Just days before American Idiot, the musical based on the Green Day album of the same name, makes its Broadway debut, rumors are swirling that Tom Hanks wants to turn it into a film.
Hanks already has plenty of experience turning musicals into mega-hits. Playtone, his production company, turned ABBA’s Mamma Mia into a movie that grossed $610 million worldwide.
“Oh, we start filming tomorrow morning,” drummer Tre Cool recently told MTV.com when asked about the Hanks’ rumor. “We’ve got George Lucas and Spielberg interested.”
American Idiot, based on the band’s 2004 album, told the story of three young people whose paths diverge as they grow older. One joins the military, one moves to a big city and gets seduced by drugs, and the other stays home and gets his girlfriend pregnant.
American Idiot had a long and popular run last fall at Berkeley Rep and is scheduled to open on Broadway April 20. The musical was mostly singing with little dialogue (and even less plot), but its staging was fabulous.
Apparently, Hanks saw the production here in Berkeley (Where are our spies, people?) and thoroughly enjoyed it.
