Duncan Sheik Reveals Plans for Filming of American Psycho and Spring Awakening

The award-winning composer also details his upcoming musical theatre projects.

In a recent video interview for AOL BUILD, award-winning composer Duncan Sheik, represented on Broadway this past season with the recent revival of Spring Awakening and the just-opened new musical American Psycho, discussed film versions of both those works as well as his upcoming musical theatre projects.

Sheik, who won Tony Awards for Best Orchestrations and Best Original Score for Spring Awakening, said that plans continue for a film version of the Tony-winning musical, which launched the careers of Jonathan Groff and Lea Michele. “We have some wonderful producers,” Sheik explained. “Tom Hanks' company, Playtone, has been helping to shepherd it along. We just need to find the right ingredients and really, the director, at this point.”

“We're patient,” Sheik continued. “We're waiting for the right person to come along and have the right vision for the movie because, for me, personally, there are very, very few musical movies that stand up over the test of time.” Sheik named Cabaret, Dancer in the Dark and The Sound of Music as favorites, also noting the work of director Baz Luhrmann.

“I just want to make sure it's a really beautiful, artfully done movie musical,” the composer added. “We really want an auteur director to come in and help us make that film.”

Sheik also revealed that American Psycho, which just opened at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, may also be preserved. “I certainly hope [there is an audio recording],” he said, adding, “I shouldn't give this away, [but] we may be filming the show, in which case we would get a soundtrack out of that. But don't tell anyone!”

As for future projects, Sheik said he is currently working on two new musicals: an adaptation of Secret Life of Bees with director Sam Gold and playwright Lynn Nottage, which is set in South Carolina in the Civil Rights era; and a version of Alice in Wonderland with Spring Awakening's Steven Sater and director John Doyle.

Watch the complete interview below:



