''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a 2017 film adaptation of the play ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a Comedy (drama), comedy play written by William Shakespeare in about 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One s ...

'' by

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

. The film is a modern rendition that relocates the story from ancient Athens to present-day Los Angeles.

Plot

The film follows the original play but is set in modern-day Los Angeles. Because of this, the film has minute changes to suit the new setting. Among them is the "rude mechanicals" who are depicted as filmmakers. Quince is now female and a romantic subplot is added between her and Nick Bottom. Duke Theseus is now a film producer with implied connections to the criminal underworld. The fairies are implied to be forest bohemians, though they still possess magic. Nick Bottom's transformation into an ass is taken quite literally in this version with his face turning into a butt, complete with fart noises. While the film retains the original Shakespearian dialogue, it will occasionally add new dialogue, some of which reference Shakespeare's other works, for humorous effect.

Cast

Lily Rabe Lily Rabe (born June 29, 1982) is an American actress. She is best known for her multiple roles on the FX anthology horror series ''American Horror Story'' (2011–2021). For her performance as Portia in the Broadway production of ''The Merchant ...

Helena Helena may refer to: People *Helena (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Katri Helena (born 1945), Finnish singer * Saint Helena (disambiguation), this includes places Places Greece * Helena ...

Hamish Linklater Hamish Linklater (born July 7, 1976) is an American actor and playwright. He is known for playing Matthew Kimble in '' The New Adventures of Old Christine'' (2006–2010), Andrew Keanelly in '' The Crazy Ones'' (2013–2014), and Clark Debussy i ...

Lysander Lysander (; ; 454 BC – 395 BC) was a Spartan military and political leader. He destroyed the Athenian fleet at the Battle of Aegospotami in 405 BC, forcing Athens to capitulate and bringing the Peloponnesian War to an end. He then played ...

Finn Wittrock Peter L. Wittrock Jr. (born October 28, 1984), known professionally as Finn Wittrock, is an American actor who began his career in guest roles on several television shows. He made his film debut in 2004, in '' Halloweentown High'' before returning ...

Demetrius Demetrius is the Latinization of names, Latinized form of the Ancient Greek male name, male Greek given names, given name ''Dēmḗtrios'' (), meaning "devoted to goddess Demeter". Alternate forms include Demetrios, Dimitrios, Dimitris, Dmytro, ...

Rachael Leigh Cook Rachael Leigh Cook (born October 4, 1979) is an American actress and model. She has starred in the films ''The Baby-Sitters Club (film), The Baby-Sitters Club'' (1995), ''She's All That'' (1999), and ''Josie and the Pussycats (film), Josie and ...

Hermia Hermia is a fictional character from Shakespeare's play, ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''. She is a girl of ancient Athens named for Hermes, the Greek god of trade. Overview Hermia is caught in a romantic entanglement where she loves one man, Lysan ...

Fran Kranz Francis Elliott Kranz is an American actor and film director. He is known for his portrayal of Topher Brink in the science fiction drama series ''Dollhouse''. Kranz had prominent roles in the films ''The Cabin in the Woods'' and ''Much Ado About ...

as Bottom *

Avan Jogia Avan Tudor Jogia (; born February 9, 1992) is a Canadian actor, singer, author and director. He first received recognition for portraying Danny Araujo in the television film '' A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story'' (2006). After moving to the ...

as Puck *

Ted Levine Frank Theodore Levine (born May 29, 1957) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Jame Gumb (Buffalo Bill) in the film '' The Silence of the Lambs'' (1991) and Leland Stottlemeyer in the television series ''Monk'' (2002–2009 ...

as Duke

Theseus Theseus (, ; ) was a divine hero in Greek mythology, famous for slaying the Minotaur. The myths surrounding Theseus, his journeys, exploits, and friends, have provided material for storytelling throughout the ages. Theseus is sometimes desc ...

Paz De La Huerta María de la Paz Elizabeth Sofía Adriana de la Huerta y Bruce (born September 3, 1984), known professionally as Paz de la Huerta (), is an American actress, model, and painter. She began her career as a teenage model before appearing in suppor ...

Hippolyta In Greek mythology, Hippolyta, or Hippolyte (; ''Hippolytē''), was a daughter of Ares and Otrera,Hyginus, ''Fabulae'', 30 queen of the Amazons, and a sister of Antiope and Melanippe. She wore her father Ares' ''zoster'', the Greek word foun ...

Saul Williams Saul Stacey Williams (born February 29, 1972) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, musician, poet, writer, and actor. He is known for his blend of poetry and alternative hip hop, and for his lead roles in the 1998 independent film ''Slam ( ...

Oberon Oberon () is a king of the fairy, fairies in Middle Ages, medieval and Renaissance literature. He is best known as a character in William Shakespeare's play ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', in which he is King of the Fairies and spouse of Titania ...

Mia Doi Todd Mia Doi Todd (born June 30, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter. She was described by ''Dusted Magazine'' as "one of those artists that seem to function not just as creators in their own right, but as connecting links between other musicians." ...

as Titania * Charity Wakefield as

Quince The quince (; ''Cydonia oblonga'') is the sole member of the genus ''Cydonia'' in the Malinae subtribe (which contains apples, pears, and other fruits) of the Rosaceae family. It is a deciduous tree that bears hard, aromatic bright golden-yel ...

Charlie Carver Charles Carver Martensen (born July 31, 1988) is an American actor. His better known roles include Porter Scavo on the ABC television series ''Desperate Housewives'' (2008–2012), Ethan on the MTV television series ''Teen Wolf'' (2013–2014, ...

Snout A snout is the protruding portion of an animal's face, consisting of its nose, mouth, and jaw. In many animals, the structure is called a muzzle, Rostrum (anatomy), rostrum, beak or proboscis. The wet furless surface around the nostrils of the n ...

Max Carver Max Carver (born Robert Maxwell Martensen Jr; August 1, 1988) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Preston Scavo in the ABC television series ''Desperate Housewives'' (2008–2012), as Aiden on the MTV teen-horror drama ''Teen Wolf ...

as Snug *

Justine Lupe Justine Lupe-Schomp (born May 31, 1989"Sunday Horoscope: Birthday Star"< ...

Flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

Production

The film was adapted for the screen and directed by Casey Wilder Mott. The production companies were 5B Productions and Empyrean Pictures. The film's original soundtrack, composed by Mia Doi Todd, features guest appearances by

Tunde Adebimpe Babatunde Omoroga Adebimpe (; born February 25, 1975) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor. He is best known as a founding member and co-lead vocalist of the Brooklyn-based band TV on the Radio, with whom he has recorded five st ...

Cut Chemist Lucas MacFadden (born October 4, 1972), better known as Cut Chemist, is an American DJ and record producer. He is a former member of Jurassic 5 and Ozomatli. He has collaborated with DJ Shadow on a number of projects. Early life Cut Chemist gr ...

Dntel James Scott Tamborello, (born 1975) also known by his stage name Dntel , is an American electronic music artist and DJ. Aside from his main solo project, Tamborello is also known as a member of the groups The Postal Service, Headset, Strictl ...

Miguel Atwood-Ferguson Miguel Atwood-Ferguson (born May 3, 1980) is an American multi-instrumentalist, session musician, arranger, composer, music director, producer, DJ, orchestral conductor and educator. He has contributed to over 500 recordings and scored for televi ...

Dungen Dungen ("the grove", ) is a Swedish rock band based in Stockholm. Often classified as psychedelic rock, Dungen is also influenced by Swedish (and other) folk music, classic rock, progressive rock, garage rock and alternative rock. The band ...

, and others.

Release and reception

''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' premiered at the

Los Angeles Film Festival The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episodi ...

in June 2017, where it received positive reviews. The film was acquired for a theatrical release by

Brainstorm Media Brainstorm Media is a full service American film distributor and production company based in Los Angeles, California. The company was founded in 1995. In 2014 Brainstorm Media partnered with the North American home video company Shout Factory ...

and played at

Landmark Theatres Landmark Theatres is a movie theatre chain founded in 1974 in the United States. It was formerly dedicated to exhibiting and marketing independent and foreign films. Landmark consists of 34 theatres with 176 screens in 24 markets. It is known ...

and other venues nationwide in the summer of 2018. The film received generally positive reviews upon its theatrical opening. On

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, it holds an approval rating of 65%, based on 17 reviews with an average rating of 6.4/10.

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

gives the film a weighted average score of 67 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Midsummer Night's Dream 2017 romantic comedy films 2017 films American romantic comedy films American romantic fantasy films Films about Hollywood, Los Angeles Films based on A Midsummer Night's Dream Films set in Los Angeles 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language romantic comedy films