Tony award winning British-Nigerian actress Cynthia Erivo has been cast to star in the upcoming film interpretation of Rip Van Winkle adding to her vast repertoire.
The American folk tale will be given a musical spin as Cynthia Erivo will be joining forces with Josh Gad who is set to produce the flick and is no stranger to the musical world having voiced Olaf in Frozen. He also enjoys a Tony Award Nomination for his work on Broadway in The Book of Mormon.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Rip Van Winkle is a short story written by Washington Irving, who also penned The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and was a tale from the time of the American Revolution that helped lend a mythic air to colonial America. The story, about a villager who falls asleep only to wake up decades later, missing the American Revolution, is perhaps best remembered as a cautionary tale of sleeping one’s life away
Tasked with the responsibility of penning the screenplay is seasoned Nigerian writer Amaka Idoko, who has also been billed to write the screenplay for classic DC comic, Plastic Man.
Besides starring in Rip Van Winkle, Cynthia Erivo has been billed to portray Harriet Tubman in Harriet, Kasi Lemmons’ biopic of the heroine who helped free hundreds of slaves