Denzel as Macbeth
He'll be the Scottish lord in an upcoming Coen Brothers version of 'Macbeth'.
Not saying it won't work, but that's interesting casting.
Yes. Interesting casting. Now let's see the Coens make the life story of Shaka Zulu, starring Gerard Butler as Shaka.
shareDon't be silly.
I don't have any objections to Denzel's casting, but I'm curious as to how they are going to make it work.
Will it be expressionistic, like a stage play, or will it be set in something approximating reality? Also will it be a modern day version?
If you're familiar with stage and screen adaptations of Shakespeare, you'll know that they mess with settings and have non-literal casting all the time.
Ethan Hawke wandered through a Blockbuster in an adaptation of Hamlet, and there was an all-black production of Macbeth waaaay back when Orson Welles directed it.
This is a theatrical habit dating back to when boys played the women's roles and plays set in ancient Greece had Elizabethan English sensibilities and references. You know: how Shakespeare did it.
How Shakespeare did it? Shakespeare didn't have any black dudes playing medieval Scottish kings.
share"...mess with settings..." like when Ancient Greece has the Fair Folk from medieval England.
"...have non-literal casting..." how many women played Shakespeare's leading ladies during his lifetime? And while it's possible he managed literal casting, who do you think played his Othello? Do you think he sent out a casting call for an actor from the Iberian peninsula?