Ethan Hawke to direct 'Camino Real' adaptation "

Hollywood star Ethan Hawke is set to direct a film adaptation of playwright Tennessee Williams' "Camino Real".

Uri Singer, who collaborated with Hawke on the upcoming Sundance Film Festival entry "Tesla", is attached to produce and finance the project through his banner Passage Pictures.

"I've been obsessed with the piece for years. 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, who is Williams' great-nephew, told Variety.

"It's not dissimilar to what Baz Luhrmann was aspiring to on 'Moulin Rouge'. It's just more spiritual," he added.

"Camino Real" follows a young American named Kilroy as he encounters a broad range of colourful people, some of whom, such as Don Quixote, Esmeralda and Casanova, are drawn from history, literature, and myth. It bombed on Broadway when it premiered in 1953.