Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream” new adaptation unveils cast

PanARMENIAN.Net - Rachel Leigh Cook, Paz De La Huerta, Hamish Linklater, Lily Rabe and Finn Whitrock are starring in a modern-day movie adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, Variety has learned exclusively.

Avan Jogia, Fran Kranz, Charity Wakefield and Ted Levine are also starring in the film, which completed production on Dec. 18. Producers announced the project Saturday, Apri 23 to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.

The new version takes place in present-day Hollywood where fantasy and reality collide. It’s set in a world where glamorous stars, commanding moguls, starving artists and vaulting pretenders all vie to get ahead.

Casey Wilder Mott wrote and directed the feature, marking his directorial debut. He also produced through his 5B Productions along with Joshua Skurla of Empyrean Pictures, Fran Kranz and Douglas Matejka. Executive producers are Simon Fawcett and Michael Lee Jackson.

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” will feature original music by Mia Doi Todd and Saul Williams, both of whom also appear in the film.

Cook starred in the TNT series “Perception” and De La Huerta starred in “Boardwalk Empire.” Rabe was a Tony nominee for the Shakespeare in the Park production of “The Merchant of Venice.”

Linklater starred in the Shakespeare in the Park production of “Twelfth Night” and in “The Big Short.” Wittrock also starred in “The Big Short” and was nominated for an Emmy for “American Horror Story: Freak Show.”

Mott has a decade of wide ranging experience in Hollywood, starting his career at the William Morris Agency and going on to work in scripted development at Flashlight Films, where he oversaw development of film and TV projects for Clint Eastwood, Steve Gaghan and Ed Zwick among others. Prior to his work in Hollywood, Mott was a professional theater actor who appeared on stage in a variety of Shakespearean productions.

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” has been adapted into movies numerous times, most recently in the 1999 Fox Searchlight film, which included Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, Rupert Everett, Stanley Tucci, Calista Flockhart and Christian Bale.