Joel Coen & Frances McDormand Talk 'Macbeth' & What Changes They're Making To The Classic Story

One of the more high-profile production delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is with the upcoming adaptation of “Macbeth” from filmmaker Joel Coen and stars Frances McDormand and Denzel Washington. While it appears we’re still a ways off from seeing the finished film, Coen and his wife, McDormand, did recently give an interview about the film, giving film fans their first taste of what they can expect in the new version of Shakespeare’s legendary tale.

Over the course of the interview, Coen and McDormand shed some light on the new film, which is currently finding itself on hiatus as the COVID-19 pandemic plays out. And in the video (via Film Stage), they talked about how “Macbeth” came to be and what changes might be made in Coel’s new version of the classic story.

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“I had chosen the subject because I had been asked by Frances a number of years ago to direct the stage production of ‘Macbeth,’” explained Coen. “I’m really not a stage director, so I [didn’t do it]. But when I saw her in a production that she did, it made me start thinking about the play and it made me want to work with her on the play because I was so impressed with what she was doing with the part of Lady Macbeth, so I thought that would be an interesting thing to work together on and to do as a movie.”

He continued, “So when I started thinking about it in terms of a movie, it became more accessible to me, intellectually, and that’s when it started.”

As for how the new film might differ from the Shakespeare version, it appears that McDormand and Coen have their own spin on the story, which is why they don’t want to simply call the film, “Macbeth.”

“I think a very important thing about Joel’s adaptation is that we are not calling it ‘Macbeth,’” said McDormand. “We’re calling it ‘The Tragedy of Macbeth,’ which I think is an important distinction. In Joel’s adaptation, we are exploring the age of the characters and our adaptation the Macbeths are older. Both Denzel [Washington] and I are older than what is often cast as the Macbeths. We’re postmenopausal, we’re past childbearing age. So that puts a pressure on their ambition to have the crown. I think the most important distinction is that it is their last chance for glory.”

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She added, “It puts a very specific time pressure on the characters, but also on the storytelling, which I think is the real brilliance of the adaptation that Joel has done. There’s a real suspense and a real ticking clock. The time is running out–not only for the characters, but also it propels the storytelling.”

If you’re wondering what exact changes Coen has in mind in his version of “Macbeth,” perhaps one of the more startling differences between the original and the new film is with the characters of the witches. Instead of the three witches that were present in the Shakespeare classic, Coen has something else in mind.

“In this adaptation, the witches are actually all played by one actor,” he said. “An actor named Kathryn Hunter, who embodies all of the witches. The witches in this adaptation are birds. They are sort of battlefield scavenger birds. They morphed, in a way, from being natural birds to be the actress Kathryn Hunter. That was one of the most fascinating and I think interesting and fulfilling parts of the production for both Fran and I on how that was going to work in the movie. So the witches occupy a big space in this story as well.”

For more information about “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” you can watch the full Instagram video below.