Universal Pictures has optioned the film rights for the Tony Award-nominated play “John Proctor Is the Villain,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. Per the report, Playwright Kimberly Belflower is set to adapt her own script for the screen. Sadie Sink, who originated the role of Shelby on Broadway, will executive produce.
Tina Fey and Eric Gurian will produce under the banner of their Universal-based production company, Little Stranger Inc., and Marc Platt will produce with Adam Siegel and Jared LeBoff through Universal-based production company Marc Platt Productions.
Britt Hennemuth is slated to oversee the film on behalf of Universal.
Sink was instrumental in bringing the play to Broadway. The star of Netflix’s “Stranger Things” had been interested in doing theater. Sink shares an agency with Belflower, which is how the actor was introduced to the play — and decided she wanted “John Proctor” to be her Broadway debut.
Set in a rural, Georgia high school, “John Proctor” follows the students in an honors English class as they study Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible.” But when events in their own lives tied to the #MeToo movement begin to echo those as the play, the class is forced to confront who is the true hero of the story.
On Broadway, “John Proctor” is produced by Wagner Johnson Productions. It was nominated for seven Tony Awards: Best Play, Best Direction of a Play (for Danya Taymor), Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play (Sink), Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play (Finna Strazza), Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play (Gabriel Ebert), Best Lighting Design of a Play (Natasha Katz and Hannah Wasileski) and Best Sound Design of a Play (Palmer Hefferan). The limited engagement run at the Booth Theatre has been extended twice, now through Aug. 31.
Additional information about the film, including a director and casting, has not been announced.
