Dublin playwright Conor McPherson's award-winning musical "Girl From The North Country" is being adapted into a film.
The Broadway musical, which features songs from Bob Dylan, debuted in 2017.
Olivia Colman, Woody Harrelson, and Chlöe Bailey are set to star in the upcoming movie adaptation, with McPherson writing and directing, reports Variety.
Set in Duluth, Minnesota in the 1930s, "Girl From The North Country" was McPherson's first play not set in Ireland.
“I set it in the 1930s, and to me, it felt like the world was going back to that place at the time,” he told Hot Press last year.
“It feels, sadly, like it’s resonating with what’s happening in the world now. There’s more and more division and hardship. Nobody ever seems to learn from history. People seem to relate to the universality in it.”
He added: “It was a sheer pleasure working on Bob [Dylan]’s music and being able to rearrange the songs for our band.
"The music in the show is used almost the way music is used in a movie. It creates an emotional climate for the story to happen, rather than providing you with narrative facts.”
According to a synopsis of the film, "Girl From North County" centers on a group of wayward travelers as their lives intersect in a guesthouse. Things are spiraling out of control for proprietor Nick Laine (Harrelson), whose wife Elizabeth (Colman) is suffering from dementia. All the while, the bank is foreclosing on their home and their adopted daughter Marianne (Bailey) has a closely guarded secret that no one can explain.
But when an escaped convict Joe Scott (Tosin Cole) seeks shelter at the guesthouse, a relationship develops between Marianne and Joe that will change everything for everyone forever.
The Depression-era musical features classic Bob Dylan songs such as "Like A Rolling Stone," "Make You Feel My Love," "Hurricane," and "Forever Young."
"Girl From North County" premiered at the Old Vic in London in 2017, later moving to the West End for a limited run. In North America, the show had an Off-Broadway run at The Public Theater in 2018 and was transferred to Broadway in 2020.
Despite positive reviews, the show's Broadway run was disrupted by the COVID pandemic and closed. It has since played in Toronto, New Zealand, Australia, and Dublin.
The film adaptation is being backed by Blueprint Pictures, one of the production companies behind the award-winning "The Banshees of Inisherin," with executives Graham Broadbent and Pete Czernin serving as producers.
Comments