‘Die In A Gunfight’: Josh Hutcherson And Kaya Scodelario To Star In Modern ‘Romeo & Juliet’ Riff
By Ben Pearson/Sept. 26, 2017 4:00 pm EST
I wouldn’t be surprised to hear those words uttered in the upcoming movie Die in a Gunfight, a riff on William Shakespeare’s classic tragedy Romeo & Juliet set in modern day that’s just cast a couple of stars from the biggest YA movie franchises around. Josh Hutcherson (The Hunger Games) and Kaya Scodelario (The Maze Runner) will play the young star-crossed lovers in this updated take that also has Helen Hunt (Twister) and Olivia Munn (X-Men: Apocalypse) on board in supporting roles. Get the latest details about Die in a Gunfight below.
The Hollywood Reporter has the casting news, providing the newest update on a project that’s been kicking around Hollywood for nearly a decade. Writers Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari sold the script immediately after graduating from NYU, and they later went on to co-write Ant-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp. (They were also part of the Transformers writers’ room and wrote a Sabrina the Teenage Witch film that never saw the light of day.) Their script for Die in a Gunfight made the Black List back in 2010, and the next year Zac Efron was attached to star in a movie version, but that ultimately fizzled. Now, six years later, the film has new life.
Here’s the synopsis (via Deadline):
The film follows two star-crossed lovers – Ben (Hutcherson) and Mary (Scodelario), who share an eagerness to break from the confines of their lives that fuels their passion for each other and leads to an all-out struggle for their love against a backdrop of corporate espionage, revenge, and a long-standing feud between their families.
Corporate espionage sounds like this movie’s way to differentiate itself from all of the other Romeo & Juliet adaptations, of which there have been many over the years: West Side Story, Tromeo & Juliet, Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet, 2013’s more traditional adaptation starring Hailee Steinfeld and Douglas Booth, and tons more.
Die in a Gunfight begins filming next month in Boston.
