Ethan Hawke is all set to take the helm and adapt author Tennessee Williams’ outlandish play ‘Camino Real’.
The story follows a young American named Kilroy as he encounters a broad range of colourful characters including Don Quixote, Esmeralda and Casanova. The play takes its title from its setting, alluded to ‘El Camino Real’, a dead-end place in a Spanish-speaking town surrounded by desert with sporadic transportation to the outside world.
Taking place in the main plaza, the play goes through a series of confusing and almost logic-defying events, including the revival of the Gypsy’s daughter (Esmeralda)’s virginity and then the loss of it again. The main theme that the play deals with is coming to terms with the thought of growing older and possibly becoming irrelevant.
Said to be a passion project for Hawke (Williams is after all his great uncle), he has previously tried to get the project up and running in Cuba. This time filming will be undertaken in Rio de Janeiro this year with the goal of wrapping production by Christmas.
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“I’ve been obsessed with the piece for years,” Hawke told Variety in an interview at Sundance. “I kept turning it over and over again in my mind. It’s part rock opera, part ‘Waiting for Godot.’ What I think Tennessee was trying to do, cinema has caught up to and can do better.”
Hawke won’t be appearing in the feature himself but is currently pulling together a cast in which he hopes Juliette Binoche will take on a leading role.
Uri Singer reunites with Hawke after working together on ‘Tesla,’ as a producer. He will also finance the picture through his company, Passage Pictures.
