Why did Roman Polanski add the bear baiting scene in his version of Macbeth?
Director Roman Polanski’s wife, actress Sharon Tate, was murdered by Charles Manson around the time of the making of the film. It is believed that due to this traumatic event, Polanski developed the story to be a more violent representation of Shakespeare’s play. For instance, the scene in which Macbeth murders King Duncan was not in the original play and was instead implied. The scene in which Macbeth’s thugs massacre Macduff’s household was based on Roman Polanski’s memory of SS officers ransacking his house as a child. Roman Polanski wanted to include a violent bear-baiting sequence but it posed all kinds of problems. The first bear they tried to use was too timid and kept running away from the dogs, while the second was uncontrollably vicious and pawed a crew member. He eventually opted for an intrepid stuntman in a bear suit, but understandably the man would only agree to a single dog being set loose on him, fearing his armored padding wouldn’t be up to the job. Polanski secretly
