Overture Films announced it is currently developing a modern-day adaptation of the William Shakespeare classic Hamlet.

Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild, Milk) will star as Hamlet, and Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight, Thirteen) will direct.

The classic story – focusing on a young man burdened with the decision whether or not to take revenge on his father's killer (his own uncle) – would take place in contemporary America.

Screenwriter Ron Nyswaner (Philadelphia) is penning the script, having also adapted The Painted Veil from popular author W. Somerset Maugham. And producers Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, of Milk, American Beauty, and the hit television series, Pushing Daisies, have signed on to produce.

"This project was the brainchild of Emile Hirsch, who we had the pleasure of working with on Milk. 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. Our goal is to present the story as a suspense thriller. We want to make it exciting and accessible for an audience today," Jinks and Cohen said in a joint statement.

Overture hopes to have the script finished soon and then will begin production shortly after.

 —Jessica Delli Santi