By Fred Topel | Image property of 20th Century Fox
Steve Coogan plays a pretentious high school drama teacher in Hamlet 2. Surely that must be a fictional creation, not in the least inspired by any real thespian instructors.
Steve Coogan Teaches Hamlet 2
"I went to drama school for three years, instead of studying properly at university," Coogan said. "I met lots of people. It's like a sanctuary. Drama school is I think a sanctuary for people who are terminally bewildered."
His character decides to write a sequel to Hamlet to save his drama department. In his studies, the Bard was only a passing interest to Coogan.
"I don't think I was into it really. I found it kind of interesting. I had a good English teacher. I think I understand. I'm fairly, fairly familiar with Shakespeare's major works. I went to see a lot of them and I did some school productions and stuff like that, so yes, there are some fantastic passages in some of his work that are amazing, that are very usable. So I saw its relevance and the fact that it was resonant. I understood all that when I was younger."
Hamlet 2
Hamlet 2 is a musical with numbers like "Rock Me Sexy Jesus," so Coogan had to dance too. "That was difficult. I mean, we had to rehearse. We rehearsed the way, because we were doing a musical show, but we were making a movie and then we were doing this musical. So you had to rehearse the musical because it's very specific moves and things. I did a little bit in it but mostly it was the guys, the kids."
The outrageous film does not stop at lampooning Shakespeare and religion. "I do sometimes like to see what you can get away with. Not just in terms of throwing toys out of the pan just to try and shock people. Sometimes you do do that in comedy. You think, 'I wonder if I can get away with this.'"
One such test was slapping a student with a phallic balloon. It made it into the final cut. "That was something that came out of Skylar and I were saying, 'What can we do that's funny?' He said, 'What about if you did this?' We talked about it and I tried it. I thought it was funny but it made sense. It's because it's funny and sad and it's complicated at the same time because he's clearly in love with me. That's the closest he's going to get to intimacy so there's a sort of emotional truth to it even though it's stupid."
Hamlet 2 opens to theaters on August 22nd.
For the trailers, posters, stills and more movie info, go to the Hamlet 2
Movie Page.
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