Much Ado About Nothing (1993 Film) - Cast and Characters

Cast and Characters

• Kenneth Branagh as Benedick, a nobleman in the court of Don Pedro. He is very arrogant but shows himself to have a good character during the "wedding" scene, as he is the only man from Don Pedro's entourage who implicitly believes Hero. His pride and arrogance make his relationship with Beatrice a tumultuous one, but at the end of the film, Beatrice and Benedick agree to marry.
• Keanu Reeves as Don John, Don Pedro's evil half brother; his dissatisfaction with his own lot in life leads to his attempts to foil the happiness of his perceived enemies. He conspires with his men Borachio and Conrade to ruin Hero and Claudio's wedding by impugning Hero's honor. When his plot is found out, he attempts to escape but is captured and imprisoned.
• Denzel Washington as Don Pedro of Aragon; remarkable for being one of the few "marriageable" men in the piece who does not get married by the end of the play, though he does play matchmaker for others. In the second act, when he and Beatrice are alone, he quietly asks her, "will you have me, lady?", revealing his true feelings for her. Beatrice gently rebuffs his proposal, and the two remain friends. He believes, with Claudio, in Hero's alleged infidelity, but is likewise earnestly sorry when he learns the truth.
• Emma Thompson as Beatrice, Leonato's niece, and Hero's cousin and chamber-mate. She is a strong-willed woman who charms and beguiles all who know her (even Benedick eventually) with her wit and cleverness. Beatrice believes from the beginning that her cousin Hero has never been unfaithful to Claudio. Unable to challenge Claudio herself, she impels Benedick to challenge him in order to prove his love for her. Despite all her prickly speech, in Benedick she finds a man who is worthy of her intellect and good humor and in the end agrees to marry him.
• Richard Briers as Governor Leonato, the father of Hero. He loves his daughter but upon hearing the false news that she was being unfaithful to Claudio, he wishes she had never been born if that would mean that he would be spared the pain of her disgrace. He eventually listens to the Friar's counsel and becomes party to the plot of saying that Hero has died in order to test Claudio's remorse over his humiliation of Hero, and finally reuniting the two young lovers in the last act.
• Michael Keaton as Dogberry, the local constable. He is not half so clever as he thinks he is and specializes in malapropisms. He solves crimes and misdeeds accidentally, never by cleverness. He and his men accidentally catch Borachio boasting about his involvement with separating Claudio and Hero. His men arrest Borachio and his conspiring friends. He ultimately saves the day by forcing Borachio to confess his part in Don John's plot to Leonato.
• Robert Sean Leonard as Claudio, a close friend of Don Pedro and Benedick, and fiancé to Hero, with whom he has been in love since before the men went to war. He does not believe Hero when she protests her innocence, and humiliates her by publicly casting her off during their wedding ceremony. When Borachio finally confesses and Hero's innocence becomes clear, Claudio is devastated over his part in her "death" (as Hero's father leads him to believe). He agrees to marry Hero's cousin at Leonato's request, and is reunited with his love when it is revealed that "sweet Hero" is still alive and now his bride in truth.
• Kate Beckinsale as Hero, the sweet, innocent only child of Governor Leonato, in love with Claudio. She is falsely accused of being unfaithful to Claudio on the night before her wedding. At the end of the play, Don John's plot against her and Claudio is revealed and they are happily married as was planned in the beginning.
• Brian Blessed as Antonio, the brother of Leonato and Beatrice's father. He is very good-natured, but is deeply aggrieved by the accusations leveled against his niece.
• Imelda Staunton as Margaret, Hero's rather worldly waiting gentlewoman who is tricked by Borachio, and mistaken for Hero by the Don Pedro and Claudio.
• Phyllida Law as Ursula, Hero's other waiting gentlewoman.