Taylor Hackford to Direct Feature Film Bio of Tennessee Williams

Academy Award winning director Taylor Hackford is slated to direct a big screen drama about the formative years of playwright Tennessee Williams, Variety reports. The screenplay, titled Tenn, was written by Robin Shushan. Timing for the picture is tentative, as Hackford reportedly may take another job before beginning work on Tenn.

The new film will focus on how the playwright's turbulent childhood which included bouts with depression, a poor relationship with his father, questions about sexual identity and a sister who was institutionalized and lobotomized became the basis for his wildly successful later works, most notably the plays The Glass Menagerie, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and A Streetcar Named Desire. Williams died in 1983 at age 71.

Hackford is the multi-award winning director and producer of films including the Ray Charles biopic Ray, Proof of Life, Dolores Claiborne and the short film Teenage Father, the latter of which earned him an Academy Award in 1978. In addition to directing, Hackford also wrote the screenplays for Teenage Father and Ray, which earned 2005 Academy Award nominations for Best Direction and Best Picture of the Year.

Hackford had been attached to direct a Broadway musical version of the film Leap of Faith, featuring a book by original screenwriter Janus Cercone, music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Glenn Slater. After a May workshop of the piece featuring Raul Esparza and other theater stars, published reports indicated that Hackford would not continue developing it, though no official notice of its status has been announced.

Tennis being produced by Infinity Media's Michael Ohoven Capote and Dan Halsted Garden State, Serving Sara. Ohoven compared the new work to Capote, noting parallels between early turmoil and later success in both writers' famous lives.