The trailer for director Justin Kurzel’s 2015 adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth was released yesterday (4th June 2015), giving us our first proper look at the big screen productions to add to the positive reviews it picked up following its premier at this years Cannes International Film Festival. It also gave us our first real insight into the on screen dynamic between co-stars Michael Fassbender (The Light Between Oceans) and Marion Cotillard (The Dark Knight Rises), who play Lord and Lady Macbeth in the film.
With a UK release date confirmed for the 2nd October 2015, we were starting to countdown the clock to getting to see the much anticipated movie and the arrival of the trailer adds even more expectation to the adaptation. Most of you will be familiar with the power crazed and bloody plot at the murderous heart of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, so the great unknown was the delivery and it looks like its going to be a visceral take on the classic story of tragic regicide.
You’ve only got to look at the opening scenes of the trailer to see that it’s going to be fairly action packed adaptations in parts, with some significant portrayals of the battlefield fighting that bookend the play. There are also a fair few indicators of the madness, turpitude and mental anguish that grips the two central characters as they’re swept up in the visions of grandeur that are foreseen for them, prompting their merciless rise to power.
However, what’s surprising is that the supernatural element of the play doesn’t feature much in the trailer with just the occasional fleeting glimpse of the three witches, along with veiled references to their premonitions. We’ll also have to wait for the release of the film to get a glimpse of their version on Banquo’s ghost, which forms a big part of Macbeth’s development, signifying the haunted nature of the new King of Scotland.
As well as showing a little more of Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard in their roles in the film, the video below gives us our first glimpse of a few of the other members of the cast, including David Thewlis (The Theory Of Everything) as King Duncan and Sean Harris (’71) as Macduff. There’s just the shortest glimpse of Elizabeth Debicki (BBC 1’s The Night Manager) in her role as Lady Macduff as she hussles her children through the forest in a bid to escape the assassins Macbeth has sent, and it looks like Paddy Consadine (Child 44) gets a flicker of a sighting chanting hail to his new king as Banquo.
If the trailer is anything to go by, we’d have to say that Macbeth (2015) is going to but a dramatic, edgy adaptation of the play that is wound tighter than a ball of snakes ready to attack. It looks intense with well shot scenes, iconic imagery and impressive costumes to bring the brutal tragedy to life in the film.
 trailer from the film section of Tuppence Magazine, giving you the first glimpse of the movie adaptation of the tragedy, from director Justin Kurzel.){kind=link}