Michael Fassbender & Marion Cotillard are Electric in Macbeth Trailer
Some roles are cast so well you cannot imagine another person playing them—in Justin Kurzel’s Macbeth, the two leads fit this phenomenon perfectly. Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in this decidedly dark (even for Macbeth) take on Shakespeare’s tale of a man destroyed by ambition and desire.
Kurzel places these iconic characters in a viscerally evoked Scotland torn apart by war. Macbeth begins as a loyal general to King Duncan (the always great David Thewlis), killing the traitor Macdonwald in a fierce battle with Macdonwald’s rebel forces. It’s in the aftermath of this battle where Macbeth and his comrade Banquo come upon three women scavenging among the dead. These, of course, are the three witches who foretell that Macbeth will become Thane of Cawdor and King of Scotland, a prophecy that will lead the Macbeths into their irrevocable play for power.
The reviews after the film's Cannes bow have been more or less gushing, as this gritty, epic adaptation of Shakespeare's sharpest, most violent tragedy looks downright mesmerizing.
Featured image: Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard star in MACBETH. Courtesy The Weinstein Co.
