We already have a MACBETH flick coming our way, courtesy of Justin Kurzel and Michael Fassbender, but it looks as if another one could be coming together in the near future…with some high-class pedigree attached.
There were rumors earlier this year that Martin Scorsese approached Kenneth Branagh about adapting his stage production of Shakespeare’s tragedy for film. Then, this week, Branagh said this on BBC Radio 5:
”We will remount the production and all things being well Mr. Scorsese will direct a film version of that production. The fingers are hovering above pieces of paper. We’ve been talking about it. Everybody wants to do it, it’s just a question of schedules. I’m very, very, very, very, very, very hopeful it’s going to happen.”
Branagh used to be the go-to guy for bringing The Bard to the big screen, starting with his directorial debut, HENRY V, and running through MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, LOVE LABOUR’S LOST, OTHELLO (which he only starred in), and his massive 70mm take on HAMLET. However, since his AS YOU LIKE IT was relegated to HBO in 2006, he’s focused on the big budget stuff we associate with him these days, like THOR, JACK RYAN, and CINDERELLA. Hitting the Shakespeare well for “the Scottish play” would besignificant for him in and of itself, but with Scorsese at the helm? A huge deal indeed.
Scorsese obviously has a ton of stuff on his plate already, beginning with his next, SILENCE, but Branagh seems fairly confident that they’ll be able to work something out. My first thought was that this would probably end up as a TV or livestream production of some sort, considering the proximity of the Kurzel/Fassbender take, but I’m thinking that with Branagh and Scorsese’s names above the title, another MACBETH might find a cozy little spot in the marketplace. Wouldn't you say?
As a big fan of the play and the various cinematic adaptations of it (particularly Welles' take and the oddball SCOTLAND, PA.), I’d love to see these two maestros have at Shakespeare’s operatic, grimly funny tale of ambition and paranoia, even if the other version was playing in the very same multiplex. What say you, loyal subjects?
