Editing King Lear (section)

===Film and video===
The first film adaptation of ''King Lear'' was a five-minute German version made around 1905, which has not survived.{{sfn|Brode|2001|p=205}} The oldest extant version is a ten-minute studio-based version from 1909 by Vitagraph, which, according to Luke McKernan, made the "ill-advised" decision to attempt to cram in as much of the plot as possible.{{sfn|McKernan|Terris|1994|p=83}} Two silent versions, both titled ''Re Lear'', were made in Italy in 1910. Of these, the version by director Gerolamo Lo Savio was filmed on location, and it dropped the Edgar sub-plot and used frequent intertitling to make the plot easier to follow than its Vitagraph predecessor.{{efn|This version appears on the British Film Institute video compilation ''Silent Shakespeare'' (1999).{{sfn|McKernan|Terris|1994|p=84}}}} A contemporary setting was used for [[Louis Feuillade]]'s 1911 French adaptation ''Le Roi Lear Au Village'', and in 1914 in America, Ernest Warde expanded the story to an hour, including spectacles such as a final battle scene.{{sfn|Brode|2001|pp=205–206}}

The [[Joseph L. Mankiewicz|Joseph Mankiewicz]] (1949) ''[[House of Strangers]]'' is often considered a ''Lear'' adaptation, but the parallels are more striking in ''[[Broken Lance]]'' (1954) in which a cattle baron played by [[Spencer Tracy]] tyrannizes his three sons, and only the youngest, Joe, played by [[Robert Wagner]], remains loyal.{{sfn|McKernan|Terris|1994|pp=84–85}}

[[File:House-of-strangers-trailer.jpg|upright=1.35|thumb|left|Screenshot from trailer for ''[[House of Strangers]]'' (1949).<br />"The film has two antecedents—biblical references to Joseph and his brothers and ''King Lear''".{{sfn|Griggs|2009|p=122}}]]

The TV anthology series ''[[Omnibus (U.S. TV series)|Omnibus]]'' (1952–1961) staged a 73-minute version of ''[[King Lear (1953 film)|King Lear]]'' on 18 October 1953. It was adapted by [[Peter Brook]] and starred [[Orson Welles]] in his American television debut.{{sfn|Crosby|1953}}

Two screen versions of ''King Lear'' date from the early 1970s: [[Grigori Kozintsev]]'s ''[[King Lear (1971 USSR film)|Korol Lir]]'',{{efn|The original title of this film in [[Cyrillic script]] is ''{{lang|ru|Король Лир}}'' and the sources anglicise it with different spellings. Daniel Rosenthal gives it as ''{{transliteration|ru|Korol Lir}}'',{{sfn|Rosenthal|2007|p=79}} while Douglas Brode gives it as ''{{transliteration|ru|Karol Lear}}''.{{sfn|Brode|2001|p=210}}}} and [[Peter Brook|Peter Brook's]] film of ''[[King Lear (1971 UK film)|King Lear]]'', which stars [[Paul Scofield]].{{sfn|Brode|2001|p=206}} Brook's film starkly divided the critics: [[Pauline Kael]] said "I didn't just dislike this production, I hated it!" and suggested the alternative title ''[[Night of the Living Dead]]''.{{efn|[[Pauline Kael]]'s ''[[The New Yorker|New Yorker]]'' review is quoted by Douglas Brode.{{sfn|Brode|2001|pp=206, 209}}}} Yet Robert Hatch in ''[[The Nation]]'' thought it as "excellent a filming of the play as one can expect" and [[Vincent Canby]] in ''[[The New York Times]]'' called it "an exalting ''Lear'', full of exquisite terror".{{efn|Both quoted by Douglas Brode.{{sfn|Brode|2001|p=206}}}} The film drew on the ideas of [[Jan Kott]], in particular his observation that ''King Lear'' was the precursor of [[Theatre of the Absurd|absurdist theatre]], and that it has parallels with [[Samuel Beckett|Beckett]]'s ''[[Endgame (play)|Endgame]]''.{{sfn|Brode|2001|pp=206–207}} Critics who dislike the film particularly draw attention to its bleak nature from its opening: complaining that the world of the play does not deteriorate with Lear's suffering, but commences dark, colourless and wintry, leaving, according to Douglas Brode, "Lear, the land, and us with nowhere to go".{{sfn|Brode|2001|pp=206–210}} Cruelty pervades the film, which does not distinguish between the violence of ostensibly good and evil characters, presenting both savagely.{{sfn|Rosenthal|2007|p=82}} Paul Scofield, as Lear, eschews sentimentality: This demanding old man with a coterie of unruly knights provokes audience sympathy for the daughters in the early scenes, and his presentation explicitly rejects the tradition of playing Lear as "poor old white-haired patriarch".{{sfn|Rosenthal|2007|p=83}}

''Korol Lir'' has been praised by critic Alexander Anikst for the "serious, deeply thoughtful" even "philosophical approach" of director Grigori Kozintsev and writer [[Boris Pasternak]]. Making a thinly veiled criticism of Brook in the process, Anikst praised the fact that there were "no attempts at sensationalism, no efforts to 'modernise' Shakespeare by introducing Freudian themes, Existentialist ideas, eroticism, or sexual perversion. [Kozintsev] ... has simply made a film of Shakespeare's tragedy."{{efn|Quoted by Douglas Brode.{{sfn|Brode|2001|p=211}}}} [[Dmitri Shostakovich]] provided an epic score, its motifs including an (increasingly ironic) trumpet fanfare for Lear, and a five-bar "Call to Death" marking each character's demise.{{sfn|Rosenthal|2007|p=81}} Kozintzev described his vision of the film as an ensemble piece: with Lear, played by a dynamic [[Jüri Järvet]], as first among equals in a cast of fully developed characters.{{sfn|Brode|2001|pp=211–212}} The film highlights Lear's role as king by including his people throughout the film on a scale no stage production could emulate, charting the central character's decline from their god to their helpless equal; his final descent into madness marked by his realisation that he has neglected the "poor naked wretches".{{sfn|Rosenthal|2007|pp=79–80}}<ref>{{Folger inline|King Lear|3|4|32}}</ref> As the film progresses, ruthless characters—Goneril, Regan, Edmund—increasingly appear isolated in shots, in contrast to the director's focus, throughout the film, on masses of human beings.{{sfn|Guntner|2007|pp=134–135}}

[[Jonathan Miller]] twice directed [[Michael Hordern]] in the title role for English television, the first for the BBC's ''[[Play of the Month]]'' in 1975 and the second for the ''[[BBC Television Shakespeare]]'' in 1982. Hordern received mixed reviews, and was considered a bold choice due to his history of taking much lighter roles.{{sfn|McKernan|Terris|1994|pp=85–87}} Also for English television, [[Laurence Olivier]] took the role in a [[King Lear (1983 TV programme)|1983 TV production]] for Granada Television. It was his last screen appearance in a Shakespearean role.{{sfn|McKernan|Terris|1994|pp=87–88}}

In 1985, a major screen adaptation of the play appeared: ''[[Ran (film)|Ran]]'', directed by [[Akira Kurosawa]]. At the time the most expensive Japanese film ever made, it tells the story of Hidetora, a fictional 16th-century Japanese warlord, whose attempt to divide his kingdom among his three sons leads to an estrangement with the youngest, and ultimately most loyal, of them, and eventually to civil war.{{sfn|Rosenthal|2007|p=84}} In contrast to the cold drab greys of Brook and Kozintsev, Kurosawa's film is full of vibrant colour: external scenes in yellows, blues and greens, interiors in browns and ambers, and [[Emi Wada]]'s [[Academy Award for Best Costume Design|Oscar]]-winning colour-coded costumes for each family member's soldiers.{{sfn|Guntner|2007|p=136}}{{sfn|Rosenthal|2007|p=84}} Hidetora has a back-story: a violent and ruthless rise to power, and the film portrays contrasting victims: the virtuous characters Sue and Tsurumaru who are able to forgive, and the vengeful Kaede ([[Mieko Harada]]), Hidetora's daughter-in-law and the film's [[Lady Macbeth]]-like villain.{{sfn|Rosenthal|2007|pp=84–87}}{{sfn|Jackson|2001|p=225}}

A scene in which a character is threatened with blinding in the manner of Gloucester forms the climax of the 1973 parody horror ''[[Theatre of Blood]]''.{{sfn|McKernan|Terris|1994|p=85}} Comic use is made of Sir's inability to physically carry any actress cast as Cordelia opposite his Lear in the [[The Dresser (1983 film)|1983 film]] of the stage play ''[[The Dresser]]''.{{sfn|McKernan|Terris|1994|p=87}} [[John Boorman]]'s 1990 ''[[Where the Heart Is (1990 film)|Where the Heart Is]]'' features a father who disinherits his three spoiled children.{{sfn|Howard|2007|p=308}} [[Francis Ford Coppola]] deliberately incorporated elements of ''Lear'' in his 1990 sequel ''[[The Godfather Part III]]'', including Michael Corleone's attempt to retire from crime throwing his domain into anarchy, and most obviously the death of his daughter in his arms. Parallels have also been drawn between [[Andy García]]'s character Vincent and both Edgar and Edmund, and between [[Talia Shire]]'s character Connie and Kaede in ''[[Ran (film)|Ran]]''.{{sfn|Howard|2007|p=299}}

In 1997, [[Jocelyn Moorhouse]] directed ''[[A Thousand Acres (film)|A Thousand Acres]]'', based on [[Jane Smiley]]'s Pulitzer Prize-winning [[A Thousand Acres|novel of the same name]], set in 1990s Iowa.{{sfn|Rosenthal|2007|p=88}} The film is described, by scholar Tony Howard, as the first adaptation to confront the play's disturbing sexual dimensions.{{sfn|Howard|2007|p=299}} The story is told from the viewpoint of the elder two daughters, Ginny played by [[Jessica Lange]] and Rose played by [[Michelle Pfeiffer]], who were sexually abused by their father as teenagers. Their younger sister Caroline, played by [[Jennifer Jason Leigh]] had escaped this fate and is ultimately the only one to remain loyal.{{sfn|Rosenthal|2007|pp=88–89}}{{sfn|Brode|2001|p=217}}

In 1998, the BBC produced a televised version,<ref>{{Cite web |title=King Lear (1998) |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b80d655fe |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180328140524/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b80d655fe |url-status=dead |archive-date=28 March 2018 |access-date=2022-09-28 |website=BFI}}</ref> directed by [[Richard Eyre]], of his award-winning 1997 [[Royal National Theatre]] production, starring [[Ian Holm]] as Lear. In March 2001, in a review originally posted to CultureVulture.net, critic Bob Wake observed that <!-- Past tense seems necessary because his observation was made 20 years ago. --> the production was "of particular note for preserving Ian Holm’s celebrated stage performance in the title role. Stellar interpreters of Lear haven't always been so fortunate."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wake |first=Bob |date=1998-01-01 |title=King Lear |url=https://culturevulture.net/television/king-lear/ |access-date=2022-09-28 |website=CultureVulture}}</ref> Wake added that other performances had been poorly documented because they suffered from technological problems ([[Orson Welles]]), eccentric televised productions ([[Paul Scofield]]), or were filmed when the actor playing Lear was unwell ([[Laurence Olivier]]).<ref>{{cite web|title=Royal National Theatre|url=https://selectedreviews.wordpress.com/tag/royal-national-theatre/|access-date=2021-09-24|website=Selected Reviews 1999–2006|date=12 August 2009 }}</ref>

The play was adapted to the world of gangsters in [[Don Boyd]]'s 2001 ''[[My Kingdom (film)|My Kingdom]]'', a version which differs from all others in commencing with the Lear character, Sandeman, played by [[Richard Harris]], in a loving relationship with his wife. But her violent death marks the start of an increasingly bleak and violent chain of events (influenced by co-writer Nick Davies' documentary book ''Dark Heart'') which in spite of the director's denial that the film had "serious parallels" to Shakespeare's play, actually mirror aspects of its plot closely.{{sfn|Rosenthal|2007|pp=90–91}}{{sfn|Lehmann|2006|pp=72–89}}

Unlike Shakespeare's Lear, but like Hidetora and Sandeman, the central character of [[Uli Edel]]'s 2002 American TV adaptation ''[[King of Texas]]'', John Lear played by [[Patrick Stewart]], has a back-story centred on his violent rise to power as the richest landowner (metaphorically a "king") in General [[Sam Houston]]'s independent Texas in the early 1840s. Daniel Rosenthal comments that the film was able, by reason of having been commissioned by the cable channel TNT, to include a bleaker and more violent ending than would have been possible on the national networks.{{sfn|Rosenthal|2007|pp=92–93}} 2003's [[Channel 4]]-commissioned two-parter ''Second Generation'' set the story in the world of Asian manufacturing and music in England.{{sfn|Greenhalgh|Shaughnessy|2006|p=99}}

The Canadian comedy-drama TV series ''[[Slings & Arrows]]'' (2003–2006), which follows a fictional Shakespearean theatre festival inspired by the real-life [[Stratford Festival]] in Ontario, devotes its third season to a troubled production of ''King Lear''. The fictional actor starring as Lear (played by [[William Hutt (actor)|William Hutt]], who in real life played Lear onstage at Stratford three times to great acclaim<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia|url=https://www.canadiantheatre.com/dict.pl?term=Hutt%2C%20William|title=Hutt, William|publisher=[[Athabasca University]]|access-date=4 September 2023|author1=Gaetan Charlebois|author2=Anne Nothof|date=27 November 2018}}</ref>) is given the role despite concerns over his advanced age and ill health, plus a secret addiction to [[heroin]] discovered by the theatre's director. Eventually the actor's mental state deteriorates until he seems to believe he is Lear himself, wandering into a storm and later reciting his lines uncontrollably. William Hutt himself was in failing health when he filmed the TV role and died less than a year after the third season premiered.<ref>[[Mark McKinney|McKinney, Mark]] (November 5, 2010). [https://www.npr.org/transcripts/131094969 "Mark McKinney: Comedic 'Slings And Arrows'"]. ''[[Fresh Air]]'' (interview). Interviewed by [[Terry Gross]]. Philadelphia: [[NPR|National Public Radio]]. {{Retrieved|access-date=2022-10-11}}.</ref>

In 2008, a version of ''[[King Lear (2008 film)|King Lear]]'' produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company premiered with [[Ian McKellen]] in the role of King Lear.<ref>{{cite web |title=King Lear [DVD] [2008] |url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001EXBWX6 |website=Amazon.co.uk |date=6 October 2008 |access-date=5 February 2021}}</ref>

In the 2012 romantic comedy ''[[If I Were You (2012 Canadian film)|If I Were You]]'', there is a reference to the play when the lead characters are cast in a female version of King Lear set in modern times, with [[Marcia Gay Harden]] cast in the Lear role and [[Leonor Watling]] as "the fool". Lear is an executive in a corporate empire instead of a literal one, being phased out of her position. The off-beat play (and its cast) is a major plot element of the movie.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}} The American [[Gesamtkunstwerk|musical drama]] television series [[Empire (2015 TV series)|''Empire'']] is partially inspired by ''King Lear''.<ref name=TVG123114>{{cite web|url=https://www.tvguide.com/news/empire-fox-lee-daniels-1091355.aspx|title=Lee Daniels Builds a Soapy New Hip-Hop Empire for Fox|date=December 31, 2014|first=Michael|last=Logan|author-link=Michael Logan (journalist)|access-date=January 3, 2015|work=[[TV Guide]]|publisher=[[CBS Interactive]]}}</ref><ref name=EWStack010715>{{cite magazine|url=http://insidetv.ew.com/2015/01/07/empire-fox-lee-daniels/|title='Empire': Inside Fox's ambitious, groundbreaking musical soap|first=Tim|last=Stack|date=January 7, 2015|magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|access-date=January 7, 2015}}</ref><ref name="LeeDanielsDynasty">{{cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/lee-daniels-foxs-empire-i-701855|title=Lee Daniels on Fox's 'Empire': 'I Wanted to Make a Black 'Dynasty' ' (Q&A)|access-date=December 14, 2014|date=May 6, 2014|last=Wilson|first=Stacey|work=[[The Hollywood Reporter]]|publisher=Prometheus Global Media}}</ref>

[[Carl Bessai]] wrote and directed a modern adaptation of ''King Lear'' titled ''[[The Lears]]''. Released in 2017, the film starred [[Bruce Dern]], [[Anthony Michael Hall]] and [[Sean Astin]].{{sfn|McNary|2016}}

On 28 May 2018, BBC Two broadcast ''[[King Lear (2018 film)|King Lear]]'' starring [[Anthony Hopkins]] in the title role and [[Emma Thompson]] as Goneril. Directed by [[Richard Eyre]], the play featured a 21st-century setting. Hopkins, at the age of 80, was deemed ideal for the role and "at home with Lear's skin" by critic Sam Wollaston.{{sfn|Wollaston|2018}}