Playwright Steven Berkoff Adapts SHAKESPEARE'S VILLAINS to the Big Screen

Variety reports that British actor and playwright Steven Berkoff, (A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, BEVERLY HILLS COP) has launched a crowd-funding campaign on LiveTree.com for the theatrical release of his new film, SHAKESPEARE'S HEROES & VILLAINS. The move marks Berkoff's plan to focus his career on the big screen.

The latest project is an adaptation of his stage play SHAKESPEARE'S VILLAINS. Since its London premiere in 1998, the playwright has performed the one-man show around the world. The film adaptation will now feature many of the Bard's heroes, such as Henry V, who were not included in the stage version. He explains, "It was an idea I had in mind, having done the villains, to have another track and to make the film different from the play. The performance, intensity and analytical elements of the play happened on stage, and we tried to find an interpretation we could commit to film."

In addition, the site reports that the script will be published by Bloomsbury as a resource for acting students and Shakespeare scholars. Berkoff hopes the film will be shown in arthouses throughout the country, and plans an eventual broadcast on television. He also hopes to adapt several of his other plays to film.

Below, watch the official trailer for Steven Berkoff's Shakespeare's Heroes And Villains:

About Shakespeare's Heroes and Villains Shakespeare's Heroes and Villains, written by and starring legendary actor Steven Berkoff (A Clockwork Orange; Beverly Hills Cop; Rambo), explores some of the Bard's most notorious characters - Macbeth, Iago, Shylock, Richard III, Othello - as well as some of his most heroic. The film is based on Berkoff's one-man stage play, Shakespeare's Villains, which had its first run at London's Theatre Royal in 1998. Since then, what has been described as a "masterclass in evil" and has toured the world to huge critical and commercial success.

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