In the Making: Marion Cotillard as Lady Macbeth

Summary

The script discusses the challenges and excitement of French actress Marion Cotillard playing Lady Macbeth in a film adaptation. Despite English being her second language, Cotillard delves deep into Shakespeare's world, mastering the accent and verse to bring a complex and layered portrayal of the character. The narrative explores themes of ambition, despair, and the human capacity for both good and evil, aiming to evoke empathy for Lady Macbeth's tragic journey.

Takeaways

• 🌟 The actress, Marion, was thrilled to be cast as Lady Macbeth, a role she considered a dream come true.
• 🎭 The decision to cast a French actress added a unique 'foreign flavor' to the character, enriching the storytelling.
• 📚 Marion faced the challenge of mastering Shakespeare's verse, which is based on meter and different from her native French's syllable timing.
• 🤔 The process involved deep exploration into the text, seeking to understand the multiple layers of meaning in Shakespeare's language.
• 🕵️‍♀️ The actress's work was not just about the accent but also about capturing the rhythm, energy, and depth of Shakespeare's world.
• 👶 The character of Lady Macbeth is portrayed as desperate, possibly due to a loss, which drives her ambition and actions.
• 💔 The script explores the internal struggle and despair within Lady Macbeth, as well as her attempt to forge her own destiny.
• 🤝 The collaboration between the director, Justin, and Marion was characterized by a shared vision and strong connection to the character.
• 👶 The role required intense emotional investment from Marion, to the extent that it affected her personal life, including decisions about her child.
• 🏆 The script acknowledges the legacy of previous actresses who have played Lady Macbeth, adding a sense of pressure and responsibility.
• 🏆 The director, Justin, is praised for his creative vision and for bringing out an extraordinary performance from Marion.

Q & A

What was the initial reaction of the actress playing Lady Macbeth upon receiving the offer?

The actress was very surprised to get the offer because she is French, but she couldn't miss the opportunity and had no doubt about saying yes.

How did the director feel about having a French actress play Lady Macbeth?

The director found it interesting to have a foreign flavor to Lady Macbeth, which allowed them to put a character with a different nurse at the center of the story and tell a more complex narrative.

What was the main challenge for the French actress in playing Lady Macbeth?

The main challenge was not just finding the right accent and rhythm of the text, but also going deep into Shakespeare's world to understand what he wanted to convey.

How does the actress describe the process of learning Shakespeare's verse as a non-native English speaker?

The actress describes it as a massive mountain to climb, dealing with the differences between French, which is syllable-timed, and English, which is stress-timed, especially in Shakespeare's meter-based language.

What did the actress focus on to understand the complex meanings in Shakespeare's lines?

The actress worked to understand the double or triple sense of every line in English, spending weeks on some lines to grasp their meaning from an English perspective.

How did the actress's process of learning the verse change her?

The process of learning and speaking the verse changed her as she worked on it, and it was a lovely thing to hear the verse coming from her mouth in her accent, knowing it was right.

What aspect of Lady Macbeth's character did the actress find interesting to explore?

The actress found it interesting to explore the struggle inside Lady Macbeth, who is driven by despair and ambition, trying to forget the past and create her own destiny.

How does the actress view the relationship between the characters' actions and their humanity?

The actress believes that even though the characters do terrible things, they still have a heart and feel pain or devastation about their actions, suggesting that good people can also do terrible things.

What was the director's approach to creating empathy for Lady Macbeth in the audience?

The director aimed to create a strong empathy for Lady Macbeth by showing her humanity and the pain she feels, which is a key aspect of the movie.

How did the director describe the experience of working with the actress playing Lady Macbeth?

The director described the experience as incredible, praising the actress for putting everything into her role and doing an extraordinary job, creating a strong female character.

What was the director's strategy for dealing with the pressure of the historical significance of the Lady Macbeth role?

The director relied on the idea that the actress and he had a shared vision for the character, and he trusted in her ability to bring something special to the role despite its historical weight.