Much Ado About Nothing: A Movie

There are three big movie adaptations of Much Ado About Nothing. The first came out in 1993 and starred Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Robert Sean Leonard, and Kate Beckinsale. It is the truest to the original play, set in the right era with (almost) the entire script intact. The second came out in 2005 and was part of BBC’s ShakespeaRe-Told series, which set four Shakespeare plays in the modern era. It starred Damian Lewis, Sarah Parish, Tom Ellis, and Billie Piper. The third came out in 2012 and is set in the modern era, filmed in black and white, and uses the original script. It stars Alexis Denisof, Amy Acker, Fran Kranz, and Jillian Morgese. I’ve seen the first one all the way through in school in 10th grade, I had seen almost all of the second, and I’ve only seen bits and pieces of the third. I chose to watch the second one for this project because I’m going to try to watch modern adaptations because I think that might be interesting. Also I’m looking forward to watching She’s The Man, a millennial classic, for Twelfth Night. It’s going to be interesting to see what has to change for the modern day and what is more timeless.

Much Ado About Nothing (2005)

• Please go watch ShakespeaRe-Told’s Much Ado About Nothing. It is all on YouTube. It is brilliant. Truly. It sets the action in a modern-day news television studio in Wessex, England.
• First off, here’s a summary:
• The movie opens with a woman and man preparing for a date. The man stands the woman up. Three years later, the woman, Beatrice Evans, is on the set of her job as a newscaster. Her cohost, Keith, is a sketchy older man who keeps hitting on her. Keith ends up having a heart attack (not fatal) and is replaced by none other than the man who stood her up for a date, Benedick Taylor. 
• Meanwhile, the weather girl, Hero Armitage (daughter of the station manager, Leonard, neither of whom Beatrice is related to in this adaptation, although she does have a close relationship with both of them), and the sports anchor, Claude, develop a little crush on each other. However, Don, the director, has been going through a rough breakup and is also romantically interested in Hero. In fact, his work is suffering because of this (and because he's been drinking) so he's replaced by a man named Peter (brought in when Benedick is brought in) whom they've worked with before and whom everyone likes. Don is demoted by Leonard (who has a bad feeling about him) in the hopes that he will quit. 
• The security guard, Mr. Berry (who is the one to discover that Don has been drinking alcohol in his water bottles), is clearly inept, constantly asking everyone to show their IDs despite them having worked at the station for years. So Benedick arrives and is talking to everyone at the station, telling some story about some reporting adventure he's had, and Beatrice comes in and says "I'm amazed you're still talking, Benedick, nobody's listening to you," and thus the insult war begins. Hero announces that there is going to be a costume party to welcome the new members of the team at her/Leonard's house. 
• Don and Hero take a walk on the beach and Don tells her he has feelings for her, but Hero says she's with Claude now PLUS it is revealed that they slept together once in the past. 
• Back at the station, Claude is talking with Benedick about how pretty Hero is, and Benedick says he finds Beatrice much more attractive, "or at least she would be, if she wasn't such a small, carnivorous dinosaur with quick, sharp, vicious little teeth". Margaret, one of the production assistants, flirts with Benedick, which he encourages, and Beatrice finds obnoxious. They start bickering regarding the end of their relationship, which the production team is taking note of. 
• Benedick comes over to Claude's house to get ready for the costume party, and Claude has gotten him a suit of armor which oh my god I just realized could be a nod to how Benedick and Claudio in the play are soldiers. 
• At the party, Benedick flirts with Margaret some more. Claude is going over something he is planning on asking Hero (!) and Don notices and talks to him and also uses a similar line from the play "your Hero, my Hero, everyone's Hero". Claude isn't really listening, as he's watching Hero talking to Benedick. Benedick is kind of flirting with her, too, but it's pretty clear that he's just a flirt and doesn't mean anything by it, but Claude gets jealous anyway and tells Hero that Margaret is looking for him, and tells Benedick to "give it a rest" and walks away. Benedick puts the helmet down on his costume and Beatrice approaches, "thinking" it's Claude, and asks him to sit with her and chat. Beatrice, obviously, uses the opportunity to mock Benedick, asking where he is and saying he's "probably working his way through the buffet, seeing how many chicken thighs he can fit in his mouth". She keeps mocking him and the conversation is delightfully similar to a mix of Act 1, Scene 1 and Act 2, Scene 1. In this version, it's pretty clear that she knows it's Benedick. Benedick leaves and talks to Peter about how awful Beatrice is.  Meanwhile, Don goes upstairs where he hears Margaret, Ursula, and Hero talking about him. Margaret clearly thinks he's creepy, and Hero says she felt sorry for him. Margaret asks if he knows that she only slept with him out of pity, and Hero says she'd just like to forget about it. Back downstairs, Beatrice approaches Benedick and Peter and Benedick asks if he can do something for Peter to avoid talking to her, but Peter instead walks away, leaving them alone. They have a very awkward silence - unusual for what you would think B&B would have - but then Beatrice asks him to dance (not in a friendly manner) (also worth noting that Benedick is not wearing the helmet so she knows it's him). After some reluctance, he accepts. As they very awkwardly dance together - very far apart -, they watch Hero and Claude dancing and mock them, but they get increasingly close together as they dance. Then they watch Claude propose to Hero, to their shock. Don is sitting in Hero's room, looking at pictures of her, when Claude (in the foyer) announces to everyone that he and Hero are getting married. 
• Back at the station, everyone (especially B&B) disagrees over the stories they should cover. 
• B&B are then on location and Beatrice is angry with Benedick because she thinks that he is being snobby since he used to work in London. They get into yet another battle of insults. It's worth noting that their insults aren't quite as witty as Shakespeare's, and they don't really build off each other the same way, but there is still hella sexual tension, so the important bases are covered.
• At the station, Hero asks Beatrice to be her maid of honor and Claude asks Benedick to be the best man. As they go to begin the evening news, they get into another battle of insults and Margaret, Leonard, and Peter discuss how they need to do something about this. 
• While Benedick is in his dressing room, he hears overhead feed of Peter, Leonard, Hero, and Claude talking about him. The feed cuts out and he runs to the set to hear more. P, L, H, and C discuss how Beatrice is crazy with love for him, but that she can't tell him because Benedick will laugh at her. They discuss all of Beatrice's good qualities, and how she's considering leaving the show because of it. All the while Benedick is crawling around trying to hear what they're saying.
• Back at home, Benedick thinks about how it makes sense that Beatrice likes him.
• The next day, Benedick tells himself that even though he never thought he would be in love, maybe it's just "one of those things a man grows into, like jazz and olives," and, of course, "the world must be peopled". He thinks about how she really is attractive, funny, and intelligent. 
• While in his dressing room, Beatrice comes to the door and tells him that the debrief has been canceled because Hero is having her bachelorette party. Benedick, having been tricked, flirts with her in hilarious ways, while Beatrice is obviously confused (see below for the video). 
• Back on the set, Benedick doesn't flirt with Margaret. Beatrice finished a story where she was dancing, and Benedick (ON AIR) talks about how great she looks. Beatrice goes to his dressing room after, very angry, thinking this was all him mocking her, and she says they need to discuss this and come to some "mutually satisfying arrangement", which Benedick thinks means sex and Beatrice means a truce, and their misunderstanding is really, really funny.
• Don writes himself a note on the back of one of Hero's pictures he took from her room as if it were from Hero. 
• Mr. Berry and his assistant notice on the security cameras that Don is going through Hero's bag. 
• Hero and Claude say goodbye and Claude tells her not to flirt with other guys, etc. and Hero tells him not to be insane with jealousy. Don comes up to Hero and gives her her purse, telling her she forgot it, and Mr. Berry sees.
• At the bachelorette party, the girls are talking about guys at the station and how they all find Benedick attractive. Beatrice gets annoyed and leaves, saying she has to go make a phone call. She goes into the bathroom and sits in a stall to get away from them. While in the bathroom, the girls (Hero, Ursula, and Margaret) come in and discuss how Benedick loves her, and it's such a shame that she's so proud, because he's crazy for her.
• At home, Beatrice thinks about how it makes sense that Benedick likes her.
• At the hotel, the day before the wedding, B&B arrive at the same time. Benedick has shaved his weird beard thing and changed up his hair, which startles Beatrice (in a good way). They check in and the woman working the desk at first asks if they are together (to which they obviously, and awkwardly, say no) and then says they have been put in adjoining rooms (the ones with the door between them on the inside). They are surprised, and the woman says she can change it, but they tell her she doesn't have to.
• That evening, most of the invitees are hanging out in the hotel and Don pulls Claude (who seems to be a little intoxicated) aside and tells him that Hero is interested in him which is kind of a weird way to do this scheme but Claude believes it regardless when Don shows him the photos and text messages (that he sent himself when he was going through Hero's bag back at the station). Vincent (Mr. Berry's assistance) sees this whole thing going on).
• Meanwhile, Benedick goes to Beatrice's room and asks her for help with a Shakespearean sonnet (!) that he is going to read as part of his best man's speech. It is sonnet 116: 

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove:

O no; it is an ever-fixed mark, 

That looks on tempests, and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wandering bark,

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks 

Within his bending sickle's compass come; 

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, 

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

   If this be error and upon me proved,

   I never writ, nor no man ever loved. 

• They both are clearly thinking about each other as they go line by line through it and then they ALMOST KISS but he leaves and when he's gone Beatrice falls exasperated onto the bed.
• With Claude watching, Don goes to Hero's room and she lets him in when he says that he is feeling overwhelmed about his ex-wife and just wants to talk for a minute (which Claude doesn't hear). Claude calls her and she says that she is alone.
• On the wedding day, Benedick avoids Margaret's flirtations again. Mr. Berry tries to talk to Benedick but he's busy getting everyone into the church. 
• The wedding scene runs pretty similarly to the play, with the exception of Leonard/Leonato FREAKING OUT. 
• Alone after the chaos, Benedick finds Beatrice and the scene also runs similarly to the play (see below). They admit they love each other and Benedick says he's going to make everything alright. 
• As Benedick goes to confront Claude, Mr. Berry approaches him and tells him what he's seen. Benedick tells Claude how Don has tricked him, which he finally believes. Hero arrives and yells at Don, slapping him around, and he pushes her away. She falls into a column, hitting her head, and passes out. 
• At the hospital, Hero is still unconscious. Beatrice and Benedick sit together and say that although they had something to talk about (their relationship), now is not the time. They leave.
• Claude, still at the hospital, talks to Hero (still unconscious) about how sorry he is. He goes to leave, but then Hero regains consciousness.
• Later, Beatrice and Benedick go on a proper date. 
• Fully recovered, Hero sits at the beach with Claude. He tells her that he is interviewing for a job in London, and Hero encourages him to take it, saying that if he thinks she’s going to forgive him, he’s wasting his time. Claude apologizes again and asks if there’s any chance of them every trying again in the future. 
• The movie ends with a wedding. You don’t initially know who’s wedding it is, but I’ll tell you. It’s Beatrice and Benedick’s. And they’re still sassing each other as they stand at the altar. It’s a beautiful, happy ending that’s just what Shakespeare would have wanted, updated just enough to keep modern audiences happy.
• Please enjoy this clip of one of the very best bits in this movie (this is the equivalent of the end of Act 2, Scene 3, where Benedick has been tricked, but Beatrice hasn’t yet):

• In contrast to that very funny scene, please enjoy this very sweet scene (equivalent of Act 4, Scene 1):

• Differences:

• Movie B&B’s relationship is not as well developed from the start. They don’t know each other as well as play B&B and as far as we know their insult battle really just begins when he arrives at the TV station. Although it seems like they knew each other because it seems like he worked at the station with her around the time this date was happening (or not happening).
• We know exactly what Benedick did in the previous relationship - he stood her up for a date. I’m gathering that it was their first date, too, because Benedick says she’s mad about how things ended and she says that nothing had started.
• DON LIKES HERO! Some productions of MAAN play this, but they usually don’t, and it’s not stated or even really hinted at in the text. As far as I could tell, Don John was just trying to hurt Claudio, and the whole plan against Hero was just the best way he thought to do it.
• B&B’s insults aren’t as fantastic as in the play - they’re not really punny and they don’t really build off of each other the same way, although many of them are pretty true to the original text.
• There’s more of a development of the post-trick but pre-admission-of-love timespan that I think is really good. There’s more than one awkward instance of Benedick trying to flirt with a pre-trick Beatrice and then a few awkward moments of the both of them post-trick, all of which are fantastically funny.
• Obviously the attitudes towards sex are completely different.
• At the very opening of the movie, Beatrice is spreading rose petals on her bed (which she then vacuums up, which is pretty funny), which indicates that she’s thinking this (first?) date could lead there
• Hero has slept with Don (i.e., not a virgin)
• The big issue is that Claude thinks that Hero is still holding feelings for Don and that she’s cheating on him (Claude) with him (Don).
• We don’t know if B&B ever discover the trick, but it doesn’t really matter, because the trick leads them to start dating each other, and they don’t get married for a while, while in the play they get married right after the trick. Refer to point 1 as to why that makes sense, though.
• Hero doesn’t take Claude back, but it’s open-ended if she ever will. They at least end the movie on good terms, as she smiles at him at Beatrice and Benedick’s wedding.

Also I just want to talk about the sonnet.

So Benedick plans to read the sonnet at Hero and Claude’s wedding and as he and Beatrice get into it they think about themselves but can I just say the literally first line is B&B in a whole darn nutshell: "Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments." Like COME ON. H&C are really, really different. Which isn’t bad. Opposites attract. But theirs would/will/can not ever be the marriage of true minds. But B&B, man! This is it! They are both attractive people attracted to each other’s intelligence and wit and humor and independence, whereas H&C are just physically attracted to each other, and that fact is made pretty clear both in the play and the movie. “Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, but bears it out even to the edge of doom.” Kill Claudio, anyone?

And here are the characters for your reference with their counterparts.

PLAY MOVIE

Beatrice Beatrice Evans

Benedick Benedick Taylor

Hero Hero Armitage

Claudio Claude

Leonato Leonard Armitage

Don Pedro Peter

Don John Don

Margaret Margaret

Ursula Ursula

Dogberry Mr. Berry

Verges Vincent

Borachio no equivalent character

Conrade no equivalent character

No equivalent character Keith Fleming