P.T. Barnum seems to be all the rage at the moment. He hasn’t ever had a proper movie made about him, and now two pop up at once. A couple of weeks ago we reported that Columbia had bought a pitch about a movie based on Barnum’s early years, charting how he went shopkeeper to circus impressario, and now it’s been announced that 20th Century Fox has hired Hugh Jackman to star in a new musical about the man.
The Jackman film, The Greatest Showman On Earth, is set to be an original musical that will be scripted by Jeremy Bicks (Sex & The City), and possibly have Mika writing the music and lyrics. Apparently the project originated while Hugh was working on the Academy Awards, where he was host and Bicks was on the writing team, while the award show’s executive producer, Laurence Marks, will serve as producer of the the Barnum flick.
Jackman will play the great showman, with the film following the creation of his circus and his infatuation with Swedish singer Jenny Lind – a role that’s apparently being written with Anne Hathaway in mind, who famously sang with Jackman at the Oscars, although she hasn’t officially signed on yet.
In fact Jackman seems to have a bit of thing for singing with Hathaway, as he’s also working on a remake of Carousel, which he also wants The Devil Wears Prada actress to star in.
There’s no news yet on when the Barnum flick might appear, although as musicals tend to have a very long gestation period, don’t expect it for a few years yet.