Folklore is a popular topic for film fodder and one of the most famous American examples is getting another shot at the screen. Josh Gad has come up with a new take on the Rip Van Winkle story and is aiming to star in the resulting musical movie alongside Widows' Cynthia Erivo.
Warner Bros. has swooped in to nab the rights to the film, which includes Amanda Idoko writing the script based on Gad's concept and Olaf's Frozen Adventure songwriters Kate Anderson and Elissa Samsel.
Originally written by The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow's Washington Irving, Rip Van Winkle saw a villager falling asleep as the American Revolution got going, waking up decades later after missing the whole thing. It's been seen as a cautionary tale about not sleeping your life away and features a variety of characters, including the main character's wife and nine strange, bearded men who were bowling inside a mountain and perhaps caused thunder. Quite what Gad has dreamed up around that remains to be seen, but the Broadway veteran certainly can carry a tune and his fellow stage actor Erivo, who also stole scenes (and belted tunes) in Bad Times At The El Royale, is certainly one of the more dynamic performers around at the moment.
Gad has a few voice roles set to hit our screens this year, including A Dog's Journey, The Angry Birds Movie 2 and fellow 'toon sequel Frozen 2. He'll be physically present for Kenneth Branagh's Artemis Fowl. Erivo will be Harriet Tubman in a new biopic of the freedom fighter and has a role in Chaos Walking.
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