the maid heads to the stage, and given the history of the story, it’s hard to bet against it.
Lionsgate has announced that it is developing a stage adaptation of the psychological thriller, based on the best-selling novel by Freida McFadden and the hit film of the same name.
British production company Melting Pot, directed by Simon Friend and Hanna Osmolska, the team behind the stage versions of life of pi and paranormal activity, will produce, with playwright Bekah Brunstetter, best known for the Broadway play The notebookwriting the script.
A production schedule has not yet been confirmed.
The measure makes considerable commercial sense.
The film, directed by Paul Feig and starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried, quietly became one of the most notable box office stories in recent memory, grossing $400 million worldwide on a production budget of just $35 million.
a sequel, The maid’s secretis already in the works, with production expected to begin later this year ahead of its planned theatrical release on December 17, 2027.
The stage version will be based on both the novel and the film, which tell broadly the same story: a young woman with a hidden past takes a position as a maid in a wealthy family whose seemingly perfect life hides some very dark secrets.
The endings of the book and the movie differ slightly, although the central story remains the same.
For Friend, the material is ideal for theater.
“When I first read the maidIt was exciting,” he said.
“What occurred to me is how truly theatrical the story is, not only largely taking place in a single, claustrophobic location, but also the twisty elements that contemporary what has long worked in stage thrillers.”
He’s talked about wanting to “pump up the intensity” for live audiences, a logical ambition given that much of the film’s appeal came from experiencing its cheesiest moments and scares in the crowd.
Brunstetter is equally enthusiastic.
“I am very excited to bring this exciting, emotional, strange and even funny story to the stage,” she said.
“I am very excited to delve into The maid Incredibly universal themes like jealousy, the pain of desire, and the traumas that connect us.”
the maid joins a growing list of Lionsgate properties making the jump from screen to stage.
Productions based on dirty dancing, The The Earth and Wonder are all in development, while a theatrical version of the hunger games is currently running in London’s West End.
It is, from any point of view, an ambitious expansion, and the maidWith its built-in audience and proven commercial appeal, it looks like one of the strongest bets of the bunch.
