we started reading and sitting down and rehearsing it, but then the company rehearsed for about a month before we started shooting. as the director of the new york film festival told me, audiences will find joel coen�*s macbeth faithful to sha kespeare�*s original work. they'll see a film that very much connects with and hews closely to the language and the wording of the tragedy of macbeth, but it's refreshed in a certain way, refreshed with some of the people that are acting on screen, working behind the camera. this new macbeth won some great reviews and talk of possible oscar nominations for its leads, it was really seen as quite fine cinema. what's striking about this film is that it really turns shakespeare into something cinematic. it looks like a german expressionism film or something made by carl theodore dreyer, in the sense that you're looking at people's faces in this really striking detail up close, which is something that a lot of film—makers, with shakespeare in general and with macbeth are afraid