Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand in Talks to Join Joel Coen’s Macbeth Adaptation

Put your oven mitts on, folks. This here’s a hot one.

Deadline reports that Denzel Washington is in talks to join Frances McDormand in an adaptation of Macbeth penned by Joel Coen, who’s also directing. Yeah, let that sink in for a moment.

Besides that formidable trio (who have eight Oscars between them), past Coen brothers collaborator Scott Rudin is onboard to produce the Shakespeare adaptation, with A24 distributing. Basically, this sounds like a laboratory-engineered recipe for success, or at least something tastier than a mix of eye of newt, and toe of frog, wool of bat and tongue of dog.

A quick refresher course on Macbeth (or the “Scottish play” to all you theater nerds): The story follows the titular character, an ambitious Scottish general who believes he’s destined to take the throne after an encounter with a trio of witches. Macbeth murders his king at his wife Lady Macbeth’s behest, and all hell breaks loose. Despite being a drama, Paste rated it as the third-funniest Shakespeare play. So there’s that!

As of now, it’s still unclear who Washington and McDormand (who’s set to appear in Chloe Zhao’s forthcoming film Nomadland) will play. Let the speculation games begin.