'Gone Girl' Scribe to Pen 'Modern & Accessible' Version of HAMLET

By: Caryn Robbins May. 28, 2014

Today's New York Times reports that 'Gone Girl' author Gillian Flynn will pen a new version of HAMLET for Hogarth, an imprint of Penguin Random House, joining a trans-Atlantic effort to put forth a more "modern and accessible" version of Shakespeare.

"Hamlet has long been a fascination of mine: murder, betrayal, revenge, deceit, madness-all my favorite things," Ms. Flynn said in a news release. "Add to that some of Shakespeare's most intriguing, curious characters - from the titular brooding prince to rueful Ophelia - and what (slightly cheeky) writer wouldn't be tempted to reimagine it?"

Other authors who have already signed on for the project include Margaret Atwood ("The Tempest"), Tracy Chevalier ("Othello"), Howard Jacobson ("The Merchant of Venice"), Jo Nesbo ("Macbeth"), Anne Tyler ("The Taming of the Shrew") and Jeanette Winterson ("The Winter's Tale"). Publication of the new series will be coordinated with the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death in 2016.

Since its publication in 2012, "Gone Girl" has sold sold nearly 4.5 million copies in the United States, becoming the top-selling hardcover fiction title on The New York Times best-seller list for 11 weeks. It currently leads the paperback fiction list.

A film version, starring Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry, Emily Ratajkowski and Sela Ward is now in production and will hit theaters this October.