I Am Not What I Am ("O")

In 2001, Tim Blake Nelson reimagined William Shakespeare’s OTHELLO as O, an angst-filled teenage drama that plays out in and around a bunch of rich kids’ pursuit of a state basketball championship.

O sat on Miramax’s shelf for over two years following the tragedy at Columbine before Lionsgate finally brought it to theaters. We break down Mekhi Phifer’s powerhouse performance as athletic prodigy Odin “O” James, Josh Hartnett as the despicable hater Hugo, and Julia Stiles as a younger variant of a character similar to the one she plays in the much more widely seen surprise hit from earlier in the year, SAVE THE LAST DANCE. Martin Sheen is their coach, cause why not?

In our bonus feature segment, unpack Shakespeare on screen and the art of modernizing the Bard. From the late-'90s and early-2000s teen adaptation renaissance (10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU and ROMEO + JULIET, to name a couple) to broader cinema history, we discuss why his work persists to this day.

Finally: does O still matter in 2026? Does it matter more than ever? Listen!

SHOW NOTES: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mQZ6gTwP7PYKWUmxpxermZuRXpx5a_kcPC0fbOhlpAc/edit?usp=sharing

NOT ANOTHER 2001 MOVIE PODCAST is a limited series exploring movies released in the first year of a chaotic century.

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