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).
External links