Sondheim’s Follies in new feature adaptation

Stephen Sondheim UK super-producer Heyday Films is partnering with BBC Films on a shiny new feature adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s famous musical, Follies. 

Olivier-award-winning director Dominic Cooke will adapt and direct the new iteration; his much-lauded National Theatre production of Follies in 2017 was revived earlier this year.  

Cooke is better-known as a theatre director, but also helmed On Chesil Beach in 2017 and the BBC Shakespeare trilogy The Hollow Crown in 2016. 

Heyday’s Rosie Alison and David Heyman (pictured) will produce Follies, working alongside executive producer Rose Garnett for BBC Films. 

Sondheim (pictured) said of the news: “Over the years, there have been many attempts to bring Follies to the screen, but not until Dominic Cooke’s brilliant production at the National Theatre of Great Britain did it seem like it could be a real movie.

"I’m more than delighted, I’m thrilled, that it’s finally going to happen.”

Heyday’s prolific output includes the Harry Potter, Fantastic Beasts and Paddington franchises, with a new Jack Thorne-penned adaptation of the children's classic The Secret Garden due for release in April. 

Image: Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic via Getty Images. 



Also on The Knowledge