Musicals are having a huge moment—between Netflix’s new Matilda release and the hotly anticipated Wicked film adaptations on the horizon, nearly everyone has some show tune stuck in their heads (“Revolting Children” from Matilda, anyone?)
Even cult-classic films like 2004’s Mean Girls are getting their chance to belt center stage—and it looks like Black Swan, from director Darren Aronofsky, might be the next movie to receive the musical treatment.
Starring Natalie Portman, Black Swan chronicles a perfectionist ballerina’s spiraling en-pointe pirouette into madness while competing against her rival (Mila Kunis) for the leading role in a production of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
“We’re trying to do the Black Swan musical,” Aronofsky told AV Club in a recent interview. “We’ll see what happens. But we’re working on it.”
Though a musical adaptation of the psychological thriller is in the works, fans will have to wait to find out what kind of theater tickets they’ll need to grab for Black Swan. While Aronofsky isn’t opposed to making a movie musical, he admitted that it’s “tricky” to bring Broadway to the big screen.
“I’ve come close to a few ideas. It’s a very tricky thing because music from musicals is not popular music anymore. So what do you do?”
Aronofsky Cites Hamilton Creator as Inspiration for a Black Swan Musical Adaptation
While brainstorming ideas for the Black Swan musical, the Requiem for a Dream director shared that he looked towards Hamilton creator and songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda as a “brilliant” example of making the grand jeté from stage to screen.
“I think Hamilton was brilliant because Lin-Manuel Miranda fused hip-hop with musical music. And so he had this breakthrough that was really brilliant. But figuring that angle of it, of what the music would be, where it comes from, is the big challenge.”
Aronofsky is certainly taking a page from the right songbook—Miranda is also behind recent musical hits Encanto, In the Heights, Mary Poppins, and the upcoming The Little Mermaid.
Though it may be a while before the Black Swan musical comes to fruition, Aronofsky says that it’s something he would “love” to do and is constantly thinking about.
“But I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about it. And hopefully one day I could figure something out,” he added.
In the meantime, eager Aronofsky fans can catch his latest film, The Whale, starring Brendan Fraser and Sadie Sink, in theaters now.
