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Oscar-winning director Aneil Karia (Surge, The Long Goodbye) reunites with actor + co-winner Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal, Rogue One) for a new rendition of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
The setting (modern London) may be familiar, but the similarities stop there. Writer Michael Lesslie’s (Macbeth) adaptation will take the titular character out of Denmark. The film reimagines Hamlet as a member of a wealthy British-Indian family. This introduces new layers of complexity to his journey of revenge and introspection.
The film, still in pre-production, will be produced in a joint effort from Lesslie’s Storyteller Films, Ahmed’s Left-Handed Films, and producer Jim Wilson (Under The Skin). Morfyyd Clark (Saint Maud) and Joe Alwyn (The Favourite, Harriet) are also attached. They will play Ophelia and Laertes, respectively.
Ahmed and Kiara told DEADLINE that as South Asians, they often felt ‘outside’ Shakespeare growing up. They said they simultaneously identified deeply with his recurring themes of honor, family, and duty. Ahmed hails from a Pakistani-British family in Wembley, London. Karia is British-Indian and currently based in London.
Speaking to DEADLINE, they said, “…Our aim is to bring Hamlet to life by setting it in our own community. We want to crack this timeless story open for a wider audience – with a diverse cast, a contemporary London setting, and by injecting classical verse with the energy of rap, a genre which we have both worked in for years.”
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