UPDATE: Deadline is reporting that John Requa & Glenn Ficarra (“Bad Santa,” “Crazy, Stupid, Love”) will be writing the script. That is possibly the best news this project can get.
There’s also mention about a slew of actors in the mix for the two lead roles, including Channing Tatum, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman and … Vin Diesel?! Regardless, after years in development, this project finally seems to be moving.
09.07.24: Remember director Rob Marshall”? He was proclaimed the next big thing after his 2002 debut “Chicago” won six Oscars, including Best Picture. However, ever since “Chicago,” Marshall has had a slew of panned films (“Memoirs of a Geisha,” “Nine,” “Into the Woods,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” “Mary Poppins Returns,” “The Little Mermaid”).
According to The InSneider, Marshall is now set to direct the long-gestating remake of “Guys and Dolls” for Sony’s TriStar Pictures label. He replaces original hire Bill Condon who recently left the project to direct another musical, “Kiss of the Spider Woman” with Jennifer Lopez.
TriStar has the rights to Damon Runyon’s original short stories, which tackled gamblers, gangsters, and the women who love them, as well as the rights to the Tony-winning Broadway musical and the 1955 film starring Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra.
The ‘Guys and Dolls’ remake was originally supposed to star Channing Tatum and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the lead roles; They’ve since left the project. Marshall was originally offered to direct ‘Guys and Dolls’ right after “Chicago” got released, in 2003, but he told the Guardian that he planned to give musicals a rest.