denzel washington joel coen macbeth

WATCH: Denzel Washington stars in Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth

This is the first film Joel Coen is directing without his brother Ethan.

Denzel Washington has teamed up with Joel Coen of the Coen brothers for a new adaptation of William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth. Today, distribution company A24 has released the first teaser trailer for the forthcoming film.

Denzel Washington is back in Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth

Apart from Denzel Washington in the titular role, fellow Academy Award-winner Frances McDormand will co-star as Lady Macbeth. Other cast members include Corey Hawkins (Straight Outta Compton’s Dr. Dre) and Stephen Root (Office Space’s Milton).

This is the first movie that Joel Coen is directing without his brother Ethan. Carter Burwell, the directorial duo’s longtime composer, offered some insight as to why Ethan was not involved this time around.

“Ethan just didn’t want to make movies anymore. Ethan seems very happy doing what he’s doing, and I’m not sure what Joel will do after this. They also have a ton of scripts they’ve written together that are sitting on various shelves. I hope maybe they get back to those. I’ve read some of those, and they are great.”

In 2019, Ethan Coen revealed that he was more focused on the world of theatre. He debuted a five-act show, A Play Is a Poem, in September of that year.

The Tragedy of Macbeth opens in theatres Dec. 25 and on AppleTV+ Jan 14, 2022.


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