Emile Hirsch in "Hamlet"

"The Liberty Media studio has signed up for a modern take on "Hamlet" and attached a slew of big names to pull off the task."Twilight" and "Thirteen" director Catherine Hardwicke is attached to direct, with Emile Hirsch, who helped conceive the idea, attached to star as the title character.
"Milk" producers Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen will produce via their Jinks/Cohen banner.

The company said it is awaiting a finished script in the coming months and hopes to go into production not long after.

The new "Hamlet" will center on similar themes as the original play but will be set in contemporary America. In the new version, a young man must decide whether to kill his uncle to avenge the death of his father.

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

Overture CEO and COO Chris McGurk and Danny Rosett noted that "with its universal themes of death, revenge, love and even teenangst -- the story of Hamlet is perhaps as timely and influential today as it was when it was written over 400 years ago."

Shakespeare has undergone a series of retellings in the past decade, with teen pic "10 Things I Hate About You," which was a retelling of "Taming of the Shrew",and Ethan Hawke starring in a Hamlet update that focused on corporate politics". Source: www.hollywoodreporter.com

"According to Entertainment Weekly, the idea was initially proposed by Hirsch, Nikki Reed and Emile Hirsch in "Lords of Dogtown" (2005)

who worked with Hardwicke on Lords of Dogtown.
I have more faith in Emile Hirsch, who is an underrated young actor choosing excellent roles in his rise to stardom. He’s a few steps behind Leonardo DiCaprio’s great career and at this pace he could be a formidable fixture in Hollywood for some time. I imagine his work with Sean Penn and the equally great James Franco in Milk will be even more historic in hindsight. I’m looking forward to his Hamlet, even if it has been done so many times before". Source: newsinfilm.com