Much Ado About Nothing modern-day studios of Wessex Tonight, a fictional regional news programme, as part of the "ShakespeaRe-Told" season, with Damian Lewis, Sarah Parish, and Billie Piper. The first cinematic version in English may have been the 1913 silent film directed by Phillips Smalley. Martin Hellberg's 1964 East German film Viel Lärm um nichts was based on the Shakespeare play. In 1973 a Soviet film adaptation was directed by Samson Samsonov which starred Galina Jovovich and Konstantin Raikin. The first sound version in English released to cinemas was the highly acclaimed 1993 film by Kenneth Branagh. It starred Branagh as Benedick, Branagh's then-wife
Much Ado About Nothing (2012 film) just sort of dark". Whedon's idea to adapt the play for the screen originated from having "Shakespeare readings" at his house with several of his friends, years prior. Whedon and his director of photography Jay Hunter took advantage of natural lighting in order to make it feel "very found", noting, "Our lighting package rose in the east and set in the west". Using mirrors, glass and windows to shoot through, he explains, "[It’s] something I’d like to do all the time, but particularly in a movie that’s all about lies, and manipulation and misunderstandings. The more you can warp the