'Eighth Grade' Break-Out Elsie Fisher to Star in Musical 'The Shaggs' (Exclusive)

Ken Kwapis will direct the real-life story of three musically inept teenagers who recorded one of the most infamous rock albums of all time.

Elsie Fisher has booked her first starring role since breaking out in Bo Burnham's indie Eighth Grade.

Fisher will star in The Shaggs, a musical feature that is based on the real-life story of the Wiggin sisters, three musically inept teenagers from new Hampshire who, in 1968, recorded one of the most infamous rock-and-roll albums of all time, Philosophy of the World.

Ken Kwapis, whose feature credits include The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and A Walk in the Woods, will direct from a screenplay by Joy Gregory. Inspired by a 1999 New Yorker article by Susan Orlean, Gregory had previously turned the story of The Shaggs into an off-Broadway stage musical.

Alex Beattie will produce under her and Kwapis' In Cahoots banner, along with Grammy-nominated music supervisor Howard Paar and Seth Caplan of FYFM Creations, who is co-financing the picture. Orlean, Harris Fishman and Gary Nelson will exec produce.

Fisher, who will voice star in the upcoming Addams Family animated feature, is repped by Innovative Artists. Kwapis is a veteran TV director, launching shows like The Bernie Mac Show and The Office. He is repped by UTA, Code Entertainment and Hansen Jacobson.

Beattie is represented by UTA and Code Entertainment; Paar is represented by UTA.