Editing Derek Jacobi (section)

=== Interests ===
[[Image:00 poslednik derek pijarowski 20181126.jpg|thumb|Roman Poslednik, Derek Jacobi, and [[Jaroslaw Pijarowski]] with Jacobi's World United Creator Award for his contribution to uniting and promoting world literature, based on his efforts to introduce William Shakespeare into modern cinema. London, 2018.]]
Jacobi has been publicly involved in the [[Shakespeare authorship question]]. He supports the [[Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship]], according to which [[Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford]] wrote the works of Shakespeare.<ref>{{cite news| last=Thorpe| first=Vanessa| url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/sep/09/theatrenews.theatre| title=Who Was Shakespeare? That Is (Still) the Question: Campaign Revives Controversy of Bard's Identity| work=[[The Observer]]| date=9 September 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| last=Horwitz| first=Jane| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/08/AR2010060804593.html| title=Backstage: What the Stars Had to Get Over to Get their 'Goat' on at Rep Stage| newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]| date=9 June 2010}}</ref> Jacobi <!--is a patron of the [[De Vere Society]],<ref name="deveresociety">{{cite web|url=http://www.deveresociety.co.uk/index.html|publisher=deveresociety.co.uk|title=The De Vere Society - Dedicated to the proposition that the works of Shakespeare were written by Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford|access-date=16 October 2016}}</ref> and--> has given an address to the Shakespeare Authorship Research Centre promoting de Vere as the Shakespeare author<ref>{{cite web| last=Jacobi| first=Derek| url=http://www.authorshipstudies.org/articles/jacobi.cfm| title=Address to the Shakespeare Authorship Research Centre at Concordia University| publisher=[[Concordia University (Oregon)]]| access-date=8 July 2015| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150710044428/http://www.authorshipstudies.org/articles/jacobi.cfm| archive-date=10 July 2015| df=dmy-all}}</ref> and wrote forewords to two books on the subject in 2004 and 2005.<ref>{{cite book| editor-last=Malim| editor-first=Richard| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ua09pcd0Fo0C&q=foreword| title=Great Oxford: Essays on the Life and Work of Edward De Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, 1550–1604| publisher=Parapress Limited| year=2004| chapter=Foreword| page=3| isbn=978-1898594796}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| author-link=Mark Anderson (writer)| last=Anderson| first=Mark| title="Shakespeare" by Another Name: The Life of Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, the Man Who Was Shakespeare| publisher=Gotham Books| date=3 August 2006| pages=xxiii–xxiv| isbn=978-1592401031| url-access=registration| url=https://archive.org/details/shakespearebyano00ande}}</ref>

In 2007, Jacobi and fellow Shakespearean actor and director [[Mark Rylance]] initiated a "[[Declaration of Reasonable Doubt]]" on the authorship of Shakespeare's work, to encourage new research into the question. In 2011, Jacobi accepted a role in the film ''[[Anonymous (2011 film)|Anonymous]]'', about the Oxfordian theory, starring [[Rhys Ifans]] and [[Vanessa Redgrave]]. In the film Jacobi narrates the Prologue and Epilogue, set in modern-day New York, while the film proper is set in Elizabethan England. Jacobi said that making the film was "a very risky thing to do", stating "the orthodox Stratfordians are going to be apoplectic with rage".<ref>{{harvnb|Horwitz|2010}}.</ref>