{"id":2195227,"date":"2025-12-11T17:38:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T17:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2195227"},"modified":"2025-12-11T17:38:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T17:38:14","slug":"mamoru-hosoda-explains-why-hamlet-is-everywhere-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/mamoru-hosoda-explains-why-hamlet-is-everywhere-this-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamoru Hosoda explains why Hamlet is everywhere this year"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Hamlet<\/em> is having something of a renaissance in 2025. This year\u2019s edition of the Toronto International Film Festival featured three different takes on the idea, including Chlo\u00e9 Zhao\u2019s adaptation of the play\u2019s inspiration and Aneil Karia\u2019s rendition set in modern-day London. But the most out-there version came from Belle<\/em> director Mamoru Hosoda<\/a>, who transformed Shakespeare\u2019s revenge story into a fantastical epic called Scarlet<\/em>, complete with time travel and dragons.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Hosoda likens the confluence to the late 1940s and early \u201950s, when acclaimed filmmakers like Akira Kurosawa and Orson Welles put out their own takes on Macbeth<\/em>. \u201cPerhaps there was something happening in a larger social context that made these filmmakers tap into the universal story that Macbeth<\/em> had,\u201d Hosoda tells me. In the case of Hamlet<\/em>, he believes that the revenge story feels particularly timely given the ongoing spate of global conflicts over the last few years. \u201cWatching all of this unfold almost made the world feel like this hell-like space,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

That\u2019s part of what inspired the story of Scarlet<\/em>, in which the titular lead is a princess avenging her father\u2019s death. It\u2019s a quest that leads her to a wasteland known as the \u201cotherworld\u201d that exists somewhere between life and death.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

In conversation ahead of the film\u2019s theatrical release \u2014 it hits select theaters on December 12th<\/a>, before a wider release on February 6th \u2014 he spoke about getting inspiration from classic literature, the importance of optimism, and leaving the story open to interpretation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The Verge: With <\/strong>Belle<\/em><\/strong>, I know you had wanted to make a version of <\/strong>Beauty and the Beast<\/em><\/strong> for a long time before that film. Was it a similar situation with <\/strong>Hamlet<\/em><\/strong>?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Mamoru Hosoda: Shakespeare is something that I recall reading in high school and college, and perhaps someday I thought it would be nice to do something based on classic literature. But I didn\u2019t want to overstep my boundaries in terms of interpreting something that\u2019s been so highly regarded in the literary world. That being said, when I started working on Scarlet<\/em>, I knew that I wanted to have this revenge story. And then looking at the landscape of what literature really explores the idea of revenge, I think Hamlet<\/em> is one of the originals. So that\u2019s where the idea of Hamlet<\/em> came into play.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

What was it about that theme of revenge that struck you and made you want to explore it with <\/strong>Scarlet<\/em><\/strong>?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

I started on this project about four years ago. At that time we had just made it through covid, the world was seemingly moving towards a much more peaceful place, and that\u2019s around the time all of these conflicts started to emerge around the world. Watching all of this unfold almost made the world feel like this hell-like space. I think there is a lot of hatred that you could see. The only answer to that hatred was revenge, and different countries and people taking revenge upon each other. So it became a very common topic, and it\u2019s an issue that we needed to really look into.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

So how do you go from that to a story that also takes place in the afterlife and has time travel and dragons in it?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

You\u2019re right, in Hamlet <\/em>there\u2019s no time travel. That being said, his father does appear as a ghost, so in this world ghosts do exist. In the original Hamlet<\/em>, the father\u2019s ghost comes back to say \u201cyou must have revenge.\u201d I thought to myself, Well, what if instead, Hamlet\u2019s father said to forgive?<\/em> That\u2019s where I started. If I had a daughter, which I do, and I was trying to impart something on her, I wouldn\u2019t want my daughter to give up her entire life in this pursuit of revenge. I would probably tell her to forgive and find a different path forward.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

How that unfolds in the context of Scarlet<\/em>, it puts her on a different course. If Hamlet had faced that same situation, it would\u2019ve opened up more questions than answers, and would\u2019ve put Hamlet through an even greater struggle than what he went through. That\u2019s what I really want to explore. Not just the blood-driven pursuit of revenge, but rather when presented with a different option that\u2019s perhaps a tough pill to swallow, how would the character react?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Mamoru Hosoda.<\/em><\/figcaption>Image: TIFF<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

The ending is much more optimistic than the rest of the movie. Did you find it tough to balance that bloodthirsty revenge story that exists for much of the film with an uplifting end?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

I think it\u2019s easy for us as human beings to be consumed by this idea of revenge. It\u2019s very hard to escape once it\u2019s implanted in your mind. Hijiri in this movie offers a different perspective, which is what triggers the change in Scarlet. I think Hijiri shifts Scarlet\u2019s thought process even by a small percentage, and that\u2019s where the unraveling can finally begin.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Perhaps in the context of a movie, it would feel really good: You\u2019re watching this character, they\u2019ve been wronged, they get their revenge, everything is good and done. But if you think of it from a much broader perspective, well, great that character got revenge, but what about those who now feel like they have been wronged? It really just kicks off this cycle. And that\u2019s where you go from revenge story to tragedy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

So in terms of balancing that, it\u2019s really Hijiri tipping the scales towards there being a different outlet for this emotion of revenge, that can be applied to something that\u2019s less destructive.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Your films have explored all kinds of settings across fantasy and sci-fi, even a metaverse. What was it like trying to envision what this afterlife world was going to be like?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

I looked at Dante\u2019s Divine Comedy<\/em> to try and find inspiration. In that story, Dante is alive but travels through the different layers of hell, and in doing so is able to meet all of these famous dead people, irrespective of what era they existed in. I thought about this a lot, and it almost seemed like in going to this different plane Dante was able to time travel. That\u2019s where the idea of this world in Scarlet<\/em> emerged. That\u2019s how Scarlet is able to interface with Hijiri, to meet someone from a different timeline who will in some way affect her fate. I almost saw this land of the dead as a means of time travel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

I know the otherworld is meant to be an in-between place, so I\u2019m curious why you chose this bleak version of the afterlife from Dante to represent that?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

When making this film, I did a lot of location hunting. I traveled to different places in the Middle East, like Jordan and Israel, and countries that believe in a single god. I feel that this act of pilgrimage, or traveling through very harsh conditions to arrive at some kind of salvation, there\u2019s this interesting dynamic where the payoff almost becomes greater because of how harsh the conditions were. Another location that I went to was Death Valley in the United States. Similarly there\u2019s almost this spiritual feeling to the land, which is why it felt appropriate for the film.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

One of my personal favorite parts of the movie was the dragon; it\u2019s so imposing and ancient. I was wondering how that came about, and how you wanted to use it to further the story?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

There\u2019s really no explanation for the dragon in this film. Why is it flying through this sky ocean? Why is it full of arrows, swords, and any type of weapon you can think of? I think there are a lot of ways to interpret it and that was intentionally left open.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Was that your approach to the film as a whole, leaving things open to interpretation?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

I think so. Had this been a limited Netflix series and I had 12 episodes to play with, we could\u2019ve gone into much more detail. But having to think of taking people on a two-hour journey, there isn\u2019t a lot of room to expand on the different areas of the world. I think the key point here is Scarlet\u2019s journey for revenge, and her falling into this world that exists between life and death. As a general rule perhaps, much of the movie was left open to interpretation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Follow topics and authors<\/strong> from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.<\/span><\/p>\n