Following her Oscar win with “Women Talking” taking the Best Adapted Screenplay this year, actor/filmmaker Sarah Polley is in talks to direct Disney’s live-action adaptation of “Bambi”.
The project is in very early development at Disney and is said to be a musical featuring music from six-time Grammy-winning country star Kacey Musgraves.
Disney first hired writers Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Lindsey Beer for the project back in early 2020, whilst Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster (“Transparent”) wrote the most recent draft of the script.
An adaptation of Felix Salten’s 1923 novel, the original coming-of-age story follows a young deer named Bambi who is struck by tragedy. His woodland pals include the rabbit Thumper and a skunk named Flower.
The original was the fifth animated feature from Disney and grossed $267 million worldwide, along with landing Oscar nominations. Its famous depiction of the death of Bambi’s mother has traumatised multiple generations over the years.
Chris and Paul Weitz’s Depth of Field will produce the film, but when the project might go forward is unclear given strike conditions, among other things, right now.
Polley also directed “Stories We Tell,” “Take This Waltz,” and “Away from Her”. She marks the latest prestigious director to tackle an upcoming live-action Disney adaptation alongside “Lilo & Stitch” from Dean Fleischer Camp (“Marcel the Shell with Shoes On”), “Moana” from Thomas Kail (“Hamilton” concert film), “Snow White” from Marc Webb (“The Amazing Spider-Man”) and “Mufasa: The Lion King” from Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”).
Source: Deadline
