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One of these plays was the last in which Shakespeare ever had a hand, The Book Of Sir Thomas More, a collaboration between at least four writers, and a political hot potato. I lamented the loss of Henslowe - a curse on Shine! - but was delighted to be introduced to Tilney, a pesky character, one of whose jobs was to censor plays. Very kindly, they threw me the titbit of the role of Sir Edmund Tilney, Master of the Queen’s Revels. But Day-Lewis was not cast and Roberts pulled out - meaning the project was re-started Julia Roberts was playing Viola in the film and reportedly believed she would be starring opposite Daniel Day-Lewis. All the sets had been built, armies of craftsmen stood by, costumes were made, a great deal of money expended … but it was all over. Daniel wasn’t interested, so Julia withdrew and the whole thing fell through just six weeks before filming was due to begin. Julia Roberts, who was playing Viola, had - it was confidently rumoured - been assured that the role of Shakespeare would be played by Daniel Day-Lewis, who was someone Miss Roberts clearly wanted to get to know better.īut it was not to be. I said - duh! - yes, and looked forward to it no end. It was 1991 and I was being asked by the director, Edward Zwick, to play the wonderful part of Philip Henslowe, the business manager of the Rose Theatre. The hand of playwright Tom Stoppard at his most twinkling and his most profound was clearly detectable. Their love brings Shakespeare new inspiration, and he finishes his play, retitling it Romeo And Juliet. The pair embark on a necessarily secret affair - for she is about to become betrothed to Lord Wessex, and Shakespeare’s wife, Anne Hathaway, is nicely stashed away at home in Stratford-upon-Avon. The story, which is fictional although many of the characters were real, tells how William Shakespeare, struggling to overcome writers’ block while working at London’s Rose Theatre on his play Romeo And Ethel, The Pirate’s Daughter, meets Viola De Lesseps, daughter of a wealthy merchant. It happened to me on Amadeus, on A Room With A View, on Four Weddings And A Funeral and, very distinctly, on Shakespeare In Love, reading the script of which made me very, very happy. It’s quite unmistakeable, that feeling: like being immersed in a lovely warm bath, or hearing the first cuckoo of spring.
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You read a play or a screenplay you’ve been offered and you know immediately that, short of catastrophic incompetence either in front of the camera or behind it (which can never be discounted), it is a great big beast of a success. Three or four times in a career, it happens - if that. Shakespeare in Love, which starred Joseph Fiennes and Gwyneth Paltrow, was almost made up of a very different case