Hugo Weaving to star in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure adaptation

Australian actor Hugo Weaving will star in the feature film M4M. The ensemble romantic drama is a contemporary take on Shakespeare’s play Measure for Measure, set within Melbourne’s Housing Commission flats.

The production reunites Damian Hill and Paul Ireland, the creative team behind the critically acclaimed 2015 feature Pawno. M4M has secured principal production investment from Screen Australia in association with the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) Premiere Fund. Film Victoria provided development and production support.

Hill and Ireland are producing the film and have co-written the script. Ireland will also be taking on directing duties. Ian Kirk, Bryce Menzies, Tony Nagle and Clement Dunn are acting as executive producers. Bankside Films is attached for international sales.

Ireland said: “The script for me is always the most important part of the process, the foundation of everything. Damian and I have spent the last two years pouring a lot of love, laughter, frustration, care and emotion into the writing of M4M, resulting in what I feel is a very relevant emotive story and world that deserves to be shared and shown – a world that is often ignored as people are happy to sit in ignorance and let the sun shine or the rain fall, thinking it doesn’t affect them.”

M4M tells the unlikely love story of a modern Muslim woman Jaiwara and local loner musician Claudio, set amongst the tense background of Melbourne’s housing estates. Looming large is local crime figure Duke (played by Weaving) and his rival Farouk, Jaiwara’s gangster brother.

Casting for M4M is currently under way, with filming to commence in Melbourne in September.