TriStar Pictures Guys And Dolls update is finally getting off the ground and it’s getting a much-needed boost by setting up a director to take on the project. It has been announced that Oscar-winner Bill Condon will direct the latest adaptation.
According to “Deadline”, Condon has been weighing several directing gigs to take on as his next but Guys And Dolls moved to the top of the list following a meeting with the studio about how excited they were to finally get the project off the ground. TriStar snagged the remake rights to the original Damon Runyon short stories in March of 2019 and they also purchased the rights to the Broadway musical with its book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows and music by Frank Loesser. In addition to those rights, the studio also picked up the remake rights to the previous 1955 film adaptation by Samuel Goldwyn company.
Guys And Dolls made its debut on Broadway in 1950 and it ran for 1,200 performances and won the Tony Award for Best Musical. In the years since its debut, the musical has had several Broadway and London revivals but fans of old Hollywood musicals will likely remember the 1955 film adaptation starring Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra, and Vivan Blaine. A 1992 revival of the musical with Nathan Lane and Faith Prince also proved to be successful, scoring seven Tony Award nominations and winning three including Best Direction for a Musical and Best Performance by a Leading Actress.
Getting a Guys And Dolls remake on the big screen has been a big priority in Hollywood. 20th Century most recently took a shot at the project when they held the rights with hopes of casting Channing Tatum and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the roles made famous by Brando and Sinatra. The Fox-Disney merger put a wrench in those plans as time lapsed on the ownership of the rights which led to TriStar aggressively moving in to secure them.
As for Bill Condon, the director is probably the most perfect choice for a film like this. Condon scored big with the Oscar-winning Chicago adaptation, which he co-wrote, and he made magic again with Dreamgirls, which he directed. Condon’s most recent successes include the live-action Beauty and the Beast and The Greatest Showman, which he also co-wrote.
