海角大神

William Shakespeare鈥檚 bloody tragedy Macbeth has been adapted countless times for both the stage and the screen 鈥� the most recent cinematic example being Rupert Goold鈥檚 filmed version of his stage production, which starred Patrick Stewart in the title role. Another notable recent example is Geoffrey Wright鈥檚 modern-day Australian gangster reinterpretation of the story, in which Sam Worthington played an underboss who usurps the 鈥渢hrone鈥� of a Melbourne crime boss.

A new contender for the crown of Scotland is about to arrive, however, as聽Michael Fassbender is reportedly attached to play the lead in a new adaptation of Macbeth, which will be directed by Justin Kurzel (Snowtown) from a script by Toss Louiso and Jacob Koskoff.

Though there aren鈥檛 any concrete details at the moment as to who will be playing Fassbender鈥檚 counterpart, Lady Macbeth, the ScreenDaily聽article reports that 鈥�at least one Hollywood leading actress鈥� is in talks for the role.

[UPDATE: ScreenDaily has revealed that the leading Hollywood actress they were referring to is Natalie Portman, and she's now signed on to play Lady Macbeth.]

The film is being produced by See Saw Films, the production company behind Steve McQueen鈥檚 sex addiction drama Shame, which also starred Fassbender in the lead role; they also did Tom Hooper鈥檚 King George VI biopic The King鈥檚 Speech, which won four Oscars and was nominated for eight more.

Fassbender is currently filming聽X-Men: Days of Future Past聽and is also attached to play Thomas Wolfe in Max Perkins鈥� biopic,聽Genius. Rumors surrounding a possible reprisal of his role in Prometheus for Ridley Scott鈥檚 sequel are also developing as the director聽casts his net out聽for a new writer.

The actor has also started up his own production company, DMC Films, through which he will be producing and starring in an adaptation of popular video game franchise Assassin鈥檚 Creed. News has gone a little quiet on this front since writer Michael Lesslie was brought on to write the screenplay a few months ago, and a lot is riding on Assassin鈥檚 Creed getting off the ground and into production. The film will mark the feature debut of both DMC films and Ubisoft Motion Pictures 鈥� and at a press junket last year, Fassbender said that managing to successfully produce something through his new company was part of the reason for taking time off acting:

鈥淚 really wanted to make DMC, my production company, really work as opposed to just an idea and you鈥檝e got to put a lot of time into that. So I really did focus energies in that, working with writers, finding the writers,聽and so now I go back to acting again.鈥�

Macbeth is expected to begin filming towards the end of this year, and the script is described as taking a 鈥渧isceral鈥� approach, particularly to the battle scenes, making it potentially comparable to Ralph Fiennes鈥� recent modern adaptation of Coriolanus. Fassbender鈥檚 involvement alone is enough to make this new version of a very old story worth watching, and apparently the script was sought after eagerly by several different sales outfits at Cannes before finally being picked up by See Saw and Film4.

H. Shaw-Williams blogs at Screen Rant.