{"id":1168200,"date":"2026-08-25T08:16:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T08:16:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1168200\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T08:16:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T08:16:28","slug":"how-the-1993-movie-michael-keaton-nearly-refused-became-his-best","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1168200\/","title":{"rendered":"How the 1993 movie Michael Keaton nearly refused became his best"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Michael<\/p>\n

Credit: Far Out \/ YouTube Still<\/p>\n

Tue 25 August 2026 5:00, UK <\/p>\n

Michael Keaton<\/a> can be stubborn when he wants to be, but it\u2019s only because he has spent a career fighting for the best. <\/p>\n

Whether he has been saving the world as Batman or more recently drugged up on Dopesick, the usual gamut of his roles takes on something of a darkness, a sinister edge, a powerful streak that he can\u2019t help but indulge in time and time again when he makes an appearance on screen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the other end of that spectrum was a romantic comedy romp where the actors got to flounce about in ruffs and enunciate in the floweriest language you could ever imagine\u2026 In other words, it was the 1993 film adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing, and even though Keaton clearly wanted his classic actor status<\/a>, he still needed a bit of convincing when it came to Shakespeare.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Amid a stacked cast that included the likes of Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Denzel Washington, and Keanu Reeves, Keaton perhaps was billed a little further down the call sheet than he might have liked in his role as the local constable Dogberry \u2013 to be fair, not many would probably relish being seen as a bit thick, as the character was.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, as much as the actor arrived on the set with his guard up<\/a>, he left an entirely new man. \u201cThat\u2019s a movie where I said, \u2018I can\u2019t do this,\u2019 and it ended up being probably one of my top five experiences ever,\u201d he recalled in a 2011 interview. His initial concerns were at least understandable: Shakespeare is inaccessible at the best of times, let alone when you\u2019ve not got a clue how to speak his language.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But in the end, Keaton came off all the better for keeping an open mind, despite admitting that \u201cI didn\u2019t really know what to do\u201d in the first instance\u2026 However, he hailed Branagh, who both led the cast and sat in the director\u2019s chair, for the fact that he \u201cdidn\u2019t get scared off by my unorthodox approach, he embraced it and was really hands-on, thankfully.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even still, it sometimes felt as though aliens had landed in the heart of 16th-century Renaissance Italy<\/a>. It was literally like acting in another language. I had taken maybe one two-day Shakespearean class in my life, so I had no knowledge,\u201d Keaton said, but in that sense, he also had no choice but to throw himself straight in the deep end.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Further reading: Cutting Room Floor<\/strong><\/p>\n

As such, you could imagine it being a far more fulfilling shoot than just sitting in a trailer all day, in a nameless site in the middle of nowhere, before you get trotted out to film a couple of meaningless and banal scenes. There was actually a learning process and a life enrichment to be had on Much Ado About Nothing \u2013 who\u2019d have thought it?<\/p>\n

For Keaton\u2019s part, he came away from that film with a much more profound appreciation for the acting craft, not to mention a far greater understanding of The Bard\u2019s lingo than he ever did before. It changed his life and career in ways he couldn\u2019t have predicted when he first began, but just don\u2019t make him wear one of those stupid ruffs ever again.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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