Brutus - Short Film (Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar)

All funds raised contribute towards expenses such as a filming license from the local town council, travel costs and props as well as a flat fee for all cast & crew.

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William Shakespeare was an anarchist.

A rabble-rousing swindler with a penchant for getting wasted, who spent his time around violent men who enjoyed violent delights (pub brawl, anyone?); he even got convicted for it.

Yet, again and again we are invited to witness sterilised reincarnations of 16th and 17th century theatre both upon the stage and screen. Old Bill’s words have been relegated to a small and typically wealthy stratum of modern society that prides itself on being the select few that both understand and engage with his works, or bored school children who can’t see any relevance that his works have on their lives. Yet the truth is that his plays were never meant for them. Shakespeare wrote for the underprivileged, the illiterate and the rebels of his day - for whom he encapsulated the emotions of the repressed and channeled them into his works; a fact rarely embraced by interpretations since.

My name is Wolf Beaumont and I am hoping to explore Shakespeare through the lens by which I believe the playwright intended, that of a modernist’s approach that embraces the masses. My hope is to emulate both the endearment of his audience with their classist struggle and the quintessential contemporaneousness imbued within many of his works. I’ve begun that journey with Julius Caesar, which as a short film I have adapted into Act 2, Scene 1 as a self-contained piece that will be filmed in Southend-on-Sea, Essex.

The film has been renamed from the play to reflect the protagonist of this piece, history’s infamous Brutus; with a plot that follows him through a sleepless night as he comes to terms with Julius’ ambitions to rule, what that means for Rome and what his duties must be as a loyal citizen of the republic he swore to defend.

The film is broken into 3 acts: Brutus brooding in a graveyard over the loss of his republic, leading to a confrontation and conspiratorial meeting with the gang he is a part of at the local pub, ending with a walk along a promenade as he consoles his wife, Portia over his withdrawal.

The film will be shot with a minimum number of shots and a fast style of dialogue, drawing inspiration from the works of Aaron Sorkin; with the modern visual reinterpretation an ode to Guy Richie’s ‘Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels’. Funding for this film will cover expenses such as travel and makeup as well as flat fees for the actors and crew.

This will be my third short film as a director, and my second working with Nikko Turner (assistant director), Alex Chalatsis (DoP), Tequila Louise Carter (MUA & Costume Dept.) & Cameron Uzoka (Gaffer), with our first film ‘Ellipis’, an original psychological horror, currently in post-production.

We are planning to shoot Brutus in the last week of September, 2022. Ultimately, our hope is to develop an anthology trilogy of multiple Shakespeare works, reinterpreted with the aforementioned philosophy - beginning with Julius Caesar, followed by Macbeth then Romeo & Juliet.

As film and theatre students at Royal Holloway University of London: Alex, Nikko and I are developing an exciting body of work over the coming academic year that launches with this project and we’re thrilled to be working with a professionally talented cast and crew with our principal thespian Darren Tassell leading the charge.

Cast

Brutus - Darren Tassell

Casca - Peter Irving

Cassius - Alex Reece

Cinna - Rico Morris

Decius - Cameron Uzoka

Metellus - Kim Gjersøe

Portia - Samantha Anderson

Trebonius - Toby Sauerback

Crew

Director - Wolf Beaumont

Assistant Director - Nikko Turner

Director of Photography - Alex Chalatsis

Producer & Makeup Artist - Tequila Carter

Gaffer - Cameron Uzoka

Boom Op & Sound Mixer - Matthew McGuiness

Camera & Production Assistant - Mitchell Burrows