Anna Kendrick hopes to be “Pitch Perfect” for her next film project.
The “Twilight” actress has signed on to star in “The Last 5 Years,” an adaptation of the Jason Robert Brown stage musical that will co-star Tony nominee and former “Smash” star Jeremy Jordan. The plot follows the five-year love affair, marriage and eventual breakup of Cathy (Kendrick) and Jamie (Jordan) – a struggling actress and novelist, respectively – whose relationship is dramatized through songs both “emotionally powerful and comic.”
Richard LaGravenese, who most recently scripted the HBO telefilm “Behind the Candelabra” directed by Steven Soderbergh, is set to write and direct the adaptation, which is set to begin shooting this week in New York City.
“It’s been over eight years since my friend Todd Graff (‘Camp’) gave me the CD of ‘The Last 5 Years,'” said LaGravenese in a statement. “I’m an avid musical theater fan but I never saw the original production. The score is a gold mine of character and insights on relationships. Listening to it, I could only imagine it as a movie. For fans, it will be the same musical they know and love, except for minor musical changes made by Jason Robert Brown who I’ve worked closely with over these eight years. The only major difference is, in the movie, the characters ‘Cathy’ and ‘Jamie’ will be singing to each other in songs that were sung directly to the audience on stage.”
Kendrick was last seen in “The Company You Keep” opposite Shia LaBeouf and Robert Redford. Her next film, “Drinking Buddies” co-starring Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson and Ron Livingston, is slated for release on August 23. Jordan, meanwhile, starred in the retooled second season of NBC’s “Smash” before it was canceled by the network.
Will you be seeing “The Last 5 Years” when it hits theaters? Sound off in the comments.