David Oyelowo & ‘Moonlight’ Writer Tarell Alvin McCraney Team Up for Disney Musical
Oscar-winning writer Tarell Alvin McCraney is set to write a musical for Oscar-worthy actor David Oyelowo.
Oyelowo as Othello. Image via Playbill
Details are still under wraps, but the hype is real. The working title is Cyrano the Moor, and will be a musical mashup of Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergernac and William Shakespeare’s Othello. The film will be set in England during the 19th century.
McCarney & Barry Jenkins winning the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. Image via Variety.
Cyrano de Bergerac is a comedy about a man who is incredibly talented but lacks confidence because of a large nose. Othello is a tragedy about a Moor who is driven mad by jealousy and kills his wife. This is quite the task for the Oscar winner, but we have faith he can do it.
Cyrano the Moor is set to be a lavish adaptation like the 2015 Cinderella and 2017’s Beauty and the Beast. The idea was originally conceived by Yoruba Saxon, Oyelowo, and his wife Jessica Oyelowo. Disney bought the idea and hired McCarney to write. The next step will be to bring on a director. Expect Ava DuVernay Amma Asante, nad Barry Jenkins’s names to be brought up. DuVernay and Asante have had successful films with Oyelowo. Jenkins and McCarney were behind the Oscar-winning film Moonlight.
Source: Deadline.
