Grand Theft Hamlet

2024 1h 31m EN

👍

6.5

SOLID

★6.5TMDB · 67

AnimationDocumentary

Synopsis

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Two unemployed friends have a fresh idea: they want to stage Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' in Grand Theft Auto. But even in a virtual world, reality intrudes in a wild and trippy film shot entirely inside the ultra-violent video game.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Sam Crane
Hamlet (voice)
Pinny Grylls
Filmmaker (voice)
Jen Cohn
Horatio (voice)
Tilly Steele
Ophelia (voice)
Dipo Ola
Laertes (voice)
Mark Oosterveen
Polonius (voice)
Gareth Turkington
Claudius (voice)
Lizzie Wofford
Gertrude (voice)

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Sam Crane
Writers: Pinny Grylls, Sam Crane
Languages: Arabic, Spanish, English
Countries: United Kingdom, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.2M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 2 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: Arabic, Spanish, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Sam Crane, shot by Pinny Grylls. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Original score by Jamie Perera. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Pinny Grylls shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Sam Crane and Pinny Grylls and Jen Cohn carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Sam Crane directs. Pinny Grylls behind the camera. Jamie Perera scores. Pinny Grylls cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United Kingdom, United States of America. Dialogue in Arabic, Spanish, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $0.2M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Released 2 years ago.
3Dialogue crosses 3 languages: Arabic, Spanish, English.
4International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America.
5Directed by Sam Crane, shot by Pinny Grylls. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Jamie Perera. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Pinny Grylls shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Sam Crane and Pinny Grylls and Jen Cohn carry the top of the cast.
9IMDB entry: tt28244549 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Only 67 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Pinny Grylls
Original score: Jamie Perera
Editing: Pinny Grylls
Runtime: 91 min · 1h 31m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $200,000
Box office: $211,734
Return: 106% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Grand Theft Hamlet (2024)

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2024-12-07
★ 7/10
Lockdown played havoc with so many lives, but professionally none more so than those in the entertainment industry. With theatres and cinemas all closed, their livelihoods dried up and a serious degree of ennui crept in to their day to day lives. One escape from that was "Grand Theft Auto" and that's where we meet jobbing actors Sam Crane and Mark Oosterveen. Two forty-somethings who were dealing with this situation by shooting as many folks as they could online. The former lives with Pinny and has a couple of kids, the latter lives on his own and is struggling to find some sort of motivation. It's whilst playing the game one day that they find an outdoor auditorium and hit on the idea of performing "Hamlet" there. Swiftly they realise that standing on the stage belting out the best of the bard is only going to get their characters shot, then that two folks aren't going to be able to cover all the roles - so they embark on a project to recruit other players to fill the roles. What now ensues sees these men introduced to some serious would-be Thespians, some folks who think he wrote "Harry Potter" and some generally eclectic characters who all decide that this can be done after all. I'm not sure Shakespeare could ever have envisaged his play being put on using warplanes or giant blimps whilst the actors faced real peril (though I am sure we've all seen plays on stage where that might have been a benefit!) but as the two men start to become more absorbed with there mission it starts to become just as compelling to watch. Can they do it? How is their obsession impacting on their "real" lives? I have never played GTA in my life so was a little apprehensive that not knowing the game might impact on my enjoyment. It didn't at all, indeed that proved quite a fun template for their scenario as the mix of characters they encountered showed quite clearly that these men were not the only ones adrift in a closed-down world. As you'd expect, it is a quickly paced affair and I thought well worth and hour and a half.
tender_buttkiss2025-12-01
★ 6/10
A weird little time capsule movie for a weird time in history, when a global pandemic forced us into lockdown and for some, this became an opportunity to create. Going into this, I thought I'd be seeing something much more different than the end product, and I couldn't help but feel a bit let down with the actual performance of the play. Felt like it was jumping around and just showing the highlights. Maybe that's for the best. But it is an interesting and ambitious idea, trying go crowd source a Shakespeare production with people playing characters in a digital world. Genuinely teared up at bits too.