Interview by Ben Falk
Macbeth – or The Scottish Play – is one of Shakespeare’s most well-known tragedies, studied by schools across the country. So how do you present such a monumental play on camera? Here, BAFTA-winning producer Iain Canning (Hunger, The King’s Speech) shares how his team adapted it for the big screen…
Canning: I’ve always felt there was an audience and an interest in bringing [Shakespeare] to the big screen. When I first moved to London after university, I worked at a place called Renaissance Films [which] produced [Kenneth Branagh’s] Much Ado About Nothing and Henry V. Those posters were pride of place on the wall and so I felt that if I ever ended up running my own production company, I would make a Shakespeare in the way those had been. But the difference now is you have to come at it by saying, ‘how do I attract an audience that’s not necessarily the same target market for seeing this on stage?’
We had sent the script to Michael Fassbender. We desperately wanted him to play Macbeth. He’s got a wonderfully varied CV where he’s worked in big-budget, but also worked on Shame and Hunger and been incredibly supportive of British film. We wanted acting talent who could bridge that spectrum.
And we wanted a director who would totally respect the beautiful language and legacy of the play, but at the same time really wrestle with what makes this story filmic. In his first film Snowtown, the director Justin Kurzel showed he was incredibly skilled at taking characters who were heroes in their hometown and looking at what happens within the community when those characters are doing evil things.
With Macbeth, film language allowed us to tell the story in a different way. In the play, you normally leap over the first battle because of the limitations of the stage. We could actually film it. That helped us, not necessarily to sidestep the audience’s expectations, but to fulfil people’s need for it to be truly cinematic, to justify them going to the cinema.
The film’s a 15 [certificate], so for the younger end of the GCSE market it might not be appropriate, but as people get into A-levels and beyond this will be an opportunity to grapple with the text in a new way. Two of my friends who are A-level English Literature teachers texted me to say thank you for two hours of peace, so that was encouraging! It feels like most generations have had a moment when Macbeth has come together in an iconic way. Hopefully we are that version for now that Polanski’s was in the 70s.
Iain Canning's CV
How did you start?
I was a runner at Renaissance Films in Soho and then got promoted through that company. Pretty soon after that, I started working with an Australian distributor called Dendy Films and the sales agency Becker International. I was lucky enough to be an executive producer on Hunger and Control through that.
How difficult was it when you started your own company?
It was excitingly terrifying when [Emile Sherman] and I created See-Saw six years ago. We felt that by having the UK and Australian side of production, there was at least a fighting chance we would make a film in one territory or the other. We had no clue how quickly the company would build, or how many films we would make in that time.
You’ve worked with him several times now, so is Michael Fassbender always your go-to actor?
I think Michael Fassbender is everybody’s go-to actor.
You won the Best Picture Oscar for The King’s Speech. Do you still dream about walking up on the stage?
Four hours after I finished celebrating winning the Oscar, I was on a plane going back to do a night shoot on Shame. The King’s Speech, with all its wonderful success, formed a part of us defining ourselves as a company.
Do you mind still answering questions about it?
Thankfully, I’m not saying ‘yes it was great but I haven’t worked since!’
- Macbeth is in cinemas now.
