When Ethan Hawke and Michael Almereyda got together last time, it was moider! Because they were making Hamlet, and that’s an unavoidable part of the plot. Now the director and actor are reuniting for more Bard offerings, as they’re planning a modern-day take on Shakespeare’s lesser-known play **Cymbeline{
The original story is full of the Bard's trademarks, including sexual deception, duelling, disguises, treachery and royals behaving badly. Almereyda has written a script that updates it all to modern-day America and fills the basic structure full of dirty cops and a drug-dealing biker gang. So very much, as the Hollywood Reporter puts it, a blend of Sons Of Anarchy (itself a take on Hamlet) and Baz Lurhmann’s Romeo + Juliet.
Cymbeline’s cameras will start rolling on August 19 in New York. Hawke was last seen in horror tale The Purge, relationship threequel Before Midnight and has crime thriller Getaway set for release here on October 4. He’s currently at work on sci-fi pic Predestination.