We also encourage Kurzel to interpret "sisters" in a liberal manner—why do these forces of darkness have to be women? Isn't there enough evil estrogen floating around with Lady Macbeth? We understand that the novelty of casting male witches might overshadow their performances, so we propose a mix of genders, perhaps two girls and one boy. For the male witch, we suggest newcomer Max Fowler, whose razor-sharp cheekbones could slice a melon. Or a "pilot's thumb."

Joel Edgerton is gradually becoming one of our favorite actors. We've seen him play the good brother in Warrior, and we're about to see him play an evil cad in The Great Gatsby. We'd like to see him as Banquo, Macbeth's best friend and comrade in arms whom he later (spoiler) kills.

Photo by Todd Cole, Interview, May 2006.

Good news for Macbeth: no man of woman born can kill him. Bad news for Macbeth: Macduff is not of woman born (it was a Caesarian section). We'd like to see Vincent Cassel fight Michael Fassbender to the death as Macbeth's nemisis Macduff.

Dakota Fanning is no longer a child—a fact we had to accept when we watched her make out with Peter Sarsgaard wearing just her bra in Very Good Girls. That said, she is still very pale, skinny, and has blonde hair that could be made to look stringy. As the third witch, she'd bridge the gap between Onata and Max—a nice little family of disturbing abandoned youths.

Photo by Brigitte Lancome, Interview, November 2008.

Everything begins with the three witches. Their prophecy—"Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter" —unlocks a Pandora's box of ambition within the thane of Glamis, which leads to murder, murder, and more murder. Shakespeare describes the witches as "black and midnight hags" with beards, but everyone knows that the creepiest characters in film are not the gnarled old biddies, but the pallid orphan children with long, stringy hair. We hope that Kurzel takes this into consideration when casting the witches and would like to suggest child actor Onata Aprile, who shines alongside Julianne Moore and Alexander Skarsgard in What Maisie Knew.

For the token Scottish actor in the Scottish play, we nominate Dougray Scott. James McAvoy is currently playing Macbeth on stage in London, so it would be a bit of a slap-in-the-face downgrade to offer him another role, and Ewan McGregor is in enough films as it is. Dougray could be great as Duncan, the King of Scotland and Macbeth's first victim.