Patrick Stewart is everything that you would expect from an evil, villanous Claudius in Gregory Doran's 2009 film. You are able to see thought Stewarts thin facade in Act 1 scene 2 where Claudius cannot even recall where Hamlet goes to school and Gertrude has to wisper it in his ear to remind him. In Act 3 scene 2, after the dumb show, Claudius slowly approaches Hamlet and silently shakes his head, with a gaze that could kill, before exiting the room. The peak of Patrick Stewart's villanous perfomance comes during Act 3 scene 3 after Hamlet see's him praying at the altar and leaves. Claudius stands up, look directly into the camera, and says the lines "My words fly up -- my thoughts remain below," all while looking positivley terrifying.
Hamlet Directed By Gregory Doran (2009)
Patrick Stewart as Claudius.
“Stewart's Claudius is a supremely composed, calculating killer: at the end of the play scene, instead of indulging in the usual hysterical panic, he simply strides over to Hamlet and pityingly shakes his head as if to say 'you've blown it now.'”
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"Stewart, too, deserves credit for his understated scary portrayal of Claudius. He is the chilling calm to Tennant's vivacity."
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"I have no reservations at all about Stewart, who delivers the strongest, scariest performance as Claudius I have seen. A modern tyrant in a surveillance state full of spies, informers and two-way mirrors in Doran's thriller-like production, he presents a façade of smiling, bespectacled geniality.It's so persuasive that it is easy to forget that he has murdered his brother to assume power. Yet there are sudden glimpses of steely danger - a moment when he creeps up on Gertrude for instance and you are not sure whether he is going to embrace or throttle her."
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