Shakespeare is getting an outing this year with Macbeth, and now we’ve got our first look with Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard looking suitably Dark Ages, as this take retains the original story’s 11th Century setting.
Michael Fassbender is the title character, a Scottish Lord who will do anything to become king, with Marion Cotillard portraying his wife, Lady Macbeth.
However there are some new ideas, as Fassbender told the Daily Mail, his character is “Suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. It makes total sense, when you think about it. Justin set the seed of the idea in my head. This trauma is something we know about. In World War I they called it battle fatigue, and it was probably more horrific in Macbeth’s days, when they were killing with their bare hands, and driving a blade through bodies. He’s having these hallucinations, and he needs to return to the violence to find some sort of clarity, or peace.”
He adds, “He’d been away fighting and when he returns, we see it’s a relationship that’s broken down. They lost a child, and there wasn’t time for them to grieve because he’s been away campaigning. Lady M is desperate for that reconnection, and briefly they do. And, of course, the doorway has been opened to darkness and to violence.”
The actor also revealed that the cast use Scottish accents, except for Marion Cotillard, saying “We felt it would be unreasonable for her to put on a Scottish accent. It would not be unreasonable to presume that her character spent time in the French court.”
The film should be in cinemas late this year or early next.
