Scotland, PA is a 2001 film, directed and written by Billy Morrissette based on William Shakespeare's Macbeth starring James LeGros, Maura Tierney and Christopher Walken. Shakespeare's tragedy, originally set in Dunsinane Castle in 11th Century Scotland, is reworked as a dark comedy set in 1975, based around "Duncan's Cafe", a fast-food restaurant in the small town of Scotland, Pennsylvania. The choice of Pennsylvania was arbitrary, though coincides with a real town, southwest of Harrisburg, on the outskirts of Chambersburg.

Macbeth is presented as "Joe 'Mac' McBeth" (LeGros), Lady Macbeth as "Pat McBeth" (Tierney), Duncan as cafe owner "Norm Duncan" (James Rebhorn), Macduff as "Lieutenant Ernie McDuff" (Walken), and Banquo as fry cook "Anthony 'Banko' Banconi" (Kevin Corrigan). The Three Witches are presented as a trio of bohemians (Amy Smart, Timothy "Speed" Levitch, Andy Dick).

The film was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 2001.

The movie's soundtrack is made up of Bad Company songs as, in Morrissette's words, the catalogue "was surprisingly cheap to buy."

Morrissette also stated, on the DVD, that some of Tierney's dialogue are actual idioms she uses. Morrissette, who was married to Tierney at the time, states this is because he heard her saying these words or phrases while writing the script.

Details

The man walking his dog in front of the diner at the start of the film is the director, Billy Morrissette (walking his dog in real life).

The press kit for the movie was printed in the form of a Cliff Notes booklet (which is what Morrisette was reading when he was studying Shakespeare).

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