This one has taken awhile, but maybe Lady Luck has finally turned for an updated movie musical of Guys and Dolls. TriStar Pictures has teamed Chicago helmer Rob Marshall to direct a new film adaptation of Frank Loesser’s box office smash hit musical. Marshall and John DeLuca will team with John Requa & Glenn Ficarra to write the script.
John Goldwyn, Marc Toberoff, and Marc Platt are producing with Marshall and DeLuca. Nicole Brown and Shary Shirazi are overseeing for the studio.
Based on stories by Damon Runyan about gamblers and gangsters in the 1920s and 1930s, Guys and Dolls premiered on Broadway in 1950, where it ran for 1,200 performances and won the Tony Award for Best Musical. The musical has had several Broadway and London revivals, as well as a 1955 film adaptation starring Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra, and Vivian Blaine. The 1992 revival, starring Nathan Lane and Faith Prince, was nominated for 7 Tony Awards, winning 4 including Best Revival.
This is sure to set in motion a lot of lust from leading men and ladies who can sing and dance. When Deadline revealed that Fox finally tied down the rights a couple years ago, the studio was eyeing a pairing of Channing Tatum and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the roles made famous by Sinatra and Brando.
I’ve written about this one forever, and each time it leads to a stampede by musically inclined leading men eager to play Sky Masterson and Nathan Detroit. Aside from Tatum and Gordon-Levitt, Russell Crowe, Vin Diesel and Hugh Jackman are among those mentioned. Marshall’s Chicago won Best Picture, and so there seems reason to be excited here after earlier incarnations crapped out.
Nicole Brown and Shary Shirazi are overseeing for the studio. Tom Rothman wrested the project away from Harvey Weinstein years ago at Fox — Frank Loesser’s widow Jo would not grant the necessary approvals until that happened — and the project traveled with Rothman to Sony.
Marshall is repped by CAA and attorney Michael Gendler; Requa & Ficarra are CAA and attorney Jeff Frankel.
