Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke is mining the classics for her next gig. Overture Films has hired her to direct a new version of Hamlet which will star Emile Hirsch as Hamlet.

As you’d expect, it’s Hamlet with a twist. The screenplay being written by Ron Nyswaner will take Shakespeare’s seminal play and set it in the modern day. They’ll strip away all the royalty stuff and focus on Hamlet as the story of a young man deciding whether or not to take revenge on his uncle for murdering his father. Since it’s Hardwicke and they’re modernizing it, expect this to be pretty heavy on the teen angst.

According to producers Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen it will also be a “suspense thriller” as well as “exciting and accessible for an audience today”. I suspect that’s code for none of that “thee” and “thou” stuff.

Some of you may remember Baz Lurhman’s Romeo + Juliet, which took a similar approach to Bill Shakespeare’s other most famous play by turning the Montagues and Capulets into rival gangs set in the modern day. Lurhman however, kept all the flowery ancient language while plopping it down in a modern setting. Baz kept it poetic while this new Hamlet seems more interested in skewing towards contemporary mystery/revenge movie.

Want more Twilight connections? Kristen Stewart appeared in 2007’s Into the Wild with Emile Hirsch. Kristen Stewart for Ophelia anyone? Crazy seems like something she could pull off.