Kenneth Branagh and Martin Scorsese to Team on “Macbeth”
Kenneth Branagh may have handled the God of Thunder’s foray into film with “Thor,” but is he ready he take on the Gods of theatre? Probably. He has back up from a decidedly good fella.
In an interview on BBC’s Radio’s 5 Live’s Kermode and Mayo Film Review, the”Cinderella” director and renowned Shakespearean actor let it slip that he and Martin Scorsese, the Academy Award Winning director of “The Departed,” will team on a film version of Branagh’s popular Manchester International stage production of “Macbeth,” according to The Guardian.
“All things being well Mr Scorsese will direct a film version of that production,” said Branagh. “The fingers are hovering above pieces of paper. Everyone wants to do it; it’s just a question of schedule. I’m very, very hopeful it’s going to happen.”
According to a theatrical superstition, speaking the name “Macbeth” inside a theatre will cause disaster. A variation of the superstition also forbids quoting it within a theatre except as part of an actual rehearsal or performance of the play, and some believe that involvement with the material is inherently risky (though if Branagh and Scorsese can survive the musical curse of “Love’s Labour’s Lost” and “New York, New York,” they should be just fine.).
But the film is likely to be a few years away from fruition, as Scorsese is currently filming “Silence” in Taiwan. Meanwhile, another film version of “The Scottish Play,” starring Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard, is set for release in 2015.
