Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Ian McKellan and Lawrence Olivier both try their hand at wooing Lady Anne

Compare these two filmed versions of I.ii. The first is Ian McKellan as Richard, wooing Lady Anne (Kristin Scott Thomas) in a morgue. The second is Lawrence Olivier (we listened to a recording of him in class), whose performance as Richard III is a pretty famous one. How are these compared to the Winona Ryder/Al Pacino reading of the scene in Looking for Richard? What elements of the characters are emphasized in each?



2 comments:

Dominic Dangerfield said...

I prefer Oliver's version more. the first is less emotional on the part of Richard. This takes away from his personality. And the scene was cut short from both. Oliver's version on the other hand portrayed Richard as a good liar(in the lack of other words). He was more into the character of Richard probably due to the fact that it was shown more to be in Shakespearian time. The first would be more interesting because its modern, but the second gives off more of what's really going on.

Ashley Williams said...

I also agree with Dominic because the modern version modernize the text way too much. It did make the scene more understandable but it also at the same time took away the effect of Richard and his intentions for wooing Lady Anne.