Hamlet (2000 Film) - Adaptations

Adaptations

• Elsinore Castle, the seat of power of Denmark's crown in the play, is re-imagined as Hotel Elsinore, the headquarters of Denmark Corporation.
• Prior to delivering the "To be, or not to be" monologue, Hamlet is seen watching a video of famed Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh explaining the principle "To be is to be with others; to be is to inter-be" a basic teaching of Hanh's "Order of Interbeing".
• The "Mousetrap" play takes the form of a video montage, made by Hamlet himself.
• The character of Marcellus, one of the soldiers, is re-imagined as Marcella, Horatio's girlfriend.
• The Captain in Fortinbras' army is replaced by a flight attendant on Hamlet's flight to England.
• Instead of carrying around actual flowers, Ophelia carries polaroid photographs of various flowers. In the film, Ophelia is an amateur photographer.
• Fortinbras' conquests are not military, but corporate takeovers with the aid of his "armies" of lawyers.
• Laertes doesn't organize a revolution. He merely confronts Claudius.
• As opposed to drowning in a brook, Ophelia is found to have drowned in a fountain in front of the Hotel Elsinore, surrounded by mementos of her relationship with Hamlet.
• The Ghost of King Hamlet appears in Horatio's apartment, sitting in his bedroom as Marcella sleeps, before Hamlet and Horatio enter it.
• The first intervention of Osric is re-imagined as a fax machine in Hamlet and Horatio's apartment, delivering Laertes' message right before the duel. However, Osric does appear during the duel between Hamlet and Laertes.
• Laertes doesn't kill Hamlet with a poisoned rapier. Instead he shoots Hamlet with a pistol, then is shot himself. Hamlet then uses the same pistol to shoot Claudius.