A film of ''Macbeth'' with Laurence Olivier as director and in the lead role was a project for which Olivier was ultimately unable to gain financing.

Stratford-upon-Avon stage production

After making '' Richard III'' (1955), Olivier wanted to film '' Macbeth'', with himself in the

title role The title character in a narrative work is one who is named or referred to in the title of the work. In a performed work such as a play or film, the performer who plays the title character is said to have the title role of the piece. The title of ...

and his wife Vivien Leigh as his Lady. The Oliviers had performed together in the two roles on stage in a production by

John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud, (; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Brit ...

at Stratford first performed during June 1955.

Terence Rattigan Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan (10 June 191130 November 1977) was a British dramatist and screenwriter. He was one of England's most popular mid-20th-century dramatists. His plays are typically set in an upper-middle-class background.Geoffrey Wan ...

described his performance as definitive and

Kenneth Tynan Kenneth Peacock Tynan (2 April 1927 – 26 July 1980) was an English theatre critic and writer. Making his initial impact as a critic at ''The Observer'', he praised Osborne's ''Look Back in Anger'' (1956), and encouraged the emerging wave of ...

wrote that Olivier was "touched with greatness" on opening night. The response to Leigh as Lady Macbeth was more mixed. Both Tynan and Peter Hall were unimpressed with her interpretation,Terry Colema
''Olivier: The Authorised Biography''
London: Bloomsbury, 2005, p.272 although Tynan consistently deprecated her stage work.

Maxine Audley Maxine Audley (29 April 1923 – 23 July 1992) was an English theatre and film actress. She made her professional stage debut in July 1940 at the Open Air Theatre. Audley performed with the Old Vic company and the Royal Shakespeare Company many ...

, who played Lady Macduff, thought Leigh had brilliantly conveyed the character's changes of mood, and that for once the spectator could believe this couple were married.

Peggy Ashcroft Dame Edith Margaret Emily Ashcroft (22 December 1907 – 14 June 1991), known professionally as Peggy Ashcroft, was an English actress whose career spanned more than 60 years. Born to a comfortable middle-class family, Ashcroft was deter ...

thought Leigh was the best Lady Macbeth she had ever seen.

Attempts to gain funding

''Richard III'' had failed to make a profit and the death of Sir

Alexander Korda Sir Alexander Korda (; born Sándor László Kellner; hu, Korda Sándor; 16 September 1893 – 23 January 1956)Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

-winning producer

Mike Todd Michael Todd (born Avrom Hirsch Goldbogen; June 22, 1909 – March 22, 1958) was an American theater and film producer, best known for his 1956 production of '' Around the World in 80 Days'', which won an Academy Award for Best Picture. Act ...

in financing the film, but he too died, in 1958. Olivier had found and gained permission to use Scottish locations. Composer

William Walton Sir William Turner Walton (29 March 19028 March 1983) was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include ''Façade'', the cantat ...

, who had scored Olivier's previous Shakespeare films, had been commissioned for this project, and fruitlessly used his contacts to help find funds. Ultimately, Olivier's hopes of making the film were quashed. "I tried for nine months when I wanted to make a film out of ''Macbeth''," Olivier said. "I was never a producer in the accepted sense, only in the more artistic sense". Critic

Pauline Kael Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' magazine from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael's opinions oft ...

cited Olivier's failure to make a film of what was considered one of his greatest performances, to be emblematic of the perversity of Hollywood.

Rediscovered scripts

In early 2013, it emerged an English lecturer from

Exeter University , mottoeng = "We Follow the Light" , established = 1838 - St Luke's College1855 - Exeter School of Art1863 - Exeter School of Science 1955 - University of Exeter (received royal charter) , type = Public , ...

had "discovered" 13 versions of the supposedly-lost screenplay of ''Macbeth'' at the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

, part of a trove of papers bought by the Library from Olivier's family in 1999. "I was going through the catalogues and I pulled up a script and found it was ''Macbeth''," said Jennifer Barnes in January 2013. "I didn't believe it because I knew it wasn't supposed to exist". However, the screenplays had in fact been fully catalogued and accessible at the British Library since shortly after their acquisition.

References

{{Macbeth Cancelled films Films based on Macbeth Laurence Olivier