Richard Linklater’s function movie adaptation of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s musical “Merrily We Roll Alongside” is merrily rolling once more, with “Aftersun” and “Regular Folks” star Paul Mescal moving into the lead function of Broadway composer Franklin Shepard, changing authentic star Blake Jenner.
Mescal joins Ben Platt, who performs Franklin’s inventive companion and lyricist Charley, and Beanie Feldstein, taking part in the duo’s good buddy, theater critic Mary. The story tracks the trio’s disintegrating friendship as Franklin abandons Charley and Mary to develop into a profitable Hollywood movie producer — the twist is that the story is informed in reverse chronological order, beginning with Mary castigating Franklin as a sell-out and ending 20 years earlier with the characters as fresh-faced hopefuls.
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Selection has confirmed that Mescal has already shot a section for the movie.
Linklater initially introduced the undertaking in 2019, with Platt, Feldstein and Jenner set for the lead roles and an formidable plan to shoot the movie over 20 years, just like Linklater’s strategy to his 2014 movie “Boyhood.” Ginger Sledge, Jason Blum, Jonathan Marc Sherman, Mike Blizzard and Linklater are producing.
“I first noticed, and fell in love with ‘Merrily’ within the ’80s and I can’t consider a greater place to spend the subsequent 20 years than on the planet of a Sondheim musical,” Linklater mentioned on the time. “I don’t enter this multi-year expertise flippantly, but it surely appears the perfect, maybe the one approach, to do that story justice on movie.”
Simply over a yr later, Jenner admitted in an Instagram put up to bodily and emotionally abusing a former companion; Jenner didn’t title her, however in late 2019, his ex-wife, actor Melissa Benoist, posted a (since deleted) video to Instagram through which she mentioned she is a survivor of home violence. Since Jenner’s put up, the actor has solely appeared in a single undertaking, the straight-to-VOD thriller “Paradise Metropolis” with John Travolta and Bruce Willis.
In April 2022, Platt mentioned that Linklater had shot “the primary sequence” for “Merrily We Roll Alongside” (technically, the final sequence), which was additionally reported in 2019. Nevertheless it’s unclear whether or not Linklater began over completely from scratch, reshot Jenner’s footage with Mescal whereas preserving Platt and Feldstein’s performances from 2019, or innovated another filmmaking approach.
Mescal’s star exploded in 2020 when he appeared reverse Daisy Edgar-Jones within the Hulu restricted collection “Regular Folks,” tailored from Sally Rooney’s best-selling novel. His efficiency as a younger father in 2022’s indie function “Aftersun” has earned him extensive acclaim and awards season buzz.
Above the Line first reported Mescal taking up Jenner’s function.
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