There’s a reason we can’t get through a calendar year without a new Shakespeare adaptation. The Bard’s plays are lush with evocative language, complex characters and themes so universal that they resonate as loudly today as they did in his times, from madness and misery to love and longing. The former pair is more on display in the intense trailer for this fall’s Macbeth, but like any great adaptation of the classic play, Justin Kurzel’s play looks set to tap into every strength of the source material, from its epic scale to its detailed depiction of a king losing his mind.
Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard lead the epic tragedy, which centers on a brave Scottish general who, seduced by his darkest ambitions, murders the king and takes the throne for himself. Racked with guilt and paranoia, Macbeth descends into madness and tyranny, culminating in bloodshed on a dramatic scale.
Kurzel’s adaptation appears to prioritize the grim grotesquerie of war, with many brutal battle sequences and a nuanced treatment of how the general’s conduct on and off the battlefield displays a man who could never be comfortable at peace.
Sean Harris, Paddy Considine, David Thewlis, Jack Reynor and Elizabeth Debicki co-star in the film, which drew Oscar buzz when it premiered at Cannes. StudioCanal UK released the first trailer, and it will be bringing Macbeth to theaters sometime later this year, giving it a wide awards berth so as to best position Fassbender, Cotillard and Kurzel for attention.
MACBETH is the story of a fearless warrior and inspiring leader (Michael Fassbender) brought low by ambition and desire. A thrilling interpretation of the dramatic realities of the times and a reimagining of what wartime must have been like for one of Shakespeare’s most famous and compelling characters, a story of all-consuming passion and ambition, set in war torn Scottish landscape.
