Hirsch, Hardwicke booked for updated "Hamlet"

Emile Hirsch attends a news conference for the film ''Taking Woodstock'' by director Ang Lee at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival May 16, 2009.

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Emile Hirsch will play Hamlet in a modern take on the Bard's play that the actor helped to conceive.

"Twilight" and "thirteen" director Catherine Hardwicke, who worked with Hirsch on "Lords of Dogtown," will helm the project for Liberty Media-owned studio Overture Films.

Overture said it is awaiting a finished script in the coming months from Ron Nyswaner, best known for penning Oscar winner "Philadelphia."

Like Shakespeare's original work, the new "Hamlet" will center on a young man who must decide whether to kill his uncle to avenge the death of his father, but this version will be set in contemporary America.

Producers Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen ("Milk") said their "goal is to present the story as a suspense thriller. We want to make it exciting and accessible for an audience today."

Among recent big-screen versions of Shakespeare are the teen movie "10 Things I Hate About You," a retelling of "Taming of the Shrew," and the Ethan Hawke-starring "Hamlet" update that focused on corporate politics in New York.

(Editing by Sheri Linden at Reuters)