Michael Almereyda’s Cymbeline Screens In 10th-Anniversary Event on May 16

Shakespeare adaptations are not the surest commercial prospect; asking audiences to show for a contemporary riff on one of the Bard’s lesser-known plays is another demand entirely. Nevertheless, it’s a shame how little attention was granted Michael Almereyda’s Cymbeline when it premiered in 2014 and released the next year. A mix of palace intrigue and star-crossed romance places it among Shakespeare’s most-intriguing works, and the adaptation’s cast––Dakota Johnson, Ethan Hawke, Penn Badgley, Ed Harris, Milla Jovovich, Anton Yelchin, Delroy Lindo––comprises the ideal mix of game performers and off-center interpretations to suit Almereyda’s take, which transforms the Western Canon into a canvas.

I’m accordingly pleased to show the film in a tenth-anniversary event (we’ll print the legend and go with its 2015 theatrical release here) on Friday, May 16 at the Brooklyn Center for Theatre Research with Almereyda in attendance for a post-screening Q&A. There’s always time to hear Milla Jovovich sing an ’80s Bob Dylan song, but maybe none better than this evening.

Tickets are here and official description is below.

Amnesiascope and the Brooklyn Center for Theatre Research are proud to present a special screening of Michael Almereyda’s Shakespeare adaptation Cymbeline starring Dakota Johnson, Ethan Hawke, Penn Badgley, Ed Harris, Milla Jovovich, Anton Yelchin, and Delroy Lindo. Almereyda will be present for a post-film Q&A.

Adapted from Shakespeare’s marvelous (albeit lesser-known) play, Cymbeline turns its source into a distinctly contemporary spin on youth culture, biker gangs, and dirty cops. At once faithful to the Bard while skirting strictures of adaptation for a grand experiment, Almereyda treats the Western Canon as canvas––it’s some of the funniest and freest Shakespeare’s ever been onscreen.