Catherine Hardwicke will direct and Emile Hirsch will star in a contemporary adaptation of Hamlet, according to media reports today.
Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen will produce while Oscar-nominated screenwriter Ron Nyswaner will adapt the Bard’s oedipal drama.
The film will be a modern-day supernatural thriller set in a small East Coast liberal arts college where Hamlet’s father is the president, reports the Hollywood Insider blog. The story will begin with Hamlet returning home for his father’s funeral, only to learn that his uncle, who has taken over his father’s post, is responsible for his father’s murder.
Hirsch worked with Jinks and Cohen on Milk and conceived the modern take on Shakespeare’s play, says Screen. Hardwicke previously directed Hirsch in Lords of Dogtown.
“Hamlet was in college when the story takes place, yet there hasn’t been a movie version with an appropriately-aged actor playing the role,” Jinks and Cohen said. “Our goal is to present the story as a suspense thriller. We want to make it exciting and accessible for an audience today.”
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