Warner Brothers is bringing a new version of the musical Little Shop Of Horrors to the big screen and have tapped director Greg Berlanti to direct. This new version will be working from a screenplay by The Invention Of Lying writer Matthew Robinson who will be adapting the original stage musical written by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken.
The original off-Broadway musical, based on the campy Roger Corman horror film from 1960, was adapted for the big screen once before in 1986 by director Frank Oz. That version had an all-star cast that featured Rick Moranis and Ellen Greene in the leads, supported by the likes of Jim Belushi, Steve Martin, Vincent Gardenia, John Candy, Christopher Guest and Bill Murray.
The show tells the story of Seymour, a young Skid Row floral shop employee, who discovers a weird talking plant that forces him to murder people for his sustenance in exchange for helping him with the love of his fellow co-worker Audrey. The stage show used puppets to bring the evil plant to life, something that made long time Muppeteer Oz the natural choice to helm the first screen adaption.
Berlanti’s last film was the 2010 comedy Life As We Know It. Nowadays he is known more for his working as an executive producer on the CW’s slate of superhero TV shows Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow and Legends Of Tomorrow as well as NBC’s thriller Blindspot and CW’s upcoming Riverdale, a more mature take on the classic “Archie” line of comics.
