Laertes

Yeah, I had the craziest pull.

Laertes in this film.

Is a dead ringer for young Norm Macdonald.

That's the brother? That's Ophelia's brother? Dead ringer.

Yes.

This is a dead fucking ringer.

Pull up Laertes and Hamlin, 1948.

Yeah.

Prince Hamlet of Denmark is devastated.

his father the king dies and his mother queen gertrude hastily marries his uncle claudius as you do who seizes the throne uh hamlet's ghost uh the fire hamlet's father's ghost appears reveals claudius murdered him hamlet feigns madness and struggles with deep indecision as he plots his revenge uh is a huge trigger of a chain of events including the killing of polonius the mental breakdown and death of his girlfriend ophelia the And then the fencing duel in which Gertrude, Laertes, Claudius, and Hamlet all perish, leaving just Fortinbras to take the Danish crown.

Ah, thrilling.

Yeah.

Hamlet, his father has died violently.

Laertes, his father dies violently.

Fortinbras, whose father was killed by Hamlet's father.

Three young men without parental guidance, without a father to guide them.

And then I saw a film production when I was 18 with Anthony Hopkins and Marianne Faithfull, and it was just, it knocked me out.

So I was already really in love with it.

And I didn't make the connection, oh, wait a minute, I'm sort of just like Hamlet and Fortinbras and Laertes.

That came fairly recently.

I got into the ensemble, but doing that was great.

There I am in the ensemble during the summer and I'm understudying John Lithgow, who's playing Laertes in the production of Hamlet with Sam Waterston was Hamlet and Laertes was John Lithgow.

And there I am in the ensemble, you know, watching these guys and being an understudy and all that.

But, you know, it's now it's it's much, much more accessible, the professional world to the kids that are there.

I'm lately fascinated by Polonius because I think the notion that he's just a bumbling old man defeats a lot that's said in the play.

And and I think it defeats the idea that both Laertes and Ophelia love him.

and he holds a very prestigious position in court.

Whether he should or not, we can get into a discussion of that, but he does.

I think we're going to start to see a picture of Ophelia, and I urge you all to watch as she moves forth.

She's talked to her brother, and she's promised to keep that conversation with them quiet.

I go back to that scene with Laertes, and I still think Laertes determined to stay.

He said goodbye to the father, but he came back to tell her about Hamlet.