Roland Emmerich, the Orson Welles of the disaster movie genre (or is he the Michael Bey?), has a new Oxfordian movie coming out, I’m sure we all know that by now. What I did not know how seriously he apparently takes himself. You see, he “expects fury” from us Stratfordians, who are going to turn up in droves to picket his house:
He tells Empire magazine, “I have serious doubts Shakespeare wrote his plays… I’m expecting to have people protesting outside my house. We knew there’d be so many attacks on the film, so we decided to make the film as authentic as possible.”
Blink a few times, rub your eyes, and read that last sentence again. He’s planning to make his movie as authentic as possible.
If that statement wasn’t custom-made to draw the ire of Shakespeareans everywhere, I’ll eat my hat. This press release courtesy of “We Market By Trolling Agency, Inc.”
I am a straightforward Stratfordian, Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare's plays (Ockham's Razor, FTW) That being said, who wrote them isn't nearly as important to me as the fact they were written. (That's the theatre geek in me, it's about content, not context.)
Although I'm slightly disappointed the post title didn't involve "Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war."
In defense of this particular movie, movies are always trying to drum up controversy like this. 'Anonymous' is not exceptional in this regard.
Woe awaits any Shakespeare scholar who gets involved in a heated debate about this movie. It's a trap. We're expected to get huffy and pompous and defensive.
I do think the authorship issue is interesting for one reason: why do people care? How would their relationship with the plays change if conclusive evidence in support of or against Shakespeare's authorship was found tomorrow?
Good for Roland Emmerich! He's branching out. This film will really stretch his artistic range. Rather than blow up more national monuments, he's decided to deface a literary icon.
I for one am looking forward to laughing my ass off when this movie opens. Also looking forward to the recreation of Sh's London. The movie won't be the problem. It'll be the documentary accompanying it.
Rhys Efans already described his character as having 'a mind like a creamy pumpkin'. Should be out by Halloween then.
The more anti-Stratfordians go about beating their drums, the more inclined I feel to just shrug my shoulders and say, "Well, you're entitled to be wrong. I feel pity for you, since you've allowed yourself to be misled by such poor information, but… that's your choice, really."
It's like a two-year-old throwing a tantrum. The attention's what he wants, so the best thing to do is let him wail in the corner by himself until his lungs get tired.
I'm so furious.