While Oscar nominated True Grit star Hailee Steinfeld’s name has swirled around several high profile titles in the last couple of month, she’s now in talks to star in the less mainstream Romeo and Juliet for Italian director Carlo Carlei. Lily Collins was previously attached to the role, though she recently landed the coveted Snow White role for director Tarsem Singh and had to drop out.
This indie version of Romeo and Juliet will be Hailee Steinfeld’s next movie, with production schedules to start sometime later this spring. Oscar-winning screenwriter Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park) is writing the screenplay for Carlo Carlei to direct. However it isn’t clear if the filmmakers are using Shakespeare’s text for the $15 million movie or if Fellowes has updated the language for the modern age.
Steinfeld is also attached to the young-adult adaptation Forgotten and an indie version of Sleeping Beauty. However Romeo & Juliet will come first, while those projects stay in development.