EXCLUSIVE: Wicked filmmaker Jon M. Chu will direct a new film version of the famed Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for Amazon Studios.
Chu will reunite with his In The Heights producing partner Scott Sanders to develop and shoot the musical treatment of the Old Testament tale of Joseph, who is driven from his home by his 11 jealous brothers.
Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group has long wanted to develop the show into a Hollywood spectacular and had been seeking partners to achieve that aim.
We hear Chu has been “dreaming” about Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for years, and he is now set to direct for Amazon Studios.
The director is currently in the UK filming Wicked for Universal Pictures and Marc Platt Productions with a cast that includes Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Michelle Yeoh, Jonathan Bailey and Jeff Goldblum. He’s also known for directing 2018’s Crazy Rich Asians.
Sanders and Mara Jacobs are producing Joseph for the former’s production company SGS Pictures. Chu and Lance Johnson will produce for Chu’s Electric Somewhere, with Jane Lee overseeing on its behalf. Benjamin Lowy will executive produce, along with Rice and Lloyd Webber.
Sanders is producer on The Color Purple, starring Halle Bailey, Taraji P. Henson, Elizabeth Marvel, Colman Domingo and Danielle Brooks.
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat will feature a screenplay by Daniel Goldfarb.
Rice and Lloyd Webber came up with the idea for Joseph in 1968 after being asked by a London school to create a short show for children. The pair went to the Bible’s Book of Genesis for inspiration and wrote a giddy array of numbers infused with a variety of melodies from country and western to calypso to Elvis-inspired rock and roll.
Over the years the show has grown from a 25-minute cantata into a full-blown musical comedy that has played seasons in London’s West End and Broadway and tours regularly.
The show is often performed at schools the world over, and for many it’s a first introduction to the world of musical theater. The likes of Donny Osmond and Jason Donovan have had hits with the production’s song Any Dream Will Do.
Chu is represented by UTA, Artists First Inc and Goodman, Genow Schenkman, Smelkinson, & Christopher, LLP.
Sanders is represented by UTA, Erik Hyman at Paul Hastings LLP and ID.