The first time that Empire heard Anne Hathaway sing, on her SNL hosting stint last year, we thought, ‘someone give that girl a musical’. An opinion that merely solidified the second time we, along with tens of millions of people, heard her sing, during her cameo alongside Hugh Jackman in the Oscars’ opening number.
And now it seems like our wish may have come true, with the news that Hathaway has signed on to play Judy Garland in Get Happy, a biopic of the late, great singer/actress.
In an intriguing move, Hathaway has also signed on to star in a stage version of the movie, which will be based on Gerald Clarke’s biography of Garland, the** Wizard Of Oz **star, wife of Vincente Minnelli, and mother of Liza Minnelli, who died aged just 47.
It’s not clear which will come first – or, indeed, if the movie will be a straight-up musical. But it’s hard to envision a scenario which won’t see Hathaway belt out a couple of songs in her best approximation of Garland’s smoky-smooth voice. And that’s going to be very interesting – Hathaway is outrageously talented, but Garland’s ruby slippers are going to be extremely hard to fill.
The movie and stage show will be produced by The Weinstein Company, which is currently looking for a writer and director to come on board.