Denzel Washington Stars in Trailer for Joel Coen's First Solo Film 'Tragedy of Macbeth'

In brilliant black-and-white, Joel Coen has adapted William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth into an upcoming drama for A24 and Apple TV+.

Leading the cast in the roles of Lord and Lady Macbeth, respectively, are masters of the craft Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand. The latter is fresh off her award-winning performance as Fern in Chloé Zhao’s moving Nomadland.

For a glimpse at what Coen and company have in store ahead of the film’s December theatrical release, A24 shared a new trailer early Tuesday. Catch that up top. A plot synopsis, typically excerpted in an article like this, shouldn’t be required given that this is Shakespeare we’re talking about.

As for why this is solely a Joel Coen entry, thus marking the writer and director’s first fully solo outing, composer Carter Burwell recently elaborated on the current status of the Coen Brothers’ creative union. According to Burwell, who’s frequently collaborated with the duo of Joel and Ethan Coen, Ethan “just didn’t want to make movies anymore,” at least not for now.

“Ethan has written and produced on his own, I know, but yeah, this is the first time Joel’s directing on his own,” Burwell said on the Score podcast last month. “Ethan just didn’t want to make movies anymore. … Ethan seems very happy doing what he’s doing and I’m not sure what Joel will do after this.”