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Queen Elizabeth: Have her then, but you're a lordly fool: she's been plucked since I saw her last, and not by you. Takes a woman to know it.

Halfway into the film, Shakespeare is holding Viola's face placing his hands around her jaw, looking closely at her. When the angle is behind Viola, we see that her hair gets caught around his left hand's fingers. The angle changes to a wider side angle and his hand has no hair around, even though he hasn't moved it at all. See more...

Trivia

Philip Henslowe's line "It's a mystery" is a clear reference to Jeffery Rush's (who played Henslowe) role as David in "Shine" (1996) who also says the same line many times. See more...

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Movie Mistakes blog

Shakespeare in Love (1998) - 5 questions

Directed by John Madden, starring Geoffrey Rush, Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson (add more)

Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance

The "questions" section is for any random questions that occurred to you while watching this film, or anything you didn't entirely understand, and which Google or the IMDb can't help with. Submit them as a question, and hopefully someone will answer (the bold comments in brackets) - check back regularly. If the answer is wrong, or missing information, please use the "clarify answer" option. Don't feel limited - want to know what music played in a certain scene? Whether this was the first film to use a certain effect? Here's the place to ask!

Questions

Question: How did Will not recognise Viloa in her boy disguise? Even in disguise, you can clearly see it's her, and she didn't sound like a boy.

Answer: In real life, Viola, of course, would be recognized as a female in disguise. However, in literature, film, opera, etc, it often is necessary to employ what is known as a "suspension of disbelief." That is, the author expects the reader or audience to know something is impossible, unlikely, or completely unreal, but they have to accept a certain premise in order to allow the plot to unfold. We go along with the idea that no one realizes Viola is actually a woman, so that we can enjoy the overall story.

Edit Answered by raywest

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Question: At what point does Will actually realise that Thomas Kent is really Viola?

Answer: When they are in the boat, just after "Thomas Kent" delivered Viola's farewell letter to Shakespeare. After a brief discussion about Will's feeling's for Viola, Thomas (Viola) kisses a surprised Will Shakespeare, then rushes away when the boat docks. The ferryman comments to Will that it was actually Lady Viola.

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Question: The scene when Wessex thinks that Shakespeare is dead, but he then comes into the church and Wessex thinks he is a ghost come to haunt him, seems like the scene in Shakespeare's play Macbeth when Macbeth sees Banquo's ghost. Is this another example by the film-makers of showing how Shakespeare's life inspired his plays, or just a coincidence? Was Macbeth written before or after this film was set? Thanks.

Answer: Oh, it's undoubtedly intentional, another of the many nods to Shakespeare's work scattered throughout the film. The precise date of authorship of Macbeth is unclear, but even the earliest likely date is still some years after the setting of the film.

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Question: When Will is on the boat with Viola, he begins a speech "Love knows nothing of rank or riverbank." Is this from one of Shakespeare's actual plays, or was it just written for the movie?

Answer: It was just written for the movie.

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Question: Why is Rupert Everett not credited? His part certainly merits it.

Answer: Actors, on occasions, choose not to be credited - generally if they're appearing in a relatively small role, one smaller than you'd generally expect that person to play.

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