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O
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Tim Blake Nelson
Produced by	Eric Gitter Lisa Gitter
Written by	William Shakespeare (story) Brad Kaaya
Starring	Mekhi Phifer Josh Hartnett Andrew Keegan Julia Stiles Rain Phoenix Elden Henson Martin Sheen John Heard
Music by	Jeff Danna
Cinematography	Russell Lee Fine
Editing by	Kate Sanford
Distributed by	Lions Gate Films
Release date(s)	August 31, 2001
Running time	95 min.
Country
Language	English
Budget	$5 million
Gross revenue	$16,017,403
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

O is a 2001 drama film, a loose adaptation of William Shakespeare's Othello.

The film's intended release date coincided with the Columbine High School massacre, so the film was shelved. It was finally released in 2001. It was directed by Tim Blake Nelson and written by Brad Kaaya. It contains many different styles of music, ranging from rap to opera. It was filmed in South Carolina.

Told in a contemporary high school setting, Othello is now Odin (Mekhi Phifer), star of the basketball team and the school's only African American student. Desdemona is Desi (Julia Stiles, in her second modern adaptation of a Shakespeare play), the dean's daughter and Odin's girlfriend. Iago is Hugo (Josh Hartnett), the coach's steroid-shooting son, who plants seeds of doubt that fester in Odin's mind, leading them all to a tragically violent fate. Roderigo is Roger (Elden Henson), Hugo's best friend, a rich but troubled student who wants to go out with Desi. Cassio is Michael Cassio (Andrew Keegan), another basketball player and a close friend to both Odin and Desi. Emilia is Emily (Rain Phoenix), Desi's best friend and Hugo's girlfriend. Brabantio is Dean Brable (John Heard), the president of the school and Desi's father. The duke of Venice is the basketball coach, also known as Duke (Martin Sheen).

The film starts off during a basketball game. At the last minute Odin scores the basket that wins the game for his team. Later at an awards ceremony Duke presents MVP (most valuable player award) to Odin for his efforts and he shares this award with Michael. At a party celebrating the victory, Hugo plans with Roger to tell Desi's father that Odin raped Desi in order to split them up so that Roger can woo her. Roger however is only a pawn in Hugo's game. Hugo's plan fails. Later in another game Odin's team wins once again. At the celebration party Hugo encourages Roger to provoke a very drunk Michael to get into a fight with him in the hopes of making lose his position in the team. In the fight Roger is injured and Michael is temporarily suspended from the team. At another basketball game Odin finds it hard to defeat the opposing team but thanks to Hugo and Odin's effort the game is won. Hugo tells Michael to talk to Desi about telling Odin to try and help get Michael his position back. Michael does so. In a weightlifting room Hugo tells Odin that Desi may be cheating on him because he says that she has been hanging out with Michael a lot. Odin doesn't believe this at first but, as he constantly sees Michael and Desi together, he starts to suspect them. Odin questions Desi, but she calms him down and he believes her. In the meantime, Emily steals a scarf that Odin gave to Desi and gives it to Hugo. Hugo, in turn, gives it to Michael. He hopes that Odin will believe that Desi gave Michael the scarf, and so is cheating on him.

Meanwhile, Desi and Odin are having passionate sex at a motel. During their lovemaking, Odin sees an image of Michael on top of Desi in the mirror; angered, he becomes very rough with Desi, to the point that she cries out for him to stop, a plea he ignores. When the sex is over, they lie together staring in opposite directions.

Hugo, with Odin and Roger, plans to kill Michael and Desi. Hugo and Roger attempt to kill Michael in a carjacking, but fail; Hugo eventually kills Roger and hurts Micheal instead. Meanwhile, Odin chokes Desi to death in a drug-induced rage. Immediately afterward, however, Odin realizes that Hugo staged everything. He grabs Hugo's gun, demands that his former friend tell the truth about what happened, and commits suicide. Hugo is taken into custody by the police and the story ends with Hugo saying he he will have his day in the spot light.

Unlike in Othello, drugs played a major role in Odin's behavior. His paranoia and violent behavior in the film's climax is motivated primarily by cocaine. The drug use allows Hugo to manipulate Odin into killing Desi, which ultimately leads to his own death. The drug use in O compensates for the different values in Shakespeare's time; they believed that Othello used witchcraft, and even drugging Desdemona into marrying him.

• O at the Internet Movie Database
• O at All Movie Guide