Danny Strong is set to write the script for Disney’s remake of the musical film Oliver!
The Hunger Games writer Danny Strong is set to pen the script for Disney’s upcoming remake of the musical film Oliver!, according to Deadline. The film is based on the classic Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist and is the story of an orphan who goes from a terrible workhouse to become part of a group of thieves led by Fagin (Ice Cube). The novel was made into a stage musical in 1960 and has been performed all over the world, from Broadway to your local high school. In 1968, it was turned into a film, directed by Carol Reed and starring Mark Lester, Oliver Reed and Jack Wild. The film won five Oscars, including Best Picture. The new version of the film will include hip-hop music.
Oliver! will be directed by Tommy Kail, who won a Tony Award for Hamilton. Marc Platt (La La Land), and Jeff Kwatinetz and Ice Cube from Cube Vision will produce for Walt Disney Co. Disney’s EVP of Production, Tendo Nagenda is overseeing the project for the studio. The rights to Oliver! were originally optioned by Ice Cube.
Mark Strong (who Buffy fans remember as Jonathan Levinson) has had a career as an actor and recently made his directorial debut with the J.D. Salinger biopic Rebel in the Rye. He also wrote the script. He’s written for HBO’s Recount, Game Change, for which he won an Emmy, and The Butler by Lee Daniels. He also wrote the final two Hunger Games films and co-created Empire. On the musical side, Strong has done a new book for the 1988 Tim Rice/ABBA musical Chess.
What do you guys think of Danny Strong writing the script for Disney’s Oliver!? Let us know in the comments.
(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
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