Preview:
- Robert Eggers will next adapt ‘Romeo & Juliet’
- No casting has been announced yet.
- The movie is backed by Focus Features.
Just when we thought ‘Nosferatu’ and ‘Werwulf’ writer/director Robert Eggers had locked in to direct a new take on Charles Dickens‘ ‘A Christmas Carol,’ it seems the filmmaker –– who has so far focused mostly on horror –– is actually going to tackle William Shakespeare.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, Eggers has set his next project as a take on the playwright’s tragic romance ‘Romeo and Juliet.’
The new movie has landed at regular Eggers home Focus Features after a bidding war that saw the company win over the likes of A24, Sony and Warner Bros.
Related Article: ‘Nosferatu’s Robert Eggers Adapting Charles Dickens’ ‘Christmas Carol’
What’s the story of ‘Romeo and Juliet’?
Shakespeare’s play told the ill-fated story of the titular young lovers who hail from two warring families, the Capulets and the Montagues, in the city of Verona, Italy.
Written in the 1590s, it has been one of the Bard’s more enduring and famous plays and has consistently attracted cinematic attention. Among the more notable productions have been the 1968 iteration directed by Franco Zeffirelli and the 1996’s ‘Romeo + Juliet,’ Baz Luhrmann’s modern take that starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes.
Our big question: who will Eggers’ regular collaborator Willem Dafoe play… Romeo, or Juliet? Okay, he’s more likely to be one of the parents or the priest who helps the couple, but the man can do anything!
What else does Robert Eggers have in development?
Eggers has got a few other movies bubbling away in development. On top of the more recently announced ‘Christmas Carol,’ he has a script called ‘The Knight’ he still wants to make.
There is also a sequel to 1986 fantasy adventure ‘Labyrinth’, which is still floating around somewhere.
‘Werwulf,’ meanwhile, lands in theaters on December 25th. Hairy Christmas!