According to The Hollywood Reporter, Walt Disney Pictures is in development on a live-action musical titled Cyrano the Moor, which will star acclaimed English thesp David Oyelowo (Selma, Queen of Katwe, Star Wars Rebels).
The script is being written by Tarell Alvin, the Oscar-winning playwright behind Best Picture recipient Moonlight, and will be an amalgamation of both William Shakespeare’s revenge tale “Othello” and the French play “Cyrano de Bergerac.”
Oyelowo will produce Cyrano the Moor alongside his wife Jessica Oyelowo, with Yoruba Saxon (A United Kingdom) also producing. Tendo Nagenda and Chaz Salembier are overseeing for Disney.
Both plays have been adapted for the screen many times, with Steve Martin doing a modern Cyrano in the comedy Roxanne. Several versions of “Othello” have also made it to the screen, including a 1995 version starring Laurence Fishburne, and a modernized version set in an American high school titled O and starring Mekhi Phifer.
Oyelowo will next be seen in producer J.J. Abrams’ currently-untitled Cloverfield movie, and is currently filming the YA adaptation Chaos Walking, starring Daisy Ridley and Tom Holland. You can also continue to hear his voice as Agent Kallus in the fourth and final season of Star Wars Rebels, which kicks off October 16.
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