Shot entirely within the world of Grand Theft Auto Online, Grand Theft Hamlet is a documentary created during the COVID-19 lockdown by out-of-work actor Sam Crane and his wife, Pinny Grylls. The film follows Crane and his friend Mark as they attempt to stage a production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet within the game, casting players they meet in GTA Online.
The documentary had its world premiere at the 2024 SXSW Festival, where it won the Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature. It was also screened at the 2024 Melbourne International Film Festival and the 68th BFI London Film Festival.
Release Date
Directed by Pinny Grylls and Sam Crane, Grand Theft Hamlet opens in select US theaters on January 17, 2025.
Synopsis
With theaters shut during the COVID-19 pandemic, two jobless actors, Sam and Mark, are uncertain about their futures—finding solace in the virtual chaos of Grand Theft Auto Online. Desperate for purpose, they decide to stage Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the ultra-violent world of their favorite game.
“I was looking for a way to do some kind of live performance that wasn’t on Zoom, because I had seen a lot of that and it was just so soul-destroying,” says co-director Sam Crane in an interview with IndieWire. “And then when I discovered this world of ‘Grand Theft Auto’ I just had this sort of instinct. It just seemed so live and dramatic and theatrical and weirdly, really appropriate for doing Shakespeare.”
Reviews
David Ehrlich in an IndieWire review gave the film a B+, writing, “A documentary that returns Shakespeare to his rightful place at the intersection between high and low art, and restores a palpable sense of danger to one of the stalest but still most exciting English-language plays ever written.”
Siddhant Adlakha in a Mashable review also praised the film, writing, “Riotously funny and surprisingly moving. A unique synthesis of form, it creatively tackles the topic of artistic frustrations while reflecting on mortality in the silliest possible ways.”
Official Trailer
Watch the official trailer for Grand Theft Hamlet.