MacBeth

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 30-04-2013 11:20pm #1

Announced a few days ago that Michael Fassbender would be playing MacBeth in Justin Kurzel's (Snowtown) update of the classic Shakespeare play.

It was announced today that Natalie Portman would play Lady MacBeth.

Have to say, I was a bit excited about this when I heard Fassy would be playing MacBeth, but Portman's casting has killed that excitement pretty quick. Of all the people I would have thought about as Lady MacBeth she would have been way down the list, if she was even on it.

http://www.screendaily.com/news/natalie-portman-to-play-lady-macbeth-opposite-fassbender/5054457.article?referrer=RSS&utm_source=1%26WT.tsrc%3Dtwitter%26WT.mc_id%3Dtwitter_twitterfeed_productionnews&utm_medium=twitter

Da Shins Kelly · 01-05-2013 12:02am

Would never have even considered Natalie Portman as Lady MacBeth. She has some skills though, so she might pull it off, but I can't really imagine her in the role right now. Could have totally imagined someone like Tilda Swinton in that role.

nyarlothothep · 01-05-2013 10:39am

I dont really find Portman to be an interesting actress, her performances are very dry, boring, lacking in passion.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 01-05-2013 11:34am

I think she's far too soft looking and soft sounding for that matter to pull this one off. I'm not saying Lady MacBeth was a dog or anything but I think she needs to be the kind of person that you can totally understand a man being manipulated and controlled by. I can't see Portman doing that.

I've nothing against her, and I liked quite a few of her earlier films but I think she's that "manic pixie dream girl" type actress who fits into a certain niche. I know she went mental in Black Swan but I wasn't overly impressed with that to be honest.

delbertgrady · 01-05-2013 11:36am

Amy Adams could have done it: she already played a mean Lady Macbeth in The Master.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 01-05-2013 11:43am

delbertgrady wrote: »

Amy Adams could have done it: she already played a mean Lady Macbeth in The Master.

Jennifer Lawrence is playing a Lady MacBeth type in Serena, an adaptation of the novel by Ron Rash. Not suggesting her for the actual role, but I imagine there'll be quite a few other actresses that people will be saying have already played similar characters and would be better suited. Portman's going to have her work cut out for her, that's for sure.

FortuneChip · 01-05-2013 11:43am

Not much Fassbender couldn't do, but gotta share the sentiments of others here that Natalie Portman seems a strange choice for Lady Macbeth.

I could see Rebecca Hall doing a decent job, she's awfully attractive, but at the same time can look like she's got a screw loose (one or two emotional breakdowns in The Prestige come to mind)

delbertgrady · 01-05-2013 11:53am

FortuneChip wrote: »

I could see Rebecca Hall doing a decent job, she's awfully attractive, but at the same time can look like she's got a screw loose (one or two emotional breakdowns in The Prestige come to mind)

... or when she's all unsettled in The Awakening. Good suggestion.

DrumSteve · 01-05-2013 12:04pm

Jessica Chastain anyone?

They better cast Patrick Stewart as the king.

nyarlothothep · 01-05-2013 1:38pm

Your one who plays Cersei Lannister would do a good job of playing Lady Macbeth.

Zubeneschamali · 01-05-2013 1:54pm

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

I think she's far too soft looking and soft sounding for that matter to pull this one off.

Yes, she would have to somehow act differently to the way she acted in other movies to play this part, not sure an actress is what you need for that.

witchgirl26 · 01-05-2013 2:18pm

I think this could be a very interesting casting choice. Lady Macbeth is manipulative but that doesn't lead to say that she has to be hard or anything. She is ambitious & it's that ambition that drives her to have the ability to do certain things. Once she has them, the ambition goes and her conscience takes over. Could be good to have someone who can play the mental breakdown well and show a different way of Macbeth being under the control of his wife.

delbertgrady · 01-05-2013 2:37pm

Why not the Scottish Goddess herself, Kelly Macdonald?!

Da Shins Kelly · 01-05-2013 2:43pm

witchgirl26 wrote: »

I think this could be a very interesting casting choice. Lady Macbeth is manipulative but that doesn't lead to say that she has to be hard or anything. She is ambitious & it's that ambition that drives her to have the ability to do certain things. Once she has them, the ambition goes and her conscience takes over. Could be good to have someone who can play the mental breakdown well and show a different way of Macbeth being under the control of his wife.

That almost sounds like a repeat of the Black Swan character.

Bearing in mind that this is being set in the 11th century with the language intact, I just don't buy Natalie Portman in the role. Something about her is far to contemporary. Maybe she'll surprise us all. Though I do remember her getting absolutely horrible reviews for her attempt at Shakespeare before when she did Shakespeare in the Park.

Will they be doing Scottish accents?

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 01-05-2013 3:25pm

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

Yes, she would have to somehow act differently to the way she acted in other movies to play this part, not sure an actress is what you need for that.

Yes, very clever. I went on to say that I know she played a different type of character in Black Swan but I personally was not that impressed with her in it. I've seen a fair few Natalie Portman films and she's not usually all that different from one film to the next, which makes me question her ability to actually "act differently to the way she acted in other movies".

Da Shins Kelly wrote: »

Bearing in mind that this is being set in the 11th century with the language intact, I just don't buy Natalie Portman in the role. Something about her is far to contemporary. Maybe she'll surprise us all. Though I do remember her getting absolutely horrible reviews for her attempt at Shakespeare before when she did Shakespeare in the Park.

Will they be doing Scottish accents?

Is it being set in the 11th century though? They're calling it an "update" but does that just mean it's a new version of the story, as in an update since the last film, or are they bringing it forward in time and making it more modern?

Da Shins Kelly · 01-05-2013 4:23pm

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Is it being set in the 11th century though? They're calling it an "update" but does that just mean it's a new version of the story, as in an update since the last film, or are they bringing it forward in time and making it more modern?

Well, that's what it says in the link you posted - "set in the 11th century and in the original lanugage". :P

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 01-05-2013 4:27pm

Da Shins Kelly wrote: »

Well, that's what it says in the link you posted - "set in the 11th century and in the original lanugage". :P

I know but it also calls it a "new take" and an "update" so I got confused

Da Shins Kelly · 01-05-2013 4:43pm

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

I know but it also calls it a "new take" and an "update" so I got confused

Yeah, I'm not sure why they used the word "update" if it's still going to be set in the 11th century and with Shakespearean language. A "new take" might be referring to the fact that they said they're going for a "visceral experience" with lots of battle scenes and such. A new interpretation of the play that is different from the other screen adaptations and stage adaptations. I'm excited about this even if I would much rather Tilda Swinton in the Lady Macbeth role. The only reason I can think of for having Natalie Portman in the role is that they might be going for the two levels type personality - sickly sweet and perfect on the outside, and dark and manipulative underneath.

JP Liz V1 · 01-05-2013 5:00pm

Rachel Weisz or Charlize Theron would also be good as Lady Macbeth

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 01-05-2013 6:08pm

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Rachel Weisz or Charlize Theron would also be good as Lady Macbeth

I loved all the interviews Theron did with Fassy while promoting Prometheus, so just to have more of them I'd have been fine with her being cast.

It is still quite early days though, as far as I can tell they're taking the script to Cannes to try and get more backing so it could still change. If you look at that Jane Got A Gun project that Portman is working on, it's changed cast and director a few times, and right up until the first day of filming too.

johnny_ultimate · 01-05-2013 6:35pm

As a great fictional director once said, it's an extraordinarily difficult play to stage effectively.

Unusual casting. One to watch.

JP Liz V1 · 01-05-2013 11:15pm

Anyone who has seen Robin Wright on House of Cards and Vera Farmiga on Bates Motel, they would also be great as Lady Macbeth

Portman is a very capable actress no doubt but she seems too young imo to play the role

matTNT · 31-05-2013 5:06pm

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

As a great fictional director once said, it's an extraordinarily difficult play to stage effectively.

Unusual casting. One to watch.

I think the 2010/2011 version of MacBeth is the best I've seen with Patrick Stewart. MacBeth is almost a Stalin like figure which makes sense.

DrumSteve · 31-05-2013 9:04pm

matTNT wrote: »

I think the 2010/2011 version of MacBeth is the best I've seen with Patrick Stewart. MacBeth is almost a Stalin like figure which makes sense.

I think I seen that one... Stewart was fantastic in it.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 21-08-2013 6:25pm

UPDATE

Portman out, Marion Cotillard in!

This article implies that Portman was only being considered for the role but it seemed like she had been cast a few months ago. Either way I'm much more interested in this project now. Excellent casting, I think

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/marion-cotillard-to-play-lady-macbeth-opposite-michael-fassbender-8777904.html

Insect Overlord · 21-08-2013 6:35pm

She was stunning in La Vie En Rose. Not so much in her final scene in The Dark Knight Rises. :P Very good choice though.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 21-08-2013 6:43pm

She's also very good in a film called Love Me If You Dare, or "Jeux d'enfants" where she's maybe a bit mental at times. Not quite as evil as Lady MacBeth but I have to say I'm very excited about this now.

delbertgrady · 21-08-2013 6:43pm

Cotillard was superb in Rust and Bone too.
Very happy with this.

JP Liz V1 · 18-04-2014 9:45pm

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 19-04-2014 12:20am

LuckyLloyd · 19-04-2014 9:02am

They reading the play verbatim or updating the dialogue?

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 19-04-2014 10:39am

I think it said they were using "the original language", whether that means text or just how they would have spoke back then, not sure.

Dermighty · 19-04-2014 3:47pm

nyarlothothep wrote: »

I dont really find Portman to be an interesting actress, her performances are very dry, boring, lacking in passion.

ditto

LuckyLloyd · 19-04-2014 5:40pm

nyarlothothep wrote: »

I dont really find Portman to be an interesting actress, her performances are very dry, boring, lacking in passion.

Thought she was brilliant in Brothers

JP Liz V1 · 16-05-2014 10:59pm

http://d1oi7t5trwfj5d.cloudfront.net/cc/47/23edd9ce4e4295c5cf7c5cf49caf/macbeth-fassbender.jpg

http://d1oi7t5trwfj5d.cloudfront.net/91/bc/7f046d3a49a6b718a8125397c1df/macbeth-cotillard.jpg

The posters from Cannes

Could be a second Oscar nomination for Michael Fassbender

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 17-05-2014 12:49am

Film 4 had a little presentation in Cannes today where they showed lots of stuff that they have in production at the moment. Some stuff from MacBeth was shown and it's getting very positive feedback. Obviously it's far too early to read anything into that but it sounds very exciting.

catallus · 17-05-2014 12:59am

It's pretty hard to mess up Shakespeare, I'm hoping this is good. Polanski's MacBeth will be hard to top, but here's hoping.

Radiosonde · 17-05-2014 10:08am

catallus wrote: »

It's pretty hard to mess up Shakespeare, I'm hoping this is good. Polanski's MacBeth will be hard to top, but here's hoping.

It's incredibly easy to mess up Shakespeare.

kryogen · 18-05-2014 1:10am

Not looking forward to this, have never really liked modern takes on Shakespearean works, there have been one or two exceptions maybe. All in all, I loved the play, I liked one of the screen adaptions of it and if the reviews are positive Ill give it a shot, but I wish they would leave well enough alone sometimes

Da Shins Kelly · 18-05-2014 4:29am

I'm looking forward to it. I'm always excited to see new interpretations of Shakespeare. Sure, if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out, but I'm interested to see what they'll do with it. I'm glad they're sticking with the original language. I think that is integral to staging/filmling Shakespeare. That's where the true artistry and vision lies.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 18-05-2014 11:01am

kryogen wrote: »

Not looking forward to this, have never really liked modern takes on Shakespearean works, there have been one or two exceptions maybe. All in all, I loved the play, I liked one of the screen adaptions of it and if the reviews are positive Ill give it a shot, but I wish they would leave well enough alone sometimes

It's not a modern take, unless by that you mean made in 2014. It's set in the original setting and time and uses the original language.

JP Liz V1 · 30-04-2015 11:42pm

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=44149

New images before it's debut at Cannes

Right Turn Clyde · 01-05-2015 12:16pm

I can't follow Shakespeare in the original English. I enjoy reading about his plays and what all the various themes are, and I particularly enjoy films that reinterpret his major works, like Kurosawa's Throne of Blood and Ran. But I don't like hearing the words being spoken. I find them too ornate and incredibly boring. I really hope this version scraps them. There, I said it.

bnt · 02-05-2015 7:51pm

If you happen to get the Sky Arts channels, keep an eye out for plays as presented in the Globe Theatre. The dialogue makes more sense when spoken with the proper actions and emphasis, instead of dry text on a page. See also this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGbZCgHQ9m8

shooterjay · 02-05-2015 7:53pm

nyarlothothep wrote: »

Your one who plays Cersei Lannister would do a good job of playing Lady Macbeth.

yes, good choice

Adamantium · 02-05-2015 9:52pm

I can't believe that the same team and cast that are in friggin MacBeth are going on to film Assassin's Creed this September.

Its going to be incredible.

bnt · 23-05-2015 10:27am

Official Clips:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puV69CWPfP8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM7ErUl_FXs

(In case anyone's wondering, the tall lady at 0:18 is Elizabeth Debicki (The Great Gatsby, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) as Lady MacDuff.)

Adamantium · 23-05-2015 8:35pm

I for one, was looking forward to the milking of the Shakespearean Cinematic Universe (SCU) and the crossovers, except I realized that's impossible because everybody would be dead by the end of their standalone films.

bnt · 24-05-2015 9:44am

Sure, that would be true of the Tragedies, but I don't believe anyone died in A Midsummer Night's Dream or The Taming of the Shrew.

The latter was adapted in to a teen comedy, 10 Things I Hate About You, starring Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles: some time after the film, he turned in to The Joker and died, while she got mixed up with Jason Bourne. I wonder what Shakespeare would make of that ..?

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 04-06-2015 10:05am

Trailer is up....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgH_OnrYlCk

FortuneChip · 04-06-2015 1:54pm

Hard to form any real expectation based on that trailer.
It looks pretty much like they took a play and stuck a budget on it.

I guess you can't really expect much more from a movie based on Shakespeare's work (Baz Lurhmann notwithstanding)

MacBeth

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