'Macbeth': The new trailer and its award season chances
A new version of 'Macbeth' stars Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard. The two are both Oscar nominees, but will the movie succeed with the Academy or at the box office?
A new version of 'Macbeth' stars Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard. The two are both Oscar nominees, but will the movie succeed with the Academy or at the box office?
A trailer has been released for the new adaptation of the Shakespeare play 鈥淢acbeth.鈥�
The new version of the play is directed by Justin Kurzel, who was previously behind the film 鈥淭he Snowtown Murders,鈥� and stars Michael Fassbender of 鈥淪low West鈥� as the title character and 鈥淭wo Days, One Night鈥� actress Marion Cotillard as Lady Macbeth. Elizabeth Debicki and David Thewlis co-star.聽A US release date has not been set, but it's coming to Britain in October and Variety says the film will be released in America in the fall.
Previous film adaptations of the play include Orson Welles's 1948 film, and director Roman Polanski's 1971 take. The most recent, from 2006, was directed by Geoffrey Wright of 鈥淐herry Falls鈥� and starred 鈥淎vator鈥� actor Sam Worthington in the title role, but the movie was not well received by critics, according to the website Metacritic.
This new take on the story starring Fassbender and Cotillard screened at the Cannes Film Festival. It was largely well received and Associated Press writer Jake Coyle said Cotillard could be a contender for Best Actress as Oscar season heats up. 聽
Can the movie do well at the Academy Awards? A聽Shakespearian adaptation has won Best Picture once: Laurence Olivier鈥檚 1948 version of "Hamlet." (Honorable mentions go to 1999's 鈥淪hakespeare in Love,鈥� which won Best Picture and depicted parts of 鈥淩omeo and Juliet,鈥� and to "West Side Story," the plot of which is similar to "Romeo and Juliet.")
But a film based on Shakespeare also hasn鈥檛 caught the Academy鈥檚 attention for some time, at least for one of the big prizes聽鈥� the 2011 movie 鈥淐oriolanus鈥� directed by Ralph Fiennes was mostly well reviewed but didn鈥檛 get any Oscar nominations, and Joss Whedon鈥檚 2013 version of 鈥淢uch Ado About Nothing鈥� also received good reviews but no Oscar nods. One would have to look back to Kenneth Branagh鈥檚 filmed versions of Shakespeare, including his 1996 鈥淗amlet,鈥� which was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, and his 1989 version of 鈥淗enry V,鈥� for which he was nominated for Best Director and Best Actor, to find Shakespeare near to the major awards in recent times.
It also remains to be seen whether 鈥淢acbeth鈥� will do well at the box office. More modern takes on Shakespeare, like Baz Luhrmann鈥檚 鈥淩omeo + Juliet,鈥� have succeeded, and Branagh鈥檚 鈥淢uch Ado About Nothing鈥� was a box office success. Can 鈥淢acbeth鈥� bring in audiences as well?