Exclusive New Clip from ‘HAMLET’

Exclusive

Continuing our Spring Movie Preview, here is an exclusive new clip from Aneil Karia‘s ‘HAMLET’ featuring Riz Ahmed and Joe Alwyn, debuting in theaters April 10.

Shakespeare’s most enduring tragedy is reimagined in a bold, modern adaptation set within London’s elite South Asian community. When Hamlet (Ahmed) returns for his father’s funeral, he is stunned to discover his uncle Claudius is marrying his newly widowed mother. Visited by his father’s ghost, Hamlet learns his brutal murder was at the hands of Claudius – and spirals into a quest for vengeance that exposes the rot at the heart of the family’s empire and threatens his own sanity.

Riz Ahmed says he has wanted to make a film adaptation of Hamlet for a long time. He recalls speaking to writer Mike Lesslie, who he had known since university, about the project. “I told Mike I wanted to base this Hamlet around a British Asian community,” he recalls. “The feeling of being an outsider felt so present to me, and to all of us, so I wanted to bring it to life with a very certain specificity. It’s a theme that is very alive for immigrant communities – you have to make a lot of compromises to climb the ladder.”

Director Aneil Karia recalls Ahmed bringing the idea to him and his initial reaction. “It was very clear to both of us that we wanted to work together again [after short film ‘THE LONG GOODBYE.’] One day, Riz emailed me about this project he had briefly mentioned – a modern adaptation of Hamlet set in the South Asian community,” he says. “If I’m completely honest with you, my gut instinct when I read that email was, ‘I’m not the guy for this.’ I never had that effortless relationship with Shakespeare. I wasn’t a hugely intellectual academic presence at school. I had great admiration for Shakespeare, but I always felt a bit outside of it. Riz and Jim Wilson, one of our producers, were very understanding of my concerns. They encouraged me to
go away and spend some time with it, which helped me overcome my fears.”

Joe Alwyn, who says that Hamlet is his favorite play, was eager to be involved in the project, co-starring alongside Ahmed as Laertes. “Hamlet is a favourite of mine, but it was really Aneil and his approach to the project, alongside the script, which was really refreshing,” he says. “Sometimes, with Shakespeare, it can be amazing and beautiful but slightly distant and grand ideas that can be appreciated in an intellectual way but aren’t always viscerally felt. With this, Aneil wanted to make it relevant and visceral – able to touch it and feel it. That attracted me, as it was a challenge. We wanted to keep the intensity of the language but bring it down to a very simple, human level.”

‘HAMLET‘ debuts in theaters April 10.