Hamlet
1990
Mel Gibson stars as the brooding Danish prince tormented by his father's ghost and consumed by indecision and feigned madness as he plots revenge against his treacherous uncle. Franco Zeffirelli's accessible adaptation strips Shakespeare's text for pace and accessibility, leaning into the psychological drama.
Director
- Franco Zeffirelli
Cast
- Mel Gibson
- Glenn Close
- Alan Bates
- Paul Scofield
- Ian Holm
- Helena Bonham Carter
- Stephen Dillane
- Nathaniel Parker
- Sean Murray
- Michael Maloney
Filming Locations
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Blackness Castle
Blackness Castle near Edinburgh was used for both exterior and interior scenes depicting Elsinore Castle, the Danish seat of the Danish royal court.
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Dover Castle
Dover Castle provided exterior battlements and castle locations standing in for Elsinore, including the dramatic scene in which Hamlet confronts the ghost of his father on the castle walls.
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Dunnottar Castle
Many exterior locations were shot here.
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Muchalls
A dummy set of ramparts were built here for ghost scenes on battlements. The set was originally to be built at Crawton south of Dunnottar but the local lighthouse would have proved problematical for night filming, and the set was constructed at the edge of the cliff by Muchalls.
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Shepperton Studios
Interior scenes for the film, including the main castle interiors, were filmed at Shepperton Studios (Lee International Studios) in Middlesex.