According to a Variety report, Normal People star Daisy Edgar-Jones will play Carole King in the Sony screen adaptation of the Broadway bio-musical Beautiful. Academy Award nominee Lisa Cholodenko (The Kids Are All Right) will direct the film.
Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg, who co-wrote The Kids Are All Right, are collaborating on the screenplay for Beautiful. Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman of Playtone will produce, alongside Paul Blake, who also produced the stage musical. Sherry Kondor, Christine Russell, Steven Shareshian, and Mike Bosner will serve as executive producers.
Jones is no stranger to the stage, having appeared in the five-star smash Albion at the Almeida – you can read our interview with her here. Her Normal People co-star Paul Mescal is also due to appear at the venue from next week in A Streetcar Named Desire.
On screen, Edgar-Jones is best known for her roles in Normal People (Golden Globe nomination), Fresh, Where The Crawdads Sing, and Under the Banner of Heaven (Golden Globe nomination).
Beautiful: The Carole King musical opened on Broadway January 12, 2014, and ran for nearly six years at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre. The stage show featured a book by Douglas McGrath and a song list of King’s greatest hits, including “One Fine Day,” “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” “I Feel the Earth Move,” and “You’ve Got a Friend.” The production earned seven Tony nominations, including a Best Actress win for Jessie Mueller who starred in the title role.
The show embarked on a UK and Ireland tour earlier this year.