'American Idiot,' the 2004 Green Day album that gave rise to the Broadway musical of the same name, is about to spawn yet another form of entertainment: a movie.
Universal Studios is in talks to turn the one-act musical into a feature film directed by Michael Meyer, who directed the Broadway show. The screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, who recently wrote 'J. Edgar,' the Clint Eastwood movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio as the controversial FBI head, has been tapped as a possible screenwriter. Black won an Oscar for his script for 'Milk.'
In 'American Idiot,' songs from Green Day's blockbuster album are strung together to tell the story of three angry young men growing up in the suburbs. Producing partners Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman optioned the show before its opening a year ago. They've had some success with pop-to-musical-to-Hollywood transformations, having previously produced the Universal version of the Broadway musical 'Mama Mia!' based on the songs by Abba.
American Idiot's Broadway incarnation received rave reviews, including one from the New York Times calling it "thrillingly raucous and gorgeously wrought." But ticket sales slumped when Green-Day front man Billy Joe Armstrong left the production after three weeks. So don't be surprised if Billy Joe shows up on screen in a reprise of his role as a small-town drug dealer.
The show is set to close its Broadway run at the end of April, but will go on tour in the fall. In other Broadway-to-Hollywood news, Universal recently pulled the plug on a movie version of 'In the Heights,' but nabbed 'The King's Speech' director Tom Hooper to helm an adaptation of 'Les Misérables' in an instance of classic-French-literature-to-third-longest-running-Broadway-show-ever-to-movie success.
As for 'American Idiot,' we'll have to be content for now with a movie based on the musical based on the album. As far as we know, work has not yet begun on a video-game in which suburban adolescents collect drug vials while battling malaise.
Universal Studios is in talks to turn the one-act musical into a feature film directed by Michael Meyer, who directed the Broadway show. The screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, who recently wrote 'J. Edgar,' the Clint Eastwood movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio as the controversial FBI head, has been tapped as a possible screenwriter. Black won an Oscar for his script for 'Milk.'
In 'American Idiot,' songs from Green Day's blockbuster album are strung together to tell the story of three angry young men growing up in the suburbs. Producing partners Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman optioned the show before its opening a year ago. They've had some success with pop-to-musical-to-Hollywood transformations, having previously produced the Universal version of the Broadway musical 'Mama Mia!' based on the songs by Abba.
American Idiot's Broadway incarnation received rave reviews, including one from the New York Times calling it "thrillingly raucous and gorgeously wrought." But ticket sales slumped when Green-Day front man Billy Joe Armstrong left the production after three weeks. So don't be surprised if Billy Joe shows up on screen in a reprise of his role as a small-town drug dealer.
The show is set to close its Broadway run at the end of April, but will go on tour in the fall. In other Broadway-to-Hollywood news, Universal recently pulled the plug on a movie version of 'In the Heights,' but nabbed 'The King's Speech' director Tom Hooper to helm an adaptation of 'Les Misérables' in an instance of classic-French-literature-to-third-longest-running-Broadway-show-ever-to-movie success.
As for 'American Idiot,' we'll have to be content for now with a movie based on the musical based on the album. As far as we know, work has not yet begun on a video-game in which suburban adolescents collect drug vials while battling malaise.
Source: moviefone
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