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Hunter on Playing The Witches in THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH
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Oct 26, 2022
In the new film adaption of The Tragedy of Macbeth, Kathryn Hunter plays all three witches. BroadwayWorld caught up with Hunter to discuss playing all three witches, working with Joel Coen and Denzel Washington, and what it was like bringing the popular play to the big screen.
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0:00
Well, congratulations on your performance in this film
0:03
I was totally thrilled by just everything you did and the way you moved as the witches
0:09
What was your initial reaction when you found out that you were playing all three witches
0:14
It's been a dream for many years to work with Joel and Fran
0:21
So I couldn't have been more thrilled. I couldn't believe it. And then began a process of, okay, let's figure this out
0:30
And, but always working with Joel. So never feeling like, oh my God, how do we do this
0:37
Well, I loved the way that you embodied the characters and you had such an interesting and specific way of moving
0:46
How did you and Joel find that type of physicality and what was sort of the inspiration behind it
0:51
Joel's inspiration, he felt very strongly that they, that they were crows
0:58
and at first oh right a crow really and then he said yeah they're kind of women
1:06
they're crows and maybe even they're standing stones so working with those
1:12
provocations I call them a kind of physicality evolved and indeed a sense of
1:21
different people that she's possessed by different persona So it was bit by bit and finding the language and collaborating together
1:34
Yeah, well, speaking of collaboration, aside from a great director, you're working with such an amazing cast
1:42
What was it like working with actors like Denzel Washington and so on in this awesome film
1:49
Well, it was every moment was a lesson, was so instructive. this
1:56
he has extraordinary lightness of touch and precision in his thought and but what was wonderful is that once we started we were just locked into the scene
2:13
the interchange of the scene, and engaged on that. A fantastically warm, generous, funny man
2:26
and so gifted. it was just an honor and equally with Fran
2:35
to what chance I didn't see some of their scenes still later
2:41
but for me who is not versed so much in the film world
2:48
it was wonderful to witness the layers the layers that they were able to accomplish
2:58
in terms of the nuances of their thoughts and feelings. It was an honour to be involved in this project
3:09
Well, you've had such an extensive career on the stage with so many experiences there
3:15
What was it like adapting a play that so many people may have been familiar with
3:19
through the theatre? What was it like bringing it onto the big screen like this
3:25
bringing it onto the big scene, well, that was Joel's major achievement
3:31
And he told me that he read the play countless times. It is one of the briefest of Shakespeare's plays
3:43
So he didn't have to do much editing. He did do some, and some reshaping
3:51
replacing of the scenes, which he certainly felt was very much in Shakespeare's vocabulary
3:59
so the editing and really shifting. But it was I think the big task was to find the idiom the world in which they could live So the choice of black and white and not making it specifically Scotland
4:20
but other world is very, very powerful and makes it a film for today, for now
4:30
rather than antique, rather fusty kind of interpretation
4:41
It's, as Macbeth says, it is a tale. It is a tale, so it's very much a tale
4:49
And then Joel brings to bear all his extraordinary storytelling skills to do with the momentum and the thrill, I think
4:58
and watches the film, leaning forward, really, what's going to happen now, what's going to happen now
5:04
And it goes by so quickly. And so I think he's worked
5:12
Shakespeare may be long gone and dead, but they seem to have collaborated brilliantly
5:18
Joel and Shakespeare, okay, how do they find a new form? and a form, I think
5:28
is what Joel has found it to. So it's good. Yeah, well, speaking of that type of theatre quality
5:35
what do you think theatre audiences and Broadway fans will be excited about
5:40
and what will they love the most about this new film? They will love the immediacy
5:45
the thriller aspect, the, and I dare I say the simplicity
5:55
Because perhaps one could say that sometimes we're over flooded with imagery, you know, in our lives and at the movies, you know
6:08
And I think what Joel has done you know and is unique is that he stripped away the image and with his amazing synonym at Toprica Brunadopalel
6:25
created such an atmospheric story that we really
6:35
go into it with focus without too many old castles and this and that
6:39
but it's a very bold, stark language and that exciting in that sense
6:46
I haven't seen it. By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes
7:02
My husband. King that shall be. If we should fail. We fail
7:13
Didst thou not hear noise
7:27
He thought I heard a voice cry, sleep no more Are you a man
7:43
I am a bold one that dare look upon that which might have hauled the devil
7:58
I have no words. My voice is in my sword
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