If you’d been hoping to see Les Miserables’ Samantha Barks do more warbling on the big screen, then the team behind a new Canadian movie musical could provide the answer. Barks is attached to star in a film version of stage show Strike!
Co-written by Danny Schur and Rick Chafe (who wrote the original musical and have collaborated on the script), Strike! is set against the backdrop of a 1919 general strike in the Canadian city of Winnipeg. Barks is on board to play Rebecca Almazoff, a Jewish woman who begins an illicit affair with a Catholic man as the industrial action rages.
Director Joseph Novak is developing the film with the writers, aiming to start shooting this summer. Steven Page, a founder member of Canadian group the Barenaked Ladies and actor Alan Doyle are also attached to work on the film.
Barks will also be seen in Bitter Harvest and A Hundred Streets, both of which should be out this year.