Actor Corey Hawkins talks with Jill Munroe and the African American Film Critics Association about bringing the story of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” to contemporary audiences in the Joel Coen film “The Tragedy of Macbeth.” Hawkins co-stars as “Macduff.” The A24 film also stars Academy Award winner Denzel Washington in the lead role of the Scottish king Macbeth, Academy Award winner Frances McDormand as Lady Macbeth, Alex Hassell, and more.
Hawkins says that the themes in the film and the original play are “universal.” Hawkins believes that William Shakespeare was a poet of the streets for his time. “I look at it in the same way that I look at our heroes of the time, our lyrical geniuses,” Hawkins explained. ” From Mos Def to Snoop, to Dre and NWA, and on and on. Back in the day, they were poets of their streets. You might not be able to understand every single lyric, every spin, every iteration, but all of that plays into the images that they are conjuring up, and the feeling you get when you hear a song. I equate that same thing to Shakespeare.
