I guess this is the week for news about Shakespeare adaptations that take the Bard in unusual directions. First we told you about Julius, which transports Julius Caesar into a modern city overseen by a ganglord. Now we are getting word that a new version of Romeo and Juliet is in the works. Of course, the only real way to tell this story is to turn the star-crossed lovers into garden gnomes.

HR reports that Mr. Tumnus himself, James McAvoy, and Emily Blunt will voice the lead roles in Gnomeo and Juliet, a CGI version of…well, you know which play. The two will be gnomes in rival gardens who fall in love. Does anyone else think that the only reason they picked gnomes instead of, say, dogs or aircraft carriers is that it makes for a funny title? Other than being a really terrible idea, this whole thing sounds wonderful.

The project, which is being produced by Elton John’s movie company and will feature his music, started out at Disney but got cancelled by John Lasseter when he came over from Pixar. It then moved to Miramax back in 2006 with Kate Winslet attached. Winslet is gone now, but the project is obviously moving forward and completion is expected in 2010. John was going to write new songs with Tim Rice at some point but that went the way of Winslet and now some of his hits will be used. Hopefully, they will be sung by gnomes or maybe birdbaths, cause that’s entertainment. The script was written and re-written by guys who look like they mostly have worked in British television up to this point, but the director is Kelly Asbury. He put Shrek 2 together and has history as a Disney animator, so that’s something.