AS YOU LIKE IT
Year: 2007
USA: Picturehouse
UK: Lionsgate UK
Cast: Brian Blessed, Bryce Dallas Howard, Romola Garai, Adrian Lester, Alfred Molina, Kevin Kline, David Oyelowo, Richard Briers, Janet McTeer, Richard Clifford, Patrick Doyle, Gerard Horan, Nobuyuki Takano, Paul Chan, Alex Wyndham, Jimmy Yuill, Jade Jefferies, Jotham Annan, Jonathan Broadbent, Justin Chan, Iain Stuart Robertson, Takuya Shimada, Youki Yamamoto
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Countries: USA / UK
USA & UK: 127 mins
USA Rated: PG for violence and some sexual material
UK Certificate: 12A contains moderate violence
USA TV Release Date: 21 August 2007
UK Release Date: 21 September 2007 (Limited Release)
UK Distributor
Synopsis
Kenneth Branagh's imaginative adaptation of Shakespeare's classic AS YOU LIKE IT celebrates the enduring power of love in all its many disguises. Witty, playful and utterly magical, the story is a compelling romantic adventure in which Rosalind (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Orlando's (David Oyelowo) celebrated courtship is played out against a backdrop of political rivalry, banishment and exile in the Forest of Arden.
Rosalind, the daughter of a banished Duke (Brian Blessed), is forced to flee her uncle's court and brave the wild Forest of Arden. Accompanied by her loyal cousin Celia (Romola Garai), Rosalind disguises herself as a man to avoid detection. The disguise comes in handy when Rosalind tests the devotion of her noble admirer Orlando, another exile from court, and teaches him lessons about matters of the heart. Some of the Bard's most poetic and beautiful language flows as a merry and melancholy series of misunderstandings unfolds amidst the collision of court exiles and forest natives. With Rosalind's wit leading the way, the forces of true love and justice eventually triumph.
Directed by Kenneth Branagh - and marking his fifth Shakespearean screen adaptation - AS YOU LIKE IT is set against a backdrop of 19th-century Japan and features a cast that includes Kevin Kline (Oscar®-winner for A FISH CALLED WANDA), Bryce Dallas Howard (THE VILLAGE), Adrian Lester (THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW), David Oyelowo (TV series SPOOKS), Alfred Molina (FRIDA), Janet McTeer (TUMBLEWEEDS) and Romola Garai (VANITY FAIR).
Branagh has previously adapted and directed the following works of Shakespeare for the screen: LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST, HAMLET, HENRY V, and MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. AS YOU LIKE IT by William Shakespeare was adapted for the screen and directed by Kenneth Branagh.
