The Tragedy of Macbeth, an American black-and-white film based on William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, will be released by Apple Original Films and entertainment company A24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday.
Ahead of the film’s global launch on Apple TV, it will be released in the theatres worldwide later this year by A24 production and distribution house.
The drama film will be the solo directorial debut of Joel Coen. Coen and his brother Ethan Coen have won six Academy Awards for Fargo and No Country for Old Men.
The Tragedy of Macbeth features Denzel Washington, who won two Academy Awards for Glory and Training Days, along with Frances McDormand, who recently won her fourth Academy Award for Nomadland. McDormand is known for her roles in Fargo and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.
The Tragedy of Macbeth’s cast also includes Bertie Carvel, Alex Hassell, Corey Hawkins, Kathryn Hunter, Harry Melling and Brendan Gleeson. The film’s technical crew includes Bruno Delbonnel as the cinematographer, Mary Zophres as the costume designer and Carter Burwell as the music composer. The Tragedy of Macbeth is produced by Coen along with McDormand and Robert Graf.
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According to a report by Indiewire, McDormand said, “I think a very important thing about Joel’s adaptation is that we are not calling it Macbeth, 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 in our adaptation the Macbeths are older. Both Denzel and I are older than what is often cast as the Macbeths. We’re postmenopausal, we’re past childbearing age. So that puts pressure on their ambition to have the crown. I think the most important distinction is that it is their last chance for glory.”
Coen said that the film can be considered a thriller and added that he’d be taking the “ticking-clock” nature of his adaptation and infusing it into the music of the film.
Apple Original Films and A24’s critically acclaimed films include On The Rocks from Academy Award winner Sofia Coppola, and starring Rashida Jones and Bill Murray; the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize winner Boys State, which also won two Critics Choice Documentary Awards and the SXSW Louis Black Lone Star Award; and the upcoming adaptation of The Sky is Everywhere, directed by Josephine Decker and starring Grace Kaufman, Cherry Jones and Jason Segel.