Revealing mistake: During the pirate attack, Rosencrantz sits up in bed, narrowly avoiding a sword that's thrust through the wall next to him. Just before the sword appears, the film jumps a little. It also jumps again just after the sword has been withdrawn and he lies back down. Clearly these two motions (him sitting up and down in bed and the sword appearing/disappearing) are two separate takes that were spliced together.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1990)
Directed by: Tom Stoppard
Starring: Gary Oldman, Tim Roth, Richard Dreyfuss, Livio Badurina
Continuity mistake: When Rosencrantz and Guildenstern meet the Players on the way to Elsinore, the sky around them changes. In the shots of the players, it's gray sky, possibly approaching dusk, and in the shots of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, it's pitch black. (00:13:20 - 00:14:40)
Continuity mistake: When Guildenstern tells The Player what he thinks is wrong with Hamlet ("A man talking sense to himself..."), he is holding his hands together in the close-up but not in the wide shot. (01:03:40)
Trivia: Even though the characters themselves are constantly confused as to which of them is Rosencrantz and which is Guildenstern, there is a way for the audience to make sure: In the scenes where they take part in "Hamlet" and interact with others, Gary Oldman always delivers the lines of Rosencrantz, and Tim Roth always delivers Guildenstern's.
Guildenstern: I think I have it: A man talking sense to himself is no madder than a man talking nonsense not to himself.
Rosencrantz: Or just as mad.
Guildenstern: Or just as mad.
Rosencrantz: And he does both.
Guildenstern: So there you are.
Rosencrantz: Stark, raving sane.
Rosencrantz: Do you think Death could possibly be a boat?
Guildenstern: No, no, no. Death is not. Death isn't. Take my meaning? Death is the ultimate negative. Not-being. You can't not be on a boat.
Rosencrantz: I've frequently not been on boats.
Rosencrantz: Anyway, I don't believe in it.
Guildenstern: In what?
Rosencrantz: England.
Guildenstern: Just a conspiracy of cartographers, then?
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