Joe Wright is to direct a new film produced by MGM called Cyrano, based off the play Cyrano de Bergerac.
The film is set to include Peter Dinklage (Games of Thrones) in the title role, a character he has already played onstage alongside Haley Bennett (The Girl on the Train), who looks set to reprise her role of Roxanne. Both Dinklage and Bennett performed the play at the Goodspeed Opera House Terris Theatre in 2018. Joining them will be Brian Tyree Henry (Widows, If Beale Street Could Talk) and Ben Mendelsohn (Rogue One, The King).
The film will be an adaptation of the musical Cyrano written by director Erica Schmidt, with music by Aaron and Bryce Dessner from The National and lyrics by Matt Berninger and Carin Besser. Tim Bevan, Guy Heeley and Eric Fellner will produce the upcoming film.
Celebrated British director Joe Wright has previously helmed films including Pride and Prejudice, Atonement (for which he received a BAFTA nomination for Best Direction), Anna Karenina and Darkest Hour.
Edmond Rostond’s 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac is a fictionalised account of the life of a real Cyrano de Bergerac, who was a French novelist and playwright in the 17th century. In the play, Cyrano is a nobleman and soldier who doubts himself on account of his extremely large nose and is afraid of professing love the beautiful Roxanne. Cyrano de Bergerac was first performed in 1897 at the Theatre de la Porte Saint-Martin, followed by an hour of audience applause after the play had finished.
Numerous film adaptations have been made including a 1990 French comedy-drama version directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau and starring Gérard Depardieu, and a modernized 1987 version starring Steve Martin. Recently, a new adaptation of the play was written by Martin Crimp and produced by the Jamie Lloyd Company, starring James McAvoy at the London Playhouse Theatre in 2019.
Words by Noah Keate
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