Ryan Murphy's 'Prom' Movie For Netflix Will Star Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep, Ariana Grande, Awkwafina And More
Ryan Murphy's big Netflix deal is attracting big talent. Murphy is going to direct and produce a Prom movie, adapted from the Tony-nominated stage musical, and he's lined-up an impressive cast to pull it off. Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, Ariana Grande, Awkwafina, Keegan-Michael Key, James Corden and Andrew Rannells will all have "key roles" in the Netflix film about fading Broadway stars trying to rehabilitate their careers.Deadline broke the news about the Prom movie, and its jaw-dropping cast. Murphy will likely start shooting the film this December, while Netflix plans to release it for fall 2020, which will put it smack-dab in the middle of awards season. Netflix will screen the film in theaters before they add it to their streaming service, because that's how the game is played.
The stage musical, titled The Prom, follows "four fading Broadway stars are in desperate need of a new stage," and debuted at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia in 2016 before premiering on Broadway at the Longacre Theatre in October 2018. A national tour will kick-off February 2021 in Providence, Rhode Island.
The Prom
In Murphy's Prom film:
"Streep will play Dee Dee Allen, a two-time Tony winner who teams with Corden's Barry Glickman in a flop musical about Eleanor Roosevelt. After career-ending reviews, they decide — along with Broadway babies Kidman as Angie Dickinson and Rannells (Book of Mormon) as Trent Oliver — to champion a cause to rehabilitate their careers. They find one in Emma, a high school senior in Indiana who isn't allowed to go to her prom because she's gay. A nationwide search led by casting director Alexa Fogel is on to fill the role of Emma...Grande will star as Alyssa, a popular daughter of the head of the PTA. Awkwafina will play the group's publicist Ms. Sheldon, and Key will play Streep's love interest and Emma's ally, Principal Hawkins."
Having a cast of this stature is bound to be a big deal for Netflix, so you can imagine the streaming service will be throwing all their weight behind this production. Per the Deadline story, Murphy assembled the cast quickly over the spring. Every cast member represented Murphy's first choices, and "each said yes quickly after seeing the Tony-nominated musical with its themes of inclusion and tolerance."
Prom joins Murphy's other Netflix productions, the series The Politicians, Ratched, and Hollywood, as well as two unannounced documentaries, and an adaptation of The Boys in the Band.