English supermodel and actress Lily Cole has ambitions to play the iconic Shakespearean character Hamlet.
Cole spoke of her acting aspirations with Australia's leading Shakespearean actor John Bell during her recent trip Down Under as ambassador for fashion label G-Star Raw.
The pre-recorded interview is to be posted online at www.bellshakespeare.com.au later this week to celebrate playwright William Shakespeare's 450th birthday.
The flamed-haired model, who has walked the catwalk for Chanel and Versace, has been turning her focus to acting. She will soon tread the boards at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London as Helen of Troy in the play The Last Days of Troy.
She starred in 2009s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus alongside the late Australian actor Heath Ledger. The film was Ledger's final film.
Her other film credits include Snow White and the Huntsman alongside Kristen Stewart and Chris Hemsworth, and The Mother Diaries (2011).
Bell says Cole has a strong interest in Shakespeare after completing her major in history of arts at Cambridge University.
"She was excited about discussing Shakespeare and she wants to play Hamlet one day. Knowing Lily there's probably no stopping her."
Bell, co-artistic director at Australian theatre company Bell Shakespeare, says all aspiring actors should give Shakespeare a go.
"If you want to really stretch your imagination, as well as stretch your vocal technique, your physical technique and let yourself experience really big emotions and moral crisis, Shakespeare's the place to do it.
"A lot of television is about very small issues and day-to-day and rather mundane things and so you don't go outside your comfort zone. With Shakespeare, playing a King Lear of Macbeth you've got to go way outside you comfort zone and really imagine huge, huge emotions and predicaments, so it's good for you, stimulating," he said.
Shakespeare would have turned 450 on Wednesday. Shakespeare's Globe Theatre is celebrating the Bard's milestone birthday by taking a production of Hamlet to every country.
The unprecedented theatrical adventure will travel across seven continents by boat, sleeper train, 4WD, tall ship, bus and aeroplane to some of the world's most inaccessible places from April 23.
SOME OF THE HIGH PROFILE MODERN HAMLETS:
Richard Roxborough - The Rake star played Hamlet alongside Geoffrey Rush (Horatio) in Company B's 1995 production of Hamlet.
Kenneth Branagh - The British actor starred in and directed the 1996 film adaptation of the Shakespeare tragedy.
David Tennant - Best known for his role on Dr Who, played Hamlet in a BBC film based on the Royal Shakespeare Company's award-winning stage production. Tennant also played Hamlet on stage.
Ethan Hawke - The American actor took on the role in the 2000 film Hamlet directed by Michael Almereyda. Set in contemporary New York, Hawke plays Hamlet as a film student.
Jude Law - The British actor received critical acclaim for his role as the doomed Prince of Denmark in the 2009 Broadway production at the Broadhurst Theatre.
Ralph Fiennes - The thespian played Hamlet on Broadway in 1995.
Maxine Peake - The Shameless and Silk actress will appear in a "radical" new version of the Shakespeare play at Manchester's Royal Exchange later this year.
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