Shakespeare in Film Unsurprisingly, given his stature as one of the greatest writers in the English language, William Shakespeare (1564-1616) has directly or indirectly inspired a huge number of films. We will look at some well-known like West Side Story (based on Romeo & Juliet), The Lion King (based on Hamlet), and Forbidden Planet (based on The Tempest), among others, and some not so well known in addition to countless film adaptations of classics like Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice, Henry V, and most recently The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)