Antoine Fuqua is directing and producing the film adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ classic Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with an all-black cast.
Fuqua is teaming up with producers Stephen C. Byrd and Alia Jones-Harvey for the adaptation. Byrd and Jones-Harvey backed the 2008 revival of the show that made history with a sold-out 19-week run as the first all-African American production on Broadway. It was also the highest-grossing play during that season.
The show was directed by Debbie Allen and featured Terrence Howard, Anika Noni Rose, Phylicia Rashad and James Earl Jones. The original play centers on Brick, a former athlete turned alcoholic, his sexually frustrated wife Maggie and Big Daddy, the ailing and wealthy family patriarch.
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The film version will combine elements of the play with new storylines. Fuqua will produce via Fuqua Films and Byrd and Jones-Harvey through Front Row Productions.
“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.”
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The Broadway production was also staged in a successful production on London’s West End, where it won The Laurence Olivier Award for Best Revival of A Play.
“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.”