Director Richard LaGravenese on His Upcoming Last Five Years Movie: 'It's a Great Little Piece'

It’s official! Director Richard LaGravenese will helm a film adaptation of The Last Five Years starring Tony nominee Anna Kendrick, as previously speculated. LaGravenese, who is currently promoting his new film Beautiful Creatures, chatted with Collider.com about the screen adaptation of Jason Robert Brown’s musical, which he calls a “little indie film.” 

“Anna Kendrick is attached to play [Cathy], and I’m looking for [Jamie] now,” LaGravenese said of the film, which tells the story of a young couple who falls in (and out of) love. For LaGravenese, The Last Five Years material won’t need much tweaking for the big screen. “It’s all sung, so it’s already written,” he noted. “It’s a great little piece." That's what we've been saying since 2002!

The Last Five Years centers around the tumultuous relationship of Jamie, a writer, and Cathy, an aspiring actress, over the course of five years. While Jamie tells his story in chronological order, Cathy tells her story backwards—and the two tales meet in the middle. The Last Five Years originally opened off-Broadway in 2002, starring Norbert Leo Butz and Sherie Rene Scott. A new off-Broadway production, directed by Brown, will begin performances March 7 at Second Stage Theatre, starring Betsy Wolfe and Adam Kantor. Opening night is scheduled for April 2.

Can't wait until the movie? Click below to see Wolfe and Kantor in the recording studio for the upcoming production of The Last Five Years!