She went from the Bible to Stephanie Meyer and now she’s finally working with a great writer’s work. Having been dumped from the Twilight franchise, Catherine Hardwicke has selected her next film project: a modernized version of Hamlet starring her Lords of Dogtown star Emile Hirsch. And, of course, everyone has jokes that this umpteenth adaptation of the Shakespeare tragedy will be filled with vampires. But clearly Hardwicke is trying to get away from the series that left her behind. Instead of moving on to a more Twilight-related play like Romeo and Juliet or A Midsummer Night’s Dream, she has gone for the great Danish prince.

Of course, having already seen Hamlet updated to modern times, I would be happier if Hardwicke was making a high school-set version (this one will supposedly take place at a college), since my favorite contemporary takes are those adapted to teenage characters (see 10 Things I Hate About You, O and even She’s the Man). Maybe nobody wants to go there since Focus Features bombed so badly last year with the high school-set Hamlet 2.

I doubt many Twilight fans care about what Hardwicke does next — unless she casts Robert Pattinson as Horatio — but the film blogs think she should cater to their needs. Check out their responses to this news after the jump:

• Amos Barshad at Vulture goes for the obvious Twilight joke:
  

  The movie will be set in modern-day America and will revolve around a young man deciding whether to kill his uncle to avenge his father. Just to be safe, the young man will also be a vampire.

• Elisabeth Rappe at MTV Movies Blog somehow sees a parallel between Twilight and Hamlet:
  

  It’s a grand tradition that Hardwicke and Hirsch are entering into, and it’s always interesting to see how someone puts their stamp on the Bard. After all, “Hamlet” features ghosts, insanity and bloody murder… aren’t vampires all the rage these days?

• Steven Zeitchik at Risky Biz Blog is also too caught up with typecasting and typedirecting:
  

  Our first thought was: So Ophelia will be a vampire, and Hamlet a quirky gay leader who leaves society to climb mountains but returns to sue the hell out of his discriminatory employer?

  The studio confirmed that this was not, in fact, the case.

• Monika Bartyzel at Cinematical addresses the producers’ desire to make this adaptation very accessible:
  

  Taking into account Hardwicke’s track record, I wonder — all-age thriller, or Hamlet for the teen girl crowd?

• Jeremy Kay at the Guardian Film Blog has some fun ideas for how this version can be modern and different than all the past adaptations:
  

  Perhaps Hamlet’s dying father shoots off a tweet about the manner of his murder most foul, only to use up all his 140 characters before he can reveal the identity of the assailant. He takes his secret to the grave, forcing dozens of Twitter followers to become cyber-sleuths and exeunt in pursuit of clues…I believe bold imagination is the way to go. Make Ophelia a schizophrenic bull dyke with a morbid fear of water. Turn Hamlet into a criminal kingpin. Make the family members gold-digging contestants on a reality TV show. Make everyone a ghost except Hamlet’s father, à la The Others. Heck, chuck a few zombies in there – it’s all the rage these days.

• Devin Faraci at CHUD.com also makes a Twitter joke in his headline (”RT @MELANCHOLY DANE: 2 B/NOT 2 B?”) and suggests a retitling:
  

  A suspense thriller? I guess you can pull that off in the modern day when most of the kids haven’t heard of Shakespeare, let alone read (or seen) Hamlet. What Jinks and Cohen don’t mention, though, is their early thoughts on retitling the film: The Emo Prince.

• Chris Hewitt at Empire sees this as right up Hardwicke’s alley:
  

  Hardwicke, of course, specialises in movies about tortured youths, and they don’t come much more tortured or youthful than Shakespeare’s Danish prince who, over the course of the legendary play, experiences events – mostly involving death, betrayal and supernatural visions – that make him go quite doolally.

• Adam Rosenberg at MTV Movies Blog has some casting ideas, mostly consisting of Twilight stars. He names Robert Pattinson for Laertes:
  

  Well duh. He’s super-hot right now, everyone wants a piece and Hardwicke has an in. RPattz would be great for Laertes, the unfortunate soul who is tricked into killing Hamlet with a poison-tipped sword at the end of the play. Laertes is a complex character and he has some hefty scenes.

• Anne Thompson at Thompson on Hollywood has a few casting suggestions for the female parts:
  

  Who should play Gertrude? Glenn Close (whoops, she starred in Zeffirelli’s version)? Meryl Streep? Susan Sarandon? Angelica Huston? And Ophelia? Olivia Thirlby? Ellen Page? Anna Paquin?

• Finally, thanks must go out to Simon Dang at The Playlist for finding that early (non-official) Hamlet movie poster at Hardwicke’s website.