Shakespeare Must Die
| Shakespeare Must Die | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Ing Kanjanavanit |
| Produced by | Manit Sriwanichpoom |
Running time | 176 minutes |
| Country | Thailand |
| Language | Thai |
Shakespeare Must Die (Thai: เชคสเปียร์ต้องตาย) is a 2012 Thai adaptation of William Shakespeare's Macbeth. It was directed by Ing Kanjanavanit and produced by Manit Sriwanichpoom. The Yingluck Shinawatra government banned the film as a national security threat due to the film's visual references to the paramilitary's violent crackdown on student protesters in the Thammasat University massacre of 6 October 1976.
The Thai-language film tells the story of a theatre group in a fictional country resembling Thailand that is staging a production of Macbeth, in which an ambitious general murders his way to the Scottish throne.
One of the film's main characters is a dictator named "Dear Leader", who bears a resemblance to former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup.