UPDATE: Richtman just updated his last report by also mentioning that Lady Gaga has also been offered a role in Marshall’s remake. Sounds like things are gearing up when it comes to this project.
Gaga, an Oscar nominated actress, is coming off “Joker: Folie a Deux,” and is set to have a supporting role in the next season of Netflix’s mega-popular series “Wednesday.” She has no other projects currently lined up, so an upcoming turn in “Guys and Dolls” would align with this latest intel.
Last week’s Production Weekly had Zendaya in talks to star in Rob Marshall’s “Guys & Dolls,” and now Daniel Richtman is reporting the same info, potentially from another source.
Zendaya has a busy schedule ahead of her this year, shooting “Euphoria,” “The Odyssey,” “Dune: Messiah,” and “Spider-Man 4” — the latter being a small supporting role. As far as I can tell, she has no projects currently lined up to shoot in 2026.
John Requa & Glenn Ficarra (“Bad Santa,” “Crazy, Stupid, Love”) will be writing the script.
There’s also a slew of actors in the mix for the two lead male roles, including Channing Tatum, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman, and … Vin Diesel. Regardless, after years in development, this project finally seems to be moving.
Marshall was proclaimed by many as the next big thing in directing after his 2002 debut “Chicago,” which won six Oscars, including Best Picture. However, ever since “Chicago,” Marshall has delivered a string of critically panned films (“Memoirs of a Geisha,” “Nine,” “Into the Woods,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” “Mary Poppins Returns,” “The Little Mermaid”).
Marshall is now set to direct the long-gestating remake of “Guys and Dolls” for Sony’s TriStar Pictures label. He replaces original hire Bill Condon, who recently left the project to direct another musical, “Kiss of the Spider Woman” with Jennifer Lopez.
TriStar has the rights to Damon Runyon’s original short stories, which tackled gamblers, gangsters, and the women who love them, as well as the rights to the Tony-winning Broadway musical and the 1955 film starring Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra.
The “Guys and Dolls” remake was originally supposed to star Channing Tatum and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the lead roles; they’ve since left the project. Marshall was originally offered to direct “Guys and Dolls” right after “Chicago” was released in 2003, but he told the Guardian at the time that he planned to give musicals a rest.