The Best Modern Versions of Shakespeare Plays
List of the best modernized versions of Shakespeare plays. There are movies out there based on the plays of William Shakespeare that came out centuries after the plays were first published. After all, they did not exactly have cameras in the days Romeo & Juliet was first performed, let alone the technology that enabled Tromeo & Juliet to be the epic movie it is today.
The most popular example of a Shakespeare modernization is 10 Things I Hate About You. The 1999 teenage rom-com is a retelling of The Taming of the Shrew, starring Heath Ledger. But even widely known, classic movie masterpieces, like West Side Story and The Lion King, are merely modern day renditions of Shakespeare's writing. Ralph Fiennes's Coriolanus and Gus Van Sant's My Own Private Idaho are examples of today's celebrities doing their take on the most classic of classics: the centuries-old theater pieces of William Shakespeare. That is why we see Hamlet set in today's Manhattan, just as we see Macbeth take place in a fast food joint in Scotland, Pennsylvania.
Vote up your favorite modern day version of one of Shakespeare's classics, or vote down the films you thought didn't quite translate to today's world.- 1Matthew Broderick, Jeremy Irons, James Earl Jones
- Released: 1994
- Directed by: Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff
Hamlet
This Disney animated feature follows the adventures of the young lion Simba (Jonathan Taylor Thomas), the heir of his father, Mufasa (James Earl Jones). Simba's wicked uncle, Scar (Jeremy Irons), ...more - 2Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
- Released: 1999
- Directed by: Gil Junger
The Taming of the Shrew
Kat Stratford (Julia Stiles) is beautiful, smart and quite abrasive to most of her fellow teens, meaning that she doesn't attract many boys. Unfortunately for her younger sister, Bianca (Larisa ...more - 3Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn
- Released: 1961
- Directed by: Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise
Romeo and Juliet
A musical in which a modern day Romeo and Juliet are involved in New York street gangs. On the harsh streets of the upper west side, two gangs battle for control of the turf. The situation becomes ...more - 4Amanda Bynes, James Kirk, Channing Tatum
- 5James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Michael Caine
- Released: 2011
- Directed by: Kelly Asbury
Romeo and Juliet
In Stratford-Upon-Avon, birthplace of William Shakespeare, Miss Capulet and Mr. Montague feud over whose garden is the better. Garden gnomes that decorate each neighbor's flower beds continue the ...more - 6Tatsuya Nakadai, Mieko Harada, Akira Terao
