Ethan Hawke will star in Michael Almereyda’s modern day adaption of William Shakespeare’s play “Cymbeline,” with production starting Aug. 19 in New York City.
Producers are Anthony Katagas for Keep Your Head Productions and Michael Benaroya, who will fully finance through his banner Benaroya Pictures. Ben Sachs of Benaroya Pictures will exec produce.
International Film Trust, Benaroya’s foreign sales arm, will handle international rights.
The film will portray a battle between dirty cops and a drug dealing biker gang set in a corruption-riddled 21st century America. Shakespeare’s play centered on the daughter of the British king Cymbeline, who discovers she has secretly married a man raised in her father’s court, resulting in his banishment from the court.
“Cymbeline” will re-team Almereyda with Hawke more than a decade after their collaboration on “Hamlet” in 2000. Almereyda’s other credits include “Trance,” “New Orleans, Mon Amour” and “Nadja.”
Hawke recently starred in “The Purge” and “Before Midnight” and will be seen next in “The Getaway. He returns to the stage in November in the Lincoln Center Theatre’s production of “Macbeth,” directed by Jack O’Brien.
Popular on Variety
Benaroya’s credits include “Margin Call” and “Kill Your Darlings.” Katagas is a producer on “12 Years a Slave.”
