Green Day is a generation defining band. They have grown and evolved with their fans consistently over the past two decades but have also managed to remain as relevant today as they were when their first hits came out in the early ’90s.
Green Day’s evolution as a band took another interesting turn last year when their latest mega-hit album ‘American Idiot’ was adopted into a stage musical. Logically there is only one place to go after you take Broadway: Hollywood!
Deadline is reporting that Universal Pictures is looking into turning the successful musical into a feature film:
Universal Pictures is negotiating to turn the Green Day-fueled Broadway musical American Idiot into a feature film. Dustin Lance Black, the Oscar-winning Milk scribe, is in talks to write the script, and Michael Mayer will direct.
Mayer helmed the stage run of the musical, which is closing on Broadway April 24 and launching a tour in the fall. Black most recently scripted J. Edgar, the Clint Eastwood film that stars Leonardo DiCaprio as J. Edgar Hoover.
Universal is also keen to get lead singer Billy Joe Armstrong into the film as St. Jimmy, a role he would periodically play in the stage version. The band has been heavily involved with the creation of the stage version of the musical, so hopefully they will throw their creative support behind this new project as well.
‘American Idiot’ mostly uses the songs from the album of the same name, but several songs of Green Day’s more recent album ’21st Century Breakdown’ also appear.