Daisy Ridley, who stars as Rey in J.J. Abrams’ new Star Wars movies The Force Awakens and the upcoming The Last Jedi, will be in Prague in May to shoot a new movie for Australian director Claire McCarthy.
The film is titled Ophelia, and it’s a twist on Shakespeare, telling the familiar Hamlet story from the point of view of the titular character, Hamlet’s potential wife.
“It’s faithful to the original Hamlet in many ways but we’re retelling it from her point of view,” the director told The Sydney Morning Herald.
“It’s a mythic retelling – a drama with a lot of action and a lot of edge-of-your-seat elements to it.”
In the traditional storyline, Ophelia is driven mad by the murder of her father at the hands of Hamlet, and eventually drowns.
Ridley, who stars as Ophelia, will be joined in Prague by an impressive supporting cast that includes George MacKay (Captain Fantastic) as Hamlet, Naomi Watts as his mother Gertrude, and Clive Owen as his father Claudius.
Owen was previously in Prague during 2014 while shooting the critically slammed Last Knights with Morgan Freeman.
Details of the Prague shoot have yet to be revealed, but McCarthy is already in the Czech Republic in preparation for the May start date.
The director is best known for her 2009 drama The Waiting City, which starred Joel Edgerton and Radha Mitchell. Ophelia will be her third feature film.
Lead photo: Daisy Ridley in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Naomi Watts in Shut In, Clive Owen in Shadow Dancer.
