Step right up and see the greatest wonders of the world! Like a man with iron claws growing out of his hands! Or a multi-talented Australian actor who can sing, dance and kick your ass!
Hugh Jackman is about to become The Greatest Showman on Earth by starring as P.T. Barnum in a new, original musical directed by commercial director Michael Gracey and written by Bill Condon (Dreamgirls). Jackman will star as the man who invented the three-ring circus, documenting Barnum’s rise in show business.
Deadline reports that the film is being pushed into the fast track by Fox thanks to Jackman’s involvement, and that this is the first real original musical Hollywood has produced since 2001’s Moulin Rouge!
Jackman of course recently starred in Les Miserables, although he didn’t get to do much dancing there, and while there’s no shortage of movie musicals from Into the Woods, Annie and every other Disney movie, here’s hoping that an original, classical, Old Hollywood style movie musical can give the genre the real shot in the arm it needs.