Iron Man 3 and Shakespeare

Everything I do is in some way linked back to Shakespeare,” says Ben Kingsley, he of the Royal Shakespeare Company who also happens to be the most recent Iron Man villain, Mandarin.

I love his loyalty.  If you think he’s kidding, check out this 2010 interview when he played the villain in the videogame movie “Prince of Persia”:

I serve Nizam as if Nizam was written by Shakespeare and he was called Richard III. “Why waste my time trivializing a character or a film?” he continued, now fully engaged, his voice smooth and mellifluous. “If I trivialize it, it’s going to spoil three, four, five months of my life. Instead, I consciously think to myself, ‘Aim high, aim very high with Nizam. If the kids are going to come and watch it, let them see Richard IIIfrom Shakespeare. That will make them go, ‘Wow.’ Don’t give them a Punch and Judy show villain.

I don’t know what Mr. Kingsley’s final resting plans may be but I think that he should seriously consider having, “If the kids are going to come and watch it, let them see Shakespeare.  That will make them go, ‘Wow’” inscribed on his tombstone. While it might be true that the man seems to take any job where the check clears, we can look at it more positively when we think that he’s bringing Shakespeare into everything he does.

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2 thoughts on “Iron Man 3 and Shakespeare

  1. Just saw and loved his performance in Iron man 3 last night. Like the man says he earns each paycheck/que as if it were shakespeare. The irony of him playing a player as front man, more properly debauched and corrupt, than Will Shagsbirds in Anonymous.

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