Shakespeare in Love

For the theatre adaptations, see Shakespeare in Love (play) and Shakespeare in Love (South Korean play).

Shakespeare in Love
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJohn Madden
Written by
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyRichard Greatrex
Edited byDavid Gamble
Music byStephen Warbeck
Production
company
Distributed by
Release dates
  • 11 December 1998 (1998-12-11) (United States)
  • 29 January 1999 (1999-01-29) (United Kingdom)
Running time
123 minutes[1]
Countries
  • United States[2]
  • United Kingdom[3]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$25 million[4]
Box office$289.3 million[4]

Shakespeare in Love is a 1998 period romantic comedy film directed by John Madden, written by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, and produced by Harvey Weinstein. It stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth, Ben Affleck and Judi Dench. The film depicts a fictional love affair involving playwright William Shakespeare (Fiennes) and Viola de Lesseps (Paltrow) while Shakespeare was writing Romeo and Juliet. Several characters are based on historical figures, and many of the characters, lines, and plot devices allude to Shakespeare's plays.

Shakespeare in Love received acclaim from critics and was a box-office success, grossing $289 million worldwide and becoming the ninth-highest-grossing film of 1998. The film was noted for its highly skilled plotting and balancing of comedy and drama and for the high quality of its dialogue, performances, and production design. It received numerous accolades; it won three Golden Globe Awards (including Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy and Best Actress - Motion Picture Comedy or Musical for Paltrow), two Screen Actors Guild Awards (Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture and Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role for Paltrow), and four British Academy Film Awards (including Best Film).[5][6][7] The film ultimately won a leading seven Oscars out of thirteen nominations at the 71st Academy Awards: Best Picture (Parfitt, Gigliotti, Weinstein, Zwick, & Norman), Best Actress (Paltrow), Best Supporting Actress (Dench), Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen (Norman & Stoppard), Best Original Musical or Comedy Score (Warbeck), Best Art Direction (Childs & Quertier), and Best Costume Design (Powell).[8]

  1. ^ "Shakespeare in Love (15)". BBFC. 11 January 1999. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  2. ^ "Shakespeare in Love (1998)". BFI. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012.
  3. ^ Bauer, Patricia. "Shakespeare in Love". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference BOM was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference :4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ "1999 | Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences". www.oscars.org. 18 November 2016. Retrieved 7 May 2023.