Amélie, the whimsical French film that received five Oscar nominations, is set to become a stage musical.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, composer Dan Messé of the indie band Hem announced on Facebook that he is working on a stage adaptation of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's 2001 film with an eye to its appearing on Broadway. However, no further details – such as a production timeline or even development workshops – have been announced.
"So not the best kept secret, but still I'm happy to announce that I've been commissioned to adapt the film Amélie for Broadway," Messé wrote. Playwright Craig Lucas, whose Prelude to a Kiss was nominated for both a Tony award and a Pulitzer prize, will write the book, with lyrics also contributed by Brooklyn-based songwriter Nathan Tysen. Pam MacKinnon, who picked up a best director Tony this year for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, is down to direct, according to Playbill.com.
Jeunet's film grossed $173.9m worldwide and made an international star of its lead, Audrey Tautou. It is notable for its score by Yann Tiersen, which Messé described in a recent interview with Paste magazine as "one of the best movie scores there is".
He continued: "It's one of the reasons why I love the film. But, it's not what I do. He's a very different sort of composer than I am. And I'm not interested in doing Parisian music. I don't think I'm even going to use accordion in my score. The music sounds like mine. But certainly, I'm not playing up the Americana elements either. I'm not having pedal steel and fiddle, but it'll be hyper-romantic and playful more than anything."
