Magic Mikemay have dancing hunks with abs of steel, butThe Greatest Showman on Earthwill havesinging-and-dancinghunks with abs of steel.Zac Efronis in talks to team withHugh Jackmanin the biopic of Barnum & Bailey Circus founderP.T. Barnumthat has been in the works in some form for years.
Jackman has been attached since 2009, oddly enough, the same year that Efron joined him on the Oscars stage for a number called “The Musical Is Back.” (Yes, it’s real.) There’ve beenrumblingsof the duo’s team-up since then, butVarietyreports that the talks are officially official.
Jenny Bickswrote the script, while Jackman andLaurence Markwill produce the musical, which sees theWolverinestar as Barnum as he creates his famous three-ring circus. Both actors have background in musicals. Jackman is a longtime performer on the Broadway stage, while Efron first came to prominence starring withVanessa Hudgensin Disney Channel’sHigh School Musicalmovies. The young stud also featured in theHairsprayfeature film as Link Larkin, but he’s all grown up with the pecs to match.
Meanwhile, off in another part of Hollywood,Colin Farrellisre-teaming with directorYorgos Lanthimosafter the two worked on the sci-fi satireThe Lobster. The new film is calledThe Killing of a Sacred Deerand, according toTHR,Nicole Kidmanis joining the cast. The actors will play man and wife in a story that sees their family taking in a teenager. After the kid becomes increasingly more sinister, the father-a successful surgeon-is forced to make an equally sinister decision. By the sound of the title, one might presume someone dies.
Lanthimos wrote the script with hisLobsterco-writerEfthymis Filippou, and the story is said to be a psychological revenge thriller with an element of the supernatural.
