Denzel Washington will say “Macbeth” any damn time he pleases
The Tragedy Of Macbeth star shows Stephen Colbert that he genuinely ain't afraid of no ghosts
TV News Denzel Washington
The Tragedy Of Macbeth might be courting a few theatrical curses. The big screen Shakespeare adaptation is being released on Christmas Day, where it’ll compete with a little movie called The Matrix Resurrections (releasing a few days earlier). Plus, the black and white drama is the very first film directed by a Coen brother (Joel) without the other (Ethan) being involved, which is the sort of epic brother-brother split that classical tragedies are made from. (The Matrix sequel also represents a sibling’s first directorial outing apart from their lifelong directing partner, for added parallel weirdness.)
Still, Oscar and Tony winner Denzel Washington isn’t having any of your namby-pamby theatrical superstition when it comes to his starring role (alongside the equally formidable Frances McDormand) in Coen’s film. “I’m a God-fearing man, I don’t play that,” a smiling Washington told Stephen Colbert on Wednesday’s Late Show, adding defiantly, “I don’t believe in ghosts.” Colbert, while noting that the Ed Sullivan Theater is, indeed, right smack on Broadway, quickly joined in, with the two even acting out the play’s most arguably famous speech for good measure.
With Washington holding up his hands in director’s framing, he pushed his imaginary camera in for a closeup as Colbert recited the opening lines of Act 5, Scene 5 by memory. And sure, self-described non-actor Colbert (what, he’s never seen himself in The Love Guru?) stumbled over a line, but, in the end, Washington gave the host a congratulatory high-five for delivering a creditable performance as Shakespeare’s ambitiously villainous monarch. Again, on Broadway, no less. It counts.
For Washington, Shakespeare’s nothing new, of course. He shouted out his holiday box office rival Keanu Reeves for their joint appearance as brothers Don Pedro and Don John in Kenneth Branagh’s 1993 Much Ado About Nothing, with Colbert quizzing the actor on his many Shakespearean stage roles. Noting that he prepared for his first Shakespearean lead in Othello by listening to Sir Laurence Olivier’s stage version on LP in the Fordham University library, Washington told Colbert that his late mother was always front and center for his starring roles.
“She didn’t get cheated,” Washington said of his mother, Lennis, who died at the age of 97 in June. With Colbert quoting Freud’s dictum, “A son who believes himself to be his mother’s favorite has a lifelong confidence that nothing can shake,” Washington countered by saying that, “A mother is a son’s first true love. A son, especially that first son, is a mother’s last true love.” Washington momentarily paused to collect himself, with Colbert offering his guest a handy tissue as the esteemed actor confessed, “I didn’t cry at her funeral,” and joking to the host, “I guess I saved it up for you.” Reflecting on his mom, Washington sagely advised Colbert’s audience, “Love ’em, hug ’em.” And you’ll all excuse us if there’s something in our eye.
A24's The Tragedy Of Macbeth opens in theaters and will be available for streaming on Apple TV+ on January 14.
39 Comments
Asked for a comment, Ellen Pompeo said “Listen, motherfucker, you will respect Broadway tradition.”
Macbeth motherfucker!
I would love to know how Keanu Reeves came to be in a Kenneth Branagh-directed Shakespeare movie. It reminds me of that movie whose name escapes me where the running joke was that Bruce Willis and Julia Roberts were asked to be in every fake movie discussed in the real movie.
The Player with Tim Robbins
The Robin with Tim Player
“The Player,” 1992, Robert Altman!
Robert Altman’s The Player, with Tim Robbins and Vincent D’onofrio.
and Vincent “Vitamin D” D’onofrio.
The Player.
The Player
Ocean’s 12?edit: or maybe The Player?
it was The Player. Thanks for playing!
Did you know Keanu once played Hamlet in a Winnipeg stage production. This was in 1995, when he was already famous.Today’s “thing that actually happened that makes no sense”.
That event was the basis for the superlative Canadian series “Slings And Arrows,” just FYI. Also FYI: Emily VanDerWerff did amazing reviews of the show’s three seasons here at the AV Club. https://www.avclub.com/tv/reviews/slings-and-arrows
Between that and Due South, Paul Gross is a national treasure (of Canada)
that’s a good show, but its sexual politics were pretty backwards
He was billed as “Chuck Spadina”
I respect that at one point he was really trying to be an actor despite his obvious limitations, and I also respect that as he has gotten older he has said “fuck it” and embraced his movie star bona fides and stuck with great but mindless action films, and also that he seems like a genuinely nice, generous guy.
as I recall one review said that he remembered all his lines and in the right order
So significantly better than I would do.
I love Branagh’s movies. Seeing his Henry V and Much Ado About Nothing were really what woke me up to enjoying Shakespeare. But he did have an urge to populate his film with famous American actors in smaller roles that mostly served to distract me whenever they popped up. I wonder if he was able to wrangle more money for the budget by putting them in there. Keanu and Michael Keaton in Much Ado. And Hamlet, with Jack Lemmon, Billy Crystal, and Robin Williams. I love Jack Lemmon, but man he did not belong there.
I guess the “win” there from a cultural perspective was that Branagh woke one person up to the greatness of Shakespeare? (or maybe like the rest of us he enjoyed hanging out with fun, attractive, charismatic Hollywood types while making his movies? Hmmm…)
It’s easily imagined: Keanu brought younger viewers and possible box office bump, plus making the suits happy. Keanu was a pretty bad actor back then, but I truly enjoy him now. But his Don Jon was pretty terrible.Branagh is very show bizzy and not averse to stunt casting. He cast Alicia Silverstone in his Love’s Labours Lost (possibly to get in her pants).
Reeves is actually not bad in this movie. Yes, he was undoubtedly cast due to his status as a box office draw and he’s not the most masterful Shakespearean actor. But he was perfectly fine in his role as an antagonist. Much better here than he was in Dracula.
Non-actor? His Mr. Noblet is incredible.
I did tech on a local production of Macbeth several years ago. The number of people who would only refer to it as “The Scottish Play” drove me nuts. I kept trying to goad people into saying the name but by god they never budged.
And, I don’t think that if Matrix Resurrections opened on a different day it would really mean a big jump in their opening day box office. Its Shakespeare.
Wow, you’re SO cool!
While I get that the whole ‘the Scottish play’ thing, which we successfully shipped over The Pond to you guys, is a tad annoying. I’d say it’s not that much different to folks saying ‘bless you’ after someone sneezes.That’s a weird habit, if one thinks about it.
In college I was in a particularly drama-filled (the bad kind) production of “Cry of Players” which is a fictionalized account of early Shakespeare’s life. The handful of us who had our shit together would say “Good Luck, Macbeth” before every show to each other. Against all odds and curses, the production managed to actually not be a disaster.And I believe the curse is to not say “Macbeth” during another production. Because Macbeth was so popular that saying it would cause your production to go under, and the theatre would mount the immensely popular Macbeth in its stead. So not saying it during Macbeth is stupid (it’s stupid anyway, of course).
Are you allowed to speak the character’s name as a person, as opposed to the name of the play as a whole?
““I’m a God-fearing man, I don’t play that,””OK, cool.““I don’t believe in ghosts.””
Um, yeah. You do.
Rowan Atkinson approves.
Saved me the trouble.
Denzel can say “Macbeth” as long as he remembers “the stance”* and “the roar”. *Just as long as he doesn’t stand too heroically, as he would risk disappointing his future queen!
All of this fuss over nothing. Sir Patrick Stewart himself has ruled that if you have played the role of Macbeth, then “the Scottish Play” curse does not apply to you.
And if you can’t trust Sir Patrick Stewart, then civilization is well and truly over.
Yeah, but [spoiler] look what happened to, you know, Macbeth.
You overlooked the best part, where Colbert threw out a line from Hamlet and Denzel finishes the speech!
To die, to sleep. To sleep perchance to dream. Ay, there’s the rub… Ha ha, rub! For in that sleep of death what dreams may come… must give us pause… make us bear those… uh, I’ve forgotten. Huh… I know I’m depressed about something. Uh-ba-da-da… mother dead… no, *father* dead, mother alive, kind of a sexy thing with the mom, uncle probably killed my father, girlfriend crazy as a loon, her father’s a chatterbox, I killed him… ah, this is all too complicated.
Update: Actor Denzel Washington immediately breaks leg following interview