Macbeth opened on Broadway this week and the play’s director believes that the story really is the foundation for what became Breaking Bad….
William Shakespeare’s dramas and comedies have become the template for many modern storytelling efforts over the last century.
The most recent interpretation comes courtesy of Kurt Sutter and his outlaw biker opus ‘Sons of Anarchy‘, which he has stated on numerous occasions gained its inspiration from the great Shakespeare tragedy ‘Hamlet’.
Another of Shakespeare’s classic tragedies is now on Broadway with actor Ethan Hawke leading the cast of the play ‘Macbeth’.
The story of an ambitious would-be-king doing anything and everything he can to ascend to the crown is a classic tale of power and deception, and the director of the play says the story is really the foundation of another famous television show that just recently ended.
Director Jack O’Brien spoke to Variety after opening night and said that Macbeth is ‘the original template for ‘Breaking Bad.’ It’s a good man gone bad for a fairly understandable reason.”
It’s hard to say if creator Vince Gilligan actually based his story off of the famous Shakespeare play, but it is fun to think about the similarities between the two lead characters.
It would be interesting to hear Macbeth tell Lady Macbeth that he is the one who knocks. I guess we’ll just have to wait for Broadway to see if it happens.
