How is Richard III presented in the play and film?

Answer 1

It depends what you are talking about. Two notable films of Richard III have been made, one starring Lawrence Olivier and made in 1955 and the other starring Ian McKellen in 1995. Both of these films use the Shakespearean play as a text on which the screenplay was based, although both also include material from other authors. (Olivier includes some lines by Colley Cibber to bulk out his already bulky screenplay; McKellen, or rather Richard Loncraine his director, has a singer singing a poem by Christopher Marlowe). In both cases, the presentation of the character is consistent with the character written by Shakespeare, since the actor must base his interpretation on Shakespeare's lines.

Of course, Olivier's and McKellen's portrayals of Richard are different from each other, and each of them will be different from the portrayal of Richard in any particular stage production (except the stage productions on which those two films were based). But all portrayals, so long as they are based on Shakespeare's lines and not those written by someone else, will be consistent with the written play.