Fun_People Archive
8 Apr
Gilligan's Tempest

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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Thu,  8 Apr 99 17:26:55 -0700
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Subject: Gilligan's Tempest

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	'Gilligan Meets The Bard?'

	by Felix Culpa, Entertainment Weekly

Los Angeles-Joining the latest batch of Hollywood Shakespearean adaptations
is the latest offering from Touchstone Films: "Gilligan's Tempest," starring
Jim Carrey in the role of Gilligan/Caliban.

The screenplay combines Shakespeare's timeless tale of castaways on an
island off the coast of Bohemia with the beloved television sitcom
"Gilligan's Island."

Joining Carrey will be an all-star cast.  Academy-award winner Ernest
Borgnine will play The Skipper/Gonzalo, Walter Matthau will appear as
millionaire Thurston Howell III/Alonso, King of Naples, and Monty Python
veteran John Cleese will play The Professor/Prospero.  Ginger Grant/Ariel
will be played by Julia Roberts, Mrs. Howell/Sycorax by Dame Judy Dench,
and Mary Ann/Miranda by Christine Ricci.

'Gilligan's Tempest' was filmed on Marlon Brando's private island in the
South Pacific, fueling rumors that the reclusive star has a cameo role in
the film as Don Antonio, Duke of Sicily.  The producers of the film,
however, would neither confirm nor deny this report, but did reveal that
the part of Trinculo the jester would be brought to the screen by Roberto
Benigni.

Adapted for the screen by David Mamet, Neil Simon, and Tom Stoppard, the
film already has generated serious Oscar buzz for Best Screenplay Adapted
from an Old TV Show.

At an advanced screening at the Belgrade Film Festival last weekend,
audiences howled in delight at Carrey's hilarious attempts to get out of
having to haul firewood for The Professor.  Glancing at an infamous bit from
his Ace Ventura, Pet Detective films, Carrey's Gilligan/Caliban speaks these
lines from his buttocks: "You taught me language, and my profit on't is I
know how to curse. Pbbbbtttt!"

A musical interlude during the wedding masque scene also delighted the
audience, as the cast of Baywatch, taking the roles of "certain nymphs and
reapers," gyrate wantonly to a song written especially for the film by
Madonna.  The song, "The End of Our Revels," is already receiving extensive
airplay on Los Angeles radio and appears destined to become a whopping big
smash hit.

"If you loved 'Shakespeare in Love,' you'll very likely want to see
'Gilligan's Tempest' eight or nine times,' promises director George Lucas.
"And then buy the action figures, trading cards, breakfast cereals, and
Cliffs Notes," he adds with a wink.

  Peter M. McCluskey <pmcclusk@uno.edu>
  Department of English, University of New Orleans

© 1999 Peter Langston