In 1593 London, William Shakespeare is a sometime player in the Lord Chamberlain's Men and playwright for Philip Henslowe, owner of The Rose Theatre. Suffering from writer's block with … See more

• Joseph Fiennes as William Shakespeare
• Gwyneth Paltrow as Viola de Lesseps
• Geoffrey Rush as Philip Henslowe
• Colin Firth as … See more

The original idea for Shakespeare in Love was suggested to screenwriter Marc Norman in the late 1980s by his son Zachary. Norman wrote a draft screenplay which he presented to director Edward Zwick, which attracted Julia Roberts, who agreed to play … See more

Much of the action of the film echoes that of Romeo and Juliet. Will and Viola play out the famous balcony and bedroom scenes; like Juliet, Viola has a witty nurse, and is separated from Will by a gulf of duty (although not the family enmity of the play: the "two … See more

After the film's release, certain publications, including Private Eye, noted strong similarities between the film and the 1941 novel No Bed for Bacon, by Caryl Brahms and S. J. Simon, which also features Shakespeare falling in love and finding inspiration … See more

The film is "not constrained by worries about literary or historical accuracy" and includes anachronisms such as a reference to Virginia tobacco plantations, at a time before the Colony of Virginia existed. A leading character is an Earl of Wessex, a title which in … See more

Box office
Shakespeare in Love was among 1999's box office number-one films in the United Kingdom. The U.S. and Canadian box office reached over $100 million and in the U.K. it grossed $34 million; including the box office from the … See more