Denzel Washington recently sat for an interview with Reuters to talk about his film "The Tragedy of Macbeth",a new adaptation of the 400-year-old play.
He plays the titular role in Joel Coen's black and white film version of the tragedy about a Scottish general who, spurred on by his wife, commits murder to access the throne.
"It just so happens as fate would have it I've never seen it. I wasn't avoiding it. I just hadn't seen it," Washington said.
"I was fortunate in that Joel and Fran and myself got together close to a year out from shooting and we started reading scenes together. We got to get into the material and ask questions and bounce off of each other and act a little bit and see how we all work together."
"That's pressure, huh? Can you imagine that - someone walks up (and says) 'Look, it's been a great play for 400 years. Don't mess it up. Good luck," Washington, who previously starred in a production of Shakespeare's "Othello", joked.
"I didn't feel that pressure. It was going to be a good play, whether I messed it up or not. It'll continue to be and it's open to interpretation. That's the great thing about Shakespeare ... it's been done every which way you can. So this was Joel's idea."