After spending 12 years on his Oscar-nominated drama “Boyhood,” Richard Linklater is ready to try the approach again.
Linklater will direct an adaptation of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s “Merrily We Roll Along,” which will be shot over a 20-year period. Beanie Feldstein, Ben Platt and Blake Jenner are set to star in the film for Blumhouse.
“I first saw, and fell in love with ‘Merrily’ in the ‘80s and I can’t think of a better place to spend the next 20 years than in the world of a Sondheim musical. I don’t enter this multi-year experience lightly, but it seems the best, perhaps the only way, to do this story justice on film,” said Linklater.
Ginger Sledge, Jason Blum, Jonathan Marc Sherman and Linklater are producers on the film.
Linklater, along with stars Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette and Ellar Coltrane, shot “Boyhood” over the course of 12 years. The film would go on to receive several Oscar nominations and a supporting actress win for Arquette.
Rick Pappas brokered the deal for “Merrily We Roll Along” on behalf of Sondheim and Furth.
Feldstein is repped by Brillstein, WME and attorney Danny Passman. Platt is repped by CAA, One Entertainment, Adam Mersel and Jackoway Tyerman Wertheimer. Jenner is repped by Atlas Artists, CAA, Viewpoint and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern.