2018-05-03 – 19:27 h
The biopic movie ‘The American’, which will be directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, known for his work on the HBO hit TV series True Detective, will have actor Jake Gyllenhaal portray famous composer and orchestra conductor Leonard Bernstein.
Bernstein, who died in 1990 at the age of 72, became famous when he started young as the music director of the New York Philharmonic, conducted concerts with most of the world’s leading orchestras, and hit the movies with his music for ‘West Side Story’ and ‘On the Waterfront’. He also composed musicals such as ‘Peter Pan’, ‘Wonderful Town’, ‘On the Town’, plus many concert works including three symphonies and other shorter chamber and solo pieces.
Michael Minnis wrote the screenplay for ‘The American’ inspired by Humphrey Burton’s 2001 biography about Leonard Bernstein, structuring the film in five distinct movements, like a symphony. The movie will pay tribute to the musical genius of Leonard Bernstein, but exploring also his personal life and his struggle to live up to the public’s expectations of his work as an artist.
The film will begin production this fall and will be released in 2019 (date TBD).
