One of Shakespeare's most famous plays (and, indeed, one of the world's) 'Macbeth' is on its way to the big screen, with Michael Fassbender in the long-coveted role of the eponymous Scottish nobleman, whose mind becomes poisoned by greed, fear and guilt.

Marion Cotillard and Michael Fassbender in 'Macbeth'Michael Fassbender stars as the tyrannical Macbeth

For an Oscar nominated star like Fassbender, such a prominent role might seem like an easy ride - but this is a character who's been continuously re-played over 400 years, so his re-invention came with its challenges. But Fassbender wasn't about to give up the opportunity to portray him on the big screen in Justin Kurzel's adaptation.

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'It was comprehensively engaging', he says of receiving the script. 'It's an amazing piece of writing and you'll only get one chance to do it. So I tried to be as well-prepared as I could be, making sure I uncovered every stone so that I'm not leaving anything wanting at the end of the day.'

Michael Fassbender in 'Macbeth''Macbeth' is the latest in a string of major films for Fassbender

'Macbeth' is the story of a Duke who meets three witches in battle, who can seemingly see the future. He is told he will become King of Scotland, and so, with the help of his wife Lady Macbeth, he proceeds to murder the current King to gain power. However, over the course of his reign, he is continually overpowered by feelings of guilt and mistrust as he turns from a man of loyalty, to one of tyranny.

Thus, part of Fassbender's preparation involved some seriously deep psychological analysis into the mind of, not only a man from a completely different era, but a deeply disturbed and troubled individual. 'Justin discovered early on that the character was suffering from PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder]', he reveals. 'And so he's already having hallucinations and there's a certain element of psychosis there. That runs right through to the banquet scene where he says to himself, essentially: if anybody here knows me, then they know I have these strange fits. So that was obviously part of the man before the events of the play, and I thought that was a really helpful key into finding him, his reality and what's going on inside his head.'

Marion Cotillard in 'Macbeth'Marion Cotillard is also on board as Lady Macbeth

'Macbeth' premiered at Cannes Film Festival 2015 and was subsequently nominated for the Palme d'Or Prize. It seems Fassbender has given himself quite a few more award opportunities for the future too, as he will also star in the official biographical drama 'Steve Jobs' and the star-studded music drama 'Weightless', not to mention 'Prometheus 2', 'Assassin's Creed' and 'X-Men: Apocalypse'.

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'Macbeth' hits UK theatres in October 2015.

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