To Be...

Overture Films announced earlier this week that it is developing a modern-day adaptation of the William Shakespeare classic "Hamlet."

Emile Hirsch is all to play Hamlet for director Catherine Hardwicke.

Hamlet tells the tale of a young man faced with the decision of whether to take revenge on his father's killer (his own uncle) –

The film would take place in contemporary America-just like Baz Luhrmann's 1996 film adaptation of Romeo + Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes.

The script is being written by "Philadelphia" screenwriter Ron Nyswaner and is being produced by Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen.

Hirsch previously worked with Jinks and Cohen on last year's"Milk," and the actor also worked with Hardwicke on 2005's Lords of Dogtown.

"With its universal themes of death, revenge, love and even teen angst – the story of Hamlet is perhaps as timely and influential today as it was when it was written over 400 years ago," said Overture Films suits Chris McGurk and Danny Rosett.

"Tremendous talent is on board in the form of Emile, Catherine and Ron and we are confident – particularly with Bruce and Dan guiding the project – that this has all the right ingredients to be something special."

"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.

Hardwicke added, "I had a great time working with Emile on 'Lords of Dogtown,' so when he suggested 'Hamlet,' I was intrigued. We read the play aloud and when I heard Emile speaking Shakespeare's amazing words, I was flooded with images. We edited the play tightly, making the words extremely accessible. In our version, we're working hard to make 'Hamlet' a thrilling cinematic experience -- the violent, intense, and romantic scenes that happen 'off-stage' in the play will be shown in vivid detail."

Hirsch is a fine actor when working with good material--which Hamlet certainly is to say the least-And even though he got the ball rolling on this--The question remains: Can he pull it off?

Sir Laurence Olivier is after all the standard by which all other Hamlet's are measured...