Shakespeare seems to be everywhere.
He invented many familiar phrases. These include “too much of a good thing” (As You Like It), “pomp and circumstance” (Othello), and, in a way, “Knock, knock! Who’s there?” (Macbeth). Some writers get book titles from him: Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air are both lines from The Tempest. There are Shakespeare contests and Shakespeare gardens. There’s also an entire building, the Folger Shakespeare Library, filled with books by and about him. And, of course, there are the movies.
At the 1997 Academy Awards, English actor/director Kenneth Branagh said Shakespeare was the greatest storyteller ever to write for the movies. He was only partly joking. After the speech, the audience saw clips from dozens of movies. They weren’t all from serious films. Some were from Bugs Bunny and Popeye cartoons. Shakespeare didn’t write the hit movie Shakespeare in Love. Instead, he’s the star.
