Trivia / Ophelia

• Acting for Two: Naomi Watts plays both Queen Gertrude and Mechtild who are revealed to be twins, making it a case of Playing Their Own Twin.
• Billing Displacement: In the initial end credits, Tom Felton gets billed fourth after Daisy Ridley, Naomi Watts and George MacKay, even getting billed ahead of Clive Owen, who is playing the film's main antagonist. Laertes actually has quite a small role in the film until the final half-hour and is almost entirely absent in the second act. Dominic Mafham (Polonius) and Devon Terrell (Horatio) have more screentime than Felton but are still billed further down; presumably this is due to Felton being a more well-known actor.
• California Doubling: Much of the film was shot in the Czech Republic due to the abundance of historical buildings; Krivoklat Castle stood in for Elsinore Castle (known as Kronborg Castle in real life), with some of the castle's interiors being sets built on a soundstage.
• Creator Backlash: Daisy Ridley admitted she was initially upset by the film's lukewarm reception (especially as it was her first lead role outside of Star Wars) and didn't much care for the cut of the film shown at the Sundance Film Festival. However, she had a much more positive reaction to the film's final cut.
• Dawson Casting: Ophelia's exact age is never stated, although it's strongly implied she's in her late teens (multiple characters reference the fact she's recently come of age and/or still refer to her as a "girl"), while Daisy Ridley was twenty-five years old when she filmed the movie.
• Deleted Scene:
  • There's an extended sequence of young Ophelia and her family arriving at their new home in Elsinore.
  • While sitting with Gertrude and her ladies, Ophelia gazes out the window and sings to herself, apparently daydreaming about Hamlet. Gertrude knowingly remarks that Ophelia has a secret; she then pulls Ophelia up to dance with her, joined by the some of the other ladies.
  • There was originally a nighttime scene between Hamlet and Ophelia taking place after they had slept together, while in the final cut it skips ahead to the next morning. Ophelia wakes to see Hamlet coming back into the room, looking disturbed. He tells her he saw his father's ghost, who told him that the 'snake' that killed him was actually Claudius before beseeching him to avenge his murder. Ophelia comforts Hamlet and tries to reassure him it was only a dream. This scene is directly based upon a scene that occurred in the play, where Hamlet visited Ophelia in a distressed and dishevelled state after seeing his father's ghost, although it is only described by Ophelia after the fact.
  • Cristiana gossips with the other ladies that it's rumored Hamlet's strange behavior is due to being spurned romantically by a peasant girl; she then cautions Ophelia against being too close to Hamlet, as there are rumors of treason.
  • There's an alternate version of Ophelia and Polonius' last conversation, which is shorter and more hostile than the one in the finished film; Polonius drags Ophelia to her room and angrily states she "should've been married long since", slamming the door shut while she tearfully pleads with him.
  • Ophelia's Heroic BSoD was originally longer and more heavily involved Gertrude and Claudius; while out riding with Claudius and some courtiers, Gertrude sees Ophelia sitting by the river, crying and talking to herself. Gertrude attempts to speak with her, but she doesn't acknowledge her and Gertrude expresses concern Ophelia has become unhinged by her father's death (unbeknownst to Gertrude, she's also grieving the supposed death of Hamlet). Claudius dismissively states that madness is becoming an "all-too common malady" and rides off; after briefly looking back at Ophelia, Gertrude follows him.
• Enforced Method Acting: Daisy Ridley stated in an interview with Vulture that during Gertrude's tirade against Ophelia, Naomi Watts really did slap her face.
  Ridley: That was a real slap! I do remember being like, "Oh my god." Heat of the moment and all. That was an intense scene in general. In between, I was just quietly weeping in a corner. [Laughs]
• Fake Nationality: None of the main characters are played by Danish actors; in fact, most of them are British. Devon Terrell, who plays Horatio, is American-Australian but uses an English accent.
• Hey, It's That Place!: A lot of the film was shot in Czechia's Krivoklat Castle, standing in as Elsinore Castle; Krivoklat Castle has been previously featured in several other productions, notably including The Brothers Grimm, Wanted and Borgia.
• Playing Against Type: Tom Felton is generally known for playing malicious, snobby Rich Jerks, similar to his most famous role as Draco Malfoy. Here he plays Laertes, a Nice Guy of modest origins who is largely defined by his love for his family, especially his little sister.
• Playing with Character Type: Naomi Watts tends to play long-suffering woobies who show Mama Bear traits towards younger or more helpless characters. Gertrude and Mechtild both have woobie qualities and go through a lot of suffering, yet also inflict suffering on others out of bitterness or thoughtlessness. Gertrude also tends to put herself above her son and surrogate daughter, although she finally starts defending them towards the end. Gertrude is also more needy and immature compared to many of Watts' other roles.
• Promoted Fangirl: Of a sort; Daisy Ridley is a fan of Harry Potter and got to appear alongside Harry Potter star Tom Felton in this film. Felton told an interviewer he initially thought Ridley didn't like him because she was very quiet around him, but that they eventually warmed up to each other. Felton speculated she might've been a bit starstruck to be working alongside him.
  Felton: I think she was just freaking out that Draco was her brother.
• Prop Recycling: The pale gown Naomi Watts wears in Queen Gertrude's final scene has been used in two previous productions (albeit heavily altered here); it was originally worn by Sophia Myles as Isolde in Tristan and Isolde, then worn by Gaia Weiss as Þorunn in Season 3 of Vikings.
• Saved from Development Hell: According to Lisa Klein, author of the YA novel the film is based upon, the movie rights were first optioned when the book was published in 2006, but it took nearly ten years for it to be greenlit. Klein stated that one of the biggest issues was that multiple directors signed on then dropped out, before Claire McCarthy took the reins.
• The Shelf of Movie Languishment: Principal production was completed on July 6th 2017 and the film premiered at Sundance on 22nd January 2018, but it didn't receive a theatrical release until June 28th 2019, over a year after the premiere. It apparently took a while to find distributors; it didn't get a UK distributor until mid-August 2019 (nearly two months after the US).
• Spoiled by the Cast List: The announced cast-list, as well as production stills of the character, spoiled the twist that Mechtild is the twin sister of Gertrude, seeing as they're both played by Naomi Watts.

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