16/10/2012 - The Swedish production house partners with Johnny Depp's Infinitum Nihil to develop a modern TV series of the Bard's works by US three-time Emmy winner Tom Fontana

Swedish production house Yellow Bird, which made The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo [+see also:
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film profile] (2009) and the rest of Swedish author Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy, has partnered with Johnny Depp's production company Infinitum Nihil to develop a television series with US writer-producer Tom Fontana based on the plays of William Shakespeare.

Written by Randall Fontana (no relation to TF), the series is described as being a modern take on the Bard's best-known plays and characters – "building on the existing characters and plots from several of his most notable plays".

"We are very excited about this opportunity to modernise Shakespeare to an international audience with Depp's company and Fontana – it is a unique opportunity," said Yellow Bird Executive Producer Ole Søndberg.

Credited for among others Hugo, Dark Shadows and The Rum Diary, Infinitum Nihil, which is run by Depp's production partner (and sister) Christi Dembrowski, is currently working on US director Gore Verbinski's The Lone Ranger, with Depp in the lead.

It will produce the series with Yellow Bird, while Fontana will executive produce. A three-time Emmy winner, Fontana, who has 22 titles to his back, is the creator/executive producer of BBC's US drama Copper and the French-German drama Borgia.

Besides Millennium, Yellow Bird has backed 26 Swedish films from Swedish author Henning Mankell's Wallander thrillers, also collaborating on the Kenneth Branagh TV series. The producer of Norwegian blockbuster, Morten Tyldum's Headhunters [+see also:
trailer
film profile], it is now shooting Swedish director Daniel Alfredson's mystery drama, Echoes from the Dead.