, very open and it's not until the second half of the film that she becomes really aware of herself and how life can be solemn and serious. At the beginning everything is enchanted for her, her life is a fairy tale. She is also totally enamored of the theater and because it was forbidden for women she dresses as a boy. This was a new experience for me. I learned how to talk lower and how to walk. The costume department made me this heavy, triangular shaped bean bag which I stuffed in my tights and it's great to have that weight, that shift of gravity. It's the only form of method acting I've ever done, but it really helped!"

John Madden on Viola

"Essentially Viola is a muse which is perfect for Gwyneth because she has something slightly elevated and out of the ordinary about her. Viola is somehow rarefied and poetic, she is in love with theater and with the idea of love. The part demanded someone who is highly romantic which Gwyneth is, very sexy which Gwyneth is and an actress who, not only has a feel for the comedy, but also for the language which she does in abundance."

ELIZABETH I (Judi Dench) 1533 - 1603 FACT

The daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn who was executed when Elizabeth was only two, she reigned as the Queen of England from 1558 until 1603. The young Princess was highly intelligent and spoke many languages. Her life was in peril during the reign of her half-sister Mary and she spent time imprisoned in the Tower of London. As Queen she revealed great political flair and a shrewd understanding of foreign governments. She saw the country through many moments of crisis, including the Spanish Armada. Despite having many suitors she never married and consequently was known as the Virgin Queen. A whole mythology developed around the Queen, both in art and literature and she possessed a personality strong enough to convert the monarchy into a cult in which the Sovereign was literally idolized. A flamboyant figure, she loved music, dancing, singing, masques and plays. She adored extravagant dress and expected lavish entertainment as she crossed the country. Her graciousness was contrasted by hot temper, jealousy and financial toughness, but her weaknesses were transcended by her natural gift of eloquence. She died, aged 70, having declined to the last to name her successor.

Judi Dench on Queen Elizabeth I

"This is my second queen on film, and I did less research on Queen Elizabeth than I did on Victoria, simply because she's been dead rather longer so there aren't many people who are so immediately knowledgeable about her. We see her enjoyment of theater and the strength of her personality and it is terrific fun to play I wear these hugely flamboyant costumes. As the film is set towards the end of Elizabeth's life, she is not in great physical condition, so for example she has the most awful teeth which I'd like to make clear to everyone watching the film, are not my own!

EDWARD (NED) ALLEYN (Ben Affleck) 1566 - 1626 FACT

An actor born in London who from 1592 - 1594 played with the combined Lord Admiral's Company and The Chamberlain's Men at the Rose Theater under Philip Henslowe's management and went out on tour during the plague of 1593. Alleyn was the leading actor of the Admiral's Men and the star of many of Marlowe's great tragedies, including "Tamburlaine," "The Jew of Malta" and "Dr. Faustus." Notable for his tragic style he was famous for his declamatory manner. In his retirement he bought the manor of Dulwich in London where he settled in 1613 to found the college of God's Gift which exists to this day as a boy's private school. He remained a philanthropist and patron of the arts.

Ben Affleck on Ned Alleyn

"Ned Alleyn is sort of the Tom Cruise of the Elizabethan theater. He's the big star who has his own company of actors and just like in Hollywood today you needed to have a Ned in your project to make it a success. At the time of the movie it was Christopher Marlowe, not Shakespeare who was regarded as the great playwright and basically Ned Alleyn was a much bigger star in his day than Shakespeare who at this time was really just a second tier playwright. In the movie Ned Alleyn is a very bombastic, loud, proud, over the top kind of guy who is really impressed by himself. I had a lot of fun doing it."

John Madden on Ned Alleyn

"The word ebullient must have been coined to describe Ben Affleck. He is just a natural comedian, he has this larger than life quality which is admirably suited to the role of the big star Ned Alleyn."

PHILIP HENSLOWE (Geoffrey Rush) ? - 1616 FACT

Henslowe began life as a servant in Sussex, moving to London where he married his former master's widow. With the property this marriage brought him, Henslowe was able to move into real estate, particularly theaters. He bought the site of The Rose theater on Bankside in 1584 and had built a theater there by 1588. From 1594 he managed the Rose for the Admiral's Men. The actors were paid by Henslowe who advanced them money in order to keep a tight rein on them. At this time they were led by Ned Alleyn who later married his stepdaughter and thereafter they became business associates. They built the Fortune Theater and Henslowe also became a master of "The Royal Game of Bears, Bulls and Mastiff Dogs." the profits from which enabled him to build the Hope, a building which could be used for bear and bull baiting as well as for theater. Henslowe kept incredibly detailed diaries which form some of the only documentary evidence of this period. His accounts show that he acted as banker for the theatrical companies, buying plays for them, providing costumes and lending them money.

Geoffrey Rush on Henslowe

"Henslowe is most notable because of his extraordinary diaries which give detailed evidence of life at that times, so he is treasured by historians and academics because he's unlocked a lot of secrets about that era. But he is fictionalized in the film as a great comic character - a theatrical producer who is oblivious to the talent of one William Shakespeare who is of course now regarded as the greatest writer in the English language. Henslowe is a wheeler-dealer, trying to be street-smart but not quite achieving it. He is a hapless character with an appalling dress sense. He looks like some weird kind of Tudor stink-bug. the sort of person that even though he's got his own personal tailor has the most gross sense of fashion - anyone who chooses to enhance their hips with trunk hose must be a strange person. Like a lot of Elizabethans he had the most appalling dental problems, but he also has lank hair and a terrible droopy mustache. Once I have on the extraordinary outfit, put on my facial hair and my rotting teeth then I'm half way there - for the rest I'm just following my own comic instincts."

THE EARL OF WESSEX (Colin Firth) FICTION

Wessex, the man betrothed to the young Viola is another contemporary inventions; there was no such man and indeed the county of Wessex did not exist in Elizabethan times. However this type of character is similar to the many English aristocrats who held titles, behaved with grand arrogance, yet had no wealth. His marriage of convenience to Viola de Lesseps would net him a large dowry and so absolve him of his financial difficulties. The naming of this character might lead one to confuse him with the historical figure, the Earl of Essex, another rather arrogant man who considered himself to be a military and political genius and later was beheaded by the Queen.

Colin Firth on the Earl of Wessex

"Whenever you take on playing a villain, he has to cease to be a villain to you. If you judge this man by his time, he's doing very little wrong. Reading about people of this period is a bit like 'Dallas' with different frocks on. They're all climbing all over each other for their own advancement. All Wessex is doing is trying to marry for advantage, which is all anybody did of that class. There's this sniveling little upstart of a writer who is getting in the way, so it's perfectly understandable that he'd want to split his throat."

FENNYMAN (Tom Wilkinson) FICTION

Fennyman is a fictitious moneylender, a man with few morals who bullies his debtors into paying their dues. At the beginning of the film Henslowe is in Fennyman's debt, but does not have the means to repay him. From Henslowe's diaries we know that a year before the film is set, Henslowe embarked on an expensive building program, including enlarging the Rose Theater at the not inconsiderable cost of 105 pounds. Although business boomed in 1592, the following year disaster hit. The plague returned with a ferocity unparalleled since the days of the Black Death and by February 1593 the Rose Theater was again closed.

Tom Wilkinson on Fennyman

"This is a truly delightful part as Fennyman begins as a hard man and turns into a man who is completely in love with theater, totally stage-struck. This unscrupulous gangster who at the beginning is motivated only by money falls in love with this other world. Something about the theater acts a potent aphrodisiac to this previously heartless creature. The tone of the script varies so much, sometimes Fennyman is a ridiculously comic character, but he also has moments of great poignancy the variety is wonderful."

CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE (Rupert Everett) 1564 - 1593 FACT

A poet and dramatist, responsible more than any other for the development of Elizabethan drama, Marlowe's great plays include "Tamburlaine," "Dr. Faustus," "The Jew of Malta" and "Edward H." He wrote tragedies of high drama and emotion with Ned Alleyn often performing in the leading roles. He was the leading light in Elizabethan theater and generally regarded as the greatest writer of his generation. He was murdered in a tavern brawl in 1593 (the year the film is set) at the age of 29. Though the circumstances of his demise remain controversial, it has been widely suggested that his death was due to his connection with the secret service.

Marlowe's premature death left the field open for another writer to assume his mantle.

RICHARD BURBAGE (Martin Climes) 1571 - 1619 FACT

Burbage was the son of theater owner and actor James Burbage who owned the Curtain Theater, From 1595 onwards Richard was the star of The Chamberlain's Men and remained with them for the rest of his life. His brother Cuthbert was responsible for moving the fabric of the Theater across the Thames and rebuilding it as the Globe. The brothers retained a half interest in the Globe's profit and Richard also inherited the Blackfriars Theater. Burbage was a great actor and played many of the great Shakespearean roles - Malvolio, Richard III, Hamlet, Othello and King Lear. Indeed, it is thought that Shakespeare wrote many of these complex roles specifically for him. He was a close friend as well as colleague of Shakespeare and is mentioned in his will.

Martin Clunes on Richard Burbage

"Burbage was born into the theater and inherited it from his father. He loves acting and wants to be top of his profession. He is quite an indulged man who can be vain and petulant, but he is also strong and capable of decency."

SAM GOSSE (Daniel Brocklebank) FICTION

Although a fictional creation, the existence of a "boy-player" was common place in the Elizabethan theater. As women were not allowed by law to perform on stage each company would include a few adolescent boys trained to play the female roles until their voices broke. They were young professional actors, who had to learn singing, dancing, music, diction and feminine gestures and intonation and were thought to be wholly convincing. But, despite their skill, once they had became men they were very often out of a job.

SIR EDMUND TILNEY, MASTER OF THE REVELS (Simon Callow)? - 1610 FACT

Tilney began his career as an MP and was made the Queen's Master of the Revels in 1579, an office he held until his death in 1610. The Master's duty was to provide all entertainment for the Court and to license plays for public performance - basically to act as censor. All scripts had to be approved by him after an initial reading fee of 5 shillings, rising to 7 shillings by the end of the century, an extraordinary amount at that time, representing approximately 10% of the writer's commission. Tilney gradually extended his rights until by the end of the century he controlled all acting companies and theaters, under the overall jurisdictions of the Lord Chamberlain. In 1583 Tilney was commanded to enroll actors for the Queen's Men and by 1589 he was advising the Mayor of London to ban all plays in the city.

Simon Callow on Tilney

"The Master of the Revels combined the functions of censor and entertainment secretary. The mention of the word censorship quite properly sets our teeth on edge, but all is not quite what it seems here. Tilney was no killjoy moralist, as the yards of sheer undiluted filth which survive in virtually all of the plays of the period amply testify; nor was he merely the tool of a repressive totalitarian mistress, though the Queen was by no means to be toyed with. He was above all concerned with foreign relations in a world where alliances were changing on an hourly basis: today's approved jibe against the Spanish would be tomorrow's diplomatic incident. So Tilney was not such a bad chap, but in the film Stoppard has quite rightly re-made him into a Malvolio character, determined to give the players as much trouble as possible, and a man who exults in his capacity to close the theaters at a moment's notice."

JOHN WEBSTER (Joe Roberts) ? - 1634/8 FACT

Later a renowned dramatist, he was approximately ten years Shakespeare's junior in 1593, just a young teenager with no plays to his name. He began writing plays in 1602, although he could have been an actor before then. Until 1624 he wrote infrequently, mainly in collaboration with Dekker. His fame rests on two plays, "The White Devil" and "The Duchess of Malfi," sensationalized Jacobean tragedies filled with the corruption of Court life and evidence of man's depravity, bringing the horror genre to new heights.

Joe Roberts on John Webster

"He's a comedy character, opportunistic and cunning. He's very resourceful, having learned how to I survive on his own, how to live on his wits. He hangs around the theaters, but mainly likes the gore and violence in the plays. He lives a pretty rough life, he was poor and times were hard."

WILLIAM KEMPE (Patrick Barlow) FACT

Kempe was a comic actor or clown. He was well known for his jigs - sketches with song and dance, which were often obscene. The clown was a specialized role in the theater whose blunders served as a counter balance to the heroic or romantic language of the other characters.

WABASH (Mark Williams) FICTION

A fictitious tailor with acting ambitions, whose most outstanding characteristic is his tendency to stutter uncontrollably - hardly a good start for a performer. But somehow this man is transformed just when it matters. When he walks out on stage in front of hundreds of people then suddenly he can speak Shakespeare's lines totally fluently - the magic of theate.