Much Ado About Nothing 1993 vs. 2011

[sapote]

1. No one should have to compete with Emma Thompson on any front because she is the best at everything.

2. But apparently my real dealbreaker is that I have had 19 years of my life to get used to Denzel Washington as Don Pedro and I am not coping well with the change. As, um, Don Pedro/Beatrice is my secret ship because of how beautifully that one bit at the ball is played in the 1993 version. Catherine Tate's Beatrice is Very Different on that front and rather less knowing and sympathetic. But not everyone in Shakespeare has to be sympathetic in every performance, I guess.

3. However, it's nice to see a version that's not so heavily edited, given that I can basically recite a substantial number of the lines that made it into the 1993 version and never bothered to actually read the play. Easily half the actual text got cut in the 1993 one, so seeing the full play is basically like a Shakespeare bonus reel for me.

4. It blows my mind that the 1993 Hero was played by ACTUAL KATE BECKINSALE, a.k.a. Selene from Underworld. Selene is in fact a better heroine but that's not Hero's fault.

5. Claudio is SUCH A DICK no matter what version of the play it is. Even when he's Holden in Chasing Amy I cannot stand the guy.

Soon we will have the Whedon version! SO MUCH ADO WILL BE HAD.