The latest film version of Shakespeare’s classic Macbeth is currently in pre-production.  The film, directed by Justin Kurzel (The Snowtown Murders) to set to feature Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard as two of the Bard’s most famous characters.  Reports have confirmed that The Weinstein Company have snapped up North American distribution rights after a fierce bidding war with Fox Searchlight Pictures.  The film is being produced by Iain Canning and Emile Sherman, who won the Best Picture Oscar for 2010’s The King’s Speech, a film also shepherded by the skillful Weinstein Company publicity machine.The film is being adapted by Jocob Koskoff and Todd Louiso.  Fassbender, who is currently receiving great reviews for his performance as the duplicitous slave owner in Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave and is starring in Ridley Scott’s The Counselor, heading to theaters this week, has become one of the most ubiquitous actors in recent years – he currently has no fewer than seven films in various stages of development.  He recently made news over his decision to not campaign for awards for this seasons race (something of which frequently more and more rare for actors appearing in buzzy titles) and asks of question of whether or not this may or may not conflict with the aggressive campaign strategy made famous by The Weinstein Company’s marketing guru Harvey Weinstein.

Cotillard, an Oscar-winner for her performance as Edith Piaf in her breakout film La Vie en Rose, was a late-minute addition to this new version of MacBeth, replacing the previously cast Natalie Portman as the agenda-filled Lady MacBeth.  She will next be seen on screens in The Immigrant and Blood Ties, both of which premiered at Cannes last May and are expected to release early in 2014.

The latest Macbeth follows other notable adaptations of the play, most memorably the 1948 Orson Welles and a 1971 film version directed by Roman Polanski.