*Antoine Fuqua will direct and produce a new film adaptation of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” Tennessee Williams’ Pulitzer Prize-winning book, with an all-Black cast.
Fuqua’s new film is based on a 2008 Broadway production from producers Stephen C. Byrd and Alia Jones-Harvey that also featured an all-Black American cast, Variety reports. The show was directed by Debbie Allen and featured Terrence Howard, Anika Noni Rose, Phylicia Rashad and James Earl Jones.
Fuqua will join forces with Byrd and Jones-Harvey for his film that “will combine elements of the play with new storylines and weave them together to bring the production to the big screen.”
The acclaimed director will produce via his production company, Fuqua Films, and Byrd and Jones-Harvey will produce through their Front Row Productions, according to the report.
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The original story centers on a former athlete turned alcoholic, his sexually frustrated wife and the ailing but wealthy family patriarch. No casting for the film has been announced. The production will reportedly introduce new storylines.
Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman starred in the 1958 film adaptation of the 1955 Pulitzer Prize-winning play.
“Bringing such a historic production to the screen is an honor I am thrilled to have alongside Stephen and Alia,” said Fuqua in a statement. “They have shown their commitment to the project with two successful stagings on Broadway and the West End and know what it takes to translate this iconic drama from theatre to cinema.”
“We set out to produce groundbreaking, high caliber work on both Broadway and London’s West End with iconic plays, and now we hope to replicate this with ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ as a film,” said Byrd and Jones-Harvey in a statement. ”We are thrilled to be able to bring this Tennessee Williams classic play to life once again in a new iteration with the acclaimed Antoine Fuqua at the helm.”
Fuqua’s next film is Paramount’s sci-fi thriller ”Infinite” starring Mark Wahlberg, and the slave-era drama “Emancipation” starring Will Smith.
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