Linklater to direct Sondheim musical over a 20 year span
Aug 29, 2019 21:04:50 GMT
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Post by Viced on Aug 29, 2019 21:04:50 GMT
Filmmaker Richard Linklater, whose ambitious 2014 film Boyhood spanned the course of 12 years and was nominated for six Oscars, is directing a new multi-year movie that will star Ben Platt and Beanie Feldstein, multiple sources tell Collider.
Linklater’s longtime collaborator Ginger Sledge is producing the ambitious project, and sources say that Jason Blum and his Blumhouse banner are also involved. The film is an adaptation of Stephen Sondheim‘s acclaimed musical Merrily We Roll Along, which itself was based on the 1934 play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. The play takes place over the course of 20 years, and sources say that Linklater plans to stay true to that timeline. Representatives for Linklater, Platt, Feldstein and Blumhouse did not respond to requests for comment.
Merrily We Roll Along follows Franklin Shepard, a talented Broadway composer who abandons his theater career in New York and all his friends in order to produce movies in Los Angeles. Like the play, the musical begins at the height of his Hollywood fame and moves backwards in time, showing snapshots of the most important moments in Frank’s life that shaped the man he is today. Platt will play the lead, while Feldstein will play his best friend, theater critic Mary Flynn. Sources say the film is being shot in reverse chronological order, as the play and musical end when the characters are in their mid-20s and just embarking on their entertainment careers.
Linklater’s longtime collaborator Ginger Sledge is producing the ambitious project, and sources say that Jason Blum and his Blumhouse banner are also involved. The film is an adaptation of Stephen Sondheim‘s acclaimed musical Merrily We Roll Along, which itself was based on the 1934 play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. The play takes place over the course of 20 years, and sources say that Linklater plans to stay true to that timeline. Representatives for Linklater, Platt, Feldstein and Blumhouse did not respond to requests for comment.
Merrily We Roll Along follows Franklin Shepard, a talented Broadway composer who abandons his theater career in New York and all his friends in order to produce movies in Los Angeles. Like the play, the musical begins at the height of his Hollywood fame and moves backwards in time, showing snapshots of the most important moments in Frank’s life that shaped the man he is today. Platt will play the lead, while Feldstein will play his best friend, theater critic Mary Flynn. Sources say the film is being shot in reverse chronological order, as the play and musical end when the characters are in their mid-20s and just embarking on their entertainment careers.
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