Christina Ricci will star alongside Jack Thompson in an indigenous urban drama set in Sydney’s aboriginal enclave of Redfern, producers said Friday, June 15, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Thompson will also executive produce Around The Block, the story of Liam, played by Hunter Lochard Page, an indigenous boy who is torn between his dream of acting and following in the footsteps of his criminally minded brother.

Ricci stars as energetic, idealistic American drama teacher Dino Chalmers who finds herself teaching at Redfern High School in an inner city suburb that is notorious for its tough indigenous inhabitants, history and lifestyle.

She attempts to stage a production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet with her class, and by comparing the rhyming couplets of Shakespeare’s dialog to those of famous hip-hop artists, an alternative world of parallels emerges.

“This is a story about freedom, the ability to choose one's own path in life and create one's own destiny," said debut feature writer-director Sarah Spillane. "As Liam is lead down two opposing paths by his criminally minded brother and optimistically inspiring drama teacher, he becomes painfully aware that he must make a decision that will shape his life forever.”

Other cast to join what is billed as a universal “feel good movie infused with the true gritty reality of contemporary urban life” include Matt Nable, Ruby Rose, Madeline Madden, Mark Coles Smith, Dan Henshall and Damien Walshe-Howling.