Emile Hirsch to Play Hamlet in Modern-Day Film Adaptation

Rising film star Emile Hirsch will be the next leading man to bring the coveted role of Hamlet to the big screen, according to Variety. A modern-day adaptation of the Shakespearean classic is currently being developed by Overture Films, with megahit Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke at the helm. Ron Nyswaner, the screenwriter behind films including Philadelphia and The Painted Veil, has signed on to adapt the famous tragedy, which will be moved from Denmark to be set in contemporary America.

Hirsch will join the ranks of actors including Kenneth Branagh, Mel Gibson, Ethan Hawke, Nicol Williamson, Christopher Plummer and Laurence Olivier in playing the epic part on film. The play was recently revived for The Public Theater’s 2008 Shakespeare in the Park season, starring Michael Stuhlbarg in the title role.

Hirsch’s onscreen credits include The Girl Next Door, Lords of Dogtown, Alpha Dog, Into the Wild, Speed Racer, Milk, and the upcoming Taking Woodstock. Producers Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen credited the performer with the idea for a modernized adaptation, noting that there has yet to be a big-screen version starring an “appropriately aged actor” in the title role. The play was previously adapted for film and set in modern day New York City in a 2000 release starring Hawke as Hamlet, Bill Murray as Polonius, Liev Schreiber as Laertes and Julia Stiles as Ophelia.

The films reunites Hirsch with the Jinks and Cohen, who produced Milk, as well as Hardwicke, his former Lords of Dogtown director.