- Share this article on Facebook
- Share this article on Twitter
- Share this article on Flipboard
- Share this article on Email
- Show additional share options
- Share this article on Linkedin
- Share this article on Pinit
- Share this article on Reddit
- Share this article on Tumblr
- Share this article on Whatsapp
- Share this article on Print
- Share this article on Comment
Bill Condon is turning his attentions from Julian Assange to P.T. Barnum.
The helmer of The Fifth Estate has signed on to rewrite 20th Century Fox’s contemporary musical The Greatest Showman on Earth, starring Hugh Jackman as Barnum.
PHOTOS: Hugh Jackman: An Unconventional Superstar
Commercials director and visual effects wizard Michael Gracey is on board to helm the biopic about the legendary showman who created the three-ring circus and loved to hoax a gullible public. A focal point of the movie is Barnum’s infatuation with opera singer Jenny Lind, dubbed the Swedish Nightingale. No actress is attached to that role yet.
Jenny Bicks (Sex and the City) wrote the original draft of Greatest Showman. Jackman is producing with Laurence Mark (Dreamgirls).
The last film that Condon wrote was the 2006 musical Dreamgirls, which he also directed. That film was nominated for eight Academy Awards. He will next direct the Sherlock Holmes pic A Slight Trick of the Mind, with Ian McKellen starring.
Condon, who also directed the final two Twilight films, is repped by WME and Anonymous Content.
E-mail: Tatiana.Siegel@THR.com
Twitter: @TatianaSiegel27
Related Stories
Related Stories
THR Newsletters
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day