Director picked for contemporary musical
Screen Gems has set Steven Antin to direct “Burlesque,” a contemporary musical with 12 song-and-dance numbers. Donald De Line will produce.
“Burlesque” centers on a young woman who tries to escape a hollow past and finds it performing in a neo-burlesque club in Los Angeles.
Antin wrote the script, and Diablo Cody (“Juno”) revised it. An exec producer and co-creator of the CW show “Pussycat Dolls Presents,” Antin previously directed “The Good Mother” and has been writing and directing live shows in burlesque clubs for the past decade.
“Neo-burlesque is a contemporary take on the traditional burlesque that derived from vaudeville, with singing, dancing, comedy and more tease than striptease,” Antin said.
He’s taken established songs that will be updated and worked into dance numbers. The hope is for a style that crosses “Moulin Rouge” with “Cabaret.”
“Ever since I saw my first burlesque show over five years ago, I’ve wanted to make a film like this, and finally persuaded Steve to write a spec script on the topic,” Screen Gems president Clint Culpepper said. “This will be a sexy, music-filled film set in a provocative and artistic world.”