#sam crane

[vintagescripts]

Rafe Spall, Aidan Turner, Tom Hollander, Samuel Barnett, Sam Crane, Zoe Tapper, Amy Manson, Jennie Jacques.

[moviemosaics]

Grand Theft Hamlet

directed by Sam Crane and Pinny Grylls, 2024

[haverwood]

Grand Theft Hamlet Sam Crane, Pinny Grylls UK/USA, 2024 ★★★ At some point during the first half, I was hoping for this to turn into a tale of people willing (desperate*, even?) to be part of something, even if it was just virtually -- but it didn't turn into that (the focus is the two theater friends and that's ok). Quite lovely nevertheless.

*desperate in the context of covid-related lockdowns

[oldfilmsflicker]

new-to-me #42 - Grand Theft Hamlet

[moorheadthanyoucanhandle]

NO PAIN, NO DANE

Now streaming only on MUBI:

Grand Theft Hamlet--This one flew way under the radar during its very brief theatrical run here in the Valley. I'm glad that it's now available for streaming.

Directed by Pinny Grylls and Sam Crane, it's the story of how in 2021 two young British actors (Crane and Mark Oosterven), sidelined by the COVID lockdown, decided to audition, cast and stage a production of Hamlet within the confines of Grand Theft Auto Online. The film unfolds entierly in the virtual realm of that classic video game, a favorite of armchair criminals since 1997, and played online for more than a decade.

Except for a few arcade games when I was in high school and a simple game called Backyard Zombies that I had on my phone for a while, I essentially don't play video games at all. I was vaguely aware of the existence and popularity of Grand Theft Auto, but I had no idea what an expansive and immersive and visually alluring environment it is.

The online aspect, allowing for interaction, however indirect, with other human beings, adds to its intrigue. I remember being up late reading in my front room one night some years ago when my kid, who had been playing some combat game in her room, emerged tearful because she had lost track of a dude she had been playing online with and had no way to reconnect with him. So the creative and collaborative possibilities of modern videos games, and the potential for real emotional investment in them, seem to be broader than I would have guessed.

On the other hand, I am pretty familiar with Hamlet. That is one seriously good play, and this movie is a testament to the durability and adaptability of the masterpiece. In Jurassic Park, Jeff Goldblum insists that "life finds a way"; this movie is one of many examples supporting the assertion that "Shakespeare finds a way."

But Grand Theft Hamlet is also an amusing and sometimes touching ode to the vagaries of making theatre. Even in this controlled setting and these narrow circumstances, these guys are still afflicted with herding cats in rehearsal, actors apologetically quitting because they got a better gig, etc. Plus, in this production you never know when strangers are going to show up and shoot you.

[shakespearenews]

A Fantastic New Movie Stages Shakespeare’s Greatest Play in a Rather Unlikely Fashion

Grand Theft Hamlet is only the latest documentary to search for real life inside a video game.

Sam Crane was in the middle of doing Macbeth when the bullets started flying. A veteran of the British stage, Crane was on the verge of playing the lead in the London production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child when COVID-19 shut down live performances, and by the U.K.’s third lockdown, he was itching for an audience. So instead of playing to a West End crowd, he found himself orating to a smattering of heavily armed lawbreakers inside the video game Grand Theft Auto. “If I could just request that you refrain from killing each other,” he calls out amid the tomorrows and tomorrows. “And don’t kill the actors either!”

[emcgoverns]

elizabeth mcgovern as june (with ben miles as harvey, pippa nixon as charlotte, & sam crane as theo) in the national theatre production of “sunset at the villa thalia” (2016) | 📸: alastair muir

[quillandrapier]

Hi where can I watch Desperate Romantics? I definitely want to watch it for the plot and not for Peter Sandys-Clarke

Lucky for you the plot is simple, it's pretty boys painting pretty girls while hiding their deep homosexual feelings...okay that's a joke.

It's actually a fictional telling of the lives of the Pre-Raphalite Brotherhood set in London as they seek fame and to revolutionise the art world.

It's six episodes, one hour long each. Peter Sandys-Clarke is only in the last two of this series but is the most likeable male in it.

It's currently available to buy on Amazon, and you can get the DVD from CEX for £2.50.

But you can watch it currently on Dailymotion, Youtube and Flixtor (thanks @spineless-lobster)

I've also made a drive with all the episodes here (UPDATE: my dumbass only realised the first half is on here so will need to do this again....) so if those links ever go down the show can still be watched

Btw this show has some nudity and like...not the best treatment of women...but it's a fun show and an interesting watch