Before uniting for the long-gestating adaptation of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed series, Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard are set to go even further back in time for Justin Kurzel’s Macbeth, which has today revealed its first, intense clip.
Due to make its premiere in front of attendees at the ongoing Cannes Film Festival, early buzz has been overly positive for Fassbender’s turn as the twisted king. While this latest footage doesn’t necessarily reveal an awful lot, there’s evidence here that Kurzel is channeling his direction of 2011’s excellent Snowtown, with haunting shots of Fassbender’s silhouette set against a dark and foreboding sky. A storm is brewing, it seems.
If Kurzel’s directing debut was criticized for the all-too-real subject material, then his unique method of approach will act as the perfect fit for what is one of Shakespeare’s most beloved and dark plays, and everything we’ve seen so far from the director’s rendition of the age-old source material fills us with confidence.
With a cast list that includes Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation‘s Sean Harris, Paddy Considine, Elizabeth Debicki, David Thewli and Transformers: Age of Extinction star Jack Reynor, Macbeth is expected to release later this year.
MACBETH is the story of a fearless warrior and inspiring leader brought low by ambition and desire. A thrilling interpretation of the dramatic realities of the times and a reimagining of what wartime must have been like for one of Shakespeare’s most famous and compelling characters, a story of all-consuming passion and ambition, set in war torn Scottish landscape.