Bottom Gets a Life: Michael Hoffman's Contribution to the Shakespeare Film Canon

Abstract

For writer/director Michael Hoffman, filming a big-screen version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream was a dream come true: Hoffman himself played Lysander in the Idaho Shakespearean Festival’s inaugural production; shortly thereafter, he studied renaissance drama as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, during which time he directed an acclaimed interpretation of the play there. Having subsequently directed such successful films as One Fine Day (1996), Restoration (1995), and Soapdish (1991), Hoffman’s return to Midsummer was inevitable.