Ben Platt & Beanie Feldstein Set for Merrily We Roll Along Movie Adaptation with Filming to Span 20 Years

It's their time, breathe it in! Broadway BFFs Ben Platt and Beanie Feldstein are teaming up for a film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along. Get this: Richard Linklater, whose ambitious 2014 film Boyhood spanned the course of 12 years, is directing the movie, which is also planned to be shot over the course of 20 years. Platt will play Charley Kringas, while Feldstein will play theater critic Mary Flynn. What/If's Blake Jenner is set to play Franklin Shepard. Platt confirmed the news on Twitter on August 29.

Based on the 1934 play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, the musical Merrily We Roll Along features a book by George Furth and score by Stephen Sondheim. The story revolves around a former Broadway composer named Franklin Shepard who has abandoned his friends and his music career to become a Hollywood film producer. The musical starts at the height of Shepard's Hollywood success and goes backward, showing snapshots of his life over the course of 20 years.

Platt earned a 2018 Tony Award for starring in Dear Evan Hansen and became the youngest winner of the Drama League's Distinguished Performance Award for his breakout performance in the musical. He also earned acclaim for his Broadway-debut performance as Elder Cunningham in The Book of Mormon and for his turn as Benji Applebaum in the Pitch Perfect movies. He is set to star in Ryan Murphy's The Politician, which is scheduled to hit Netflix on September 27.

As recently reported, Feldstein, known for her roles in Lady Bird and Booksmart and last seen on the Great White Way in Hello, Dolly!, will play former Clinton White House intern Monica Lewinsky in FX's American Crime Story: Impeachment. She is also scheduled to star in A24's forthcoming film adaptation of Stephen Karam's Tony-winning play The Humans.

The original Broadway production of Merrily, directed by Harold Prince and starring Jim Walton, Lonny Price and Ann Morrison, opened in 1981 and closed after just 16 performances. Roundabout Theatre Company and Fiasco's production earlier this year was the first major New York production since a 1994 off-Broadway mounting directed by Susan H. Schulman and featuring Malcolm Gets, Adam Heller and Amy Ryder. James Lapine directed a 2012 staging at City Center Encores! led by Colin Donnell, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Celia Keenan-Bolger.

Further casting and an exact timeline will be announced later.