Almost There: Ian McKellen in "Richard III"

by Cláudio Alves

With its streaming release on Apple TV+, it seems like everyone is watching The Tragedy of Macbeth. As people discuss Joel Coen's adaptation of Shakespeare's Scottish play, talks of Oscar are nearly unavoidable - Denzel Washington is poised to earn his ninth acting nomination for the titular role. However, while his awards triumph feels obvious, one shouldn't think that playing the Bard's most famous roles is an easy ticket to the Oscars. Many major adaptations have been snubbed over the years, and even when the Academy embraces a Shakespearean flick, it rarely extends such love to its cast.

Look no further than Sir Ian McKellen's first major bid at big-screen stardom. In 1995, after starring in a famed stage production directed by Richard Eyre, the actor decided to take that Richard III to the movies…

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Ranking Laurence Olivier's Oscar nominations

by Cláudio Alves

The Supporting Actress Smackdown of 1965 will be up on Sunday afternoon so here's an extra list before we get there. Before each event, I like to watch every nominated movie, even those I have already seen. Because of that, I found myself with the unenviable penance of revisiting 1965's Othello. Many of you surely did the same, exposing yourself to one of Sir Laurence Olivier's most problematic star turns, a Blackface version of Othello. I figured if I was going to force myself to watch this dirge, I should something productive with it. Hence, this write-up, in which that famous thespian's ten acting Oscar nominations are ranked...

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Stage Door: "Teenage Dick" and "Boylesque Bullfight"

Stage Door is our intermittent theater column because there is more to live than cinema and also because cinema and the stage frequently interact...

Teenage Dick (Public Theater)
This very cheekily titled show -- so embarrassing to say or type! -- is actually Shakespearean. (What isn't when it comes to theater? We'd love playwrights and directors to leave Shakespeare behind for a few years and discover vast untapped realms, but they're all Bard addicts who perpetually need a fix.) If you're going to riff on the Bard, please have as much fun with it as Teenage Dick does! This comic interpretation of Richard III recast the disabled king as a teenager in hate with his boring high school and the jock star and Christian activist classmates he aims to take down via an upcoming student election...

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