Oscar winner Oliver Stone has signed to direct the big-screen version of the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice musical "Evita," about the powerful former first lady of Argentina.
The actress to play Eva Peron has yet to be announced, but Madonna, Meryl Streep and Patti LuPone, who created the stage role, have been rumored to be under consideration.In addition to directing, Stone has written the screenplay for the musical, whose songs include "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina," and will co-produce it with Robert Stigwood, Arnon Milchan and Andy Vajna.
Hollywood Pictures, a division of Walt Disney Studios, said production will begin next year.
Hollywood Pictures declined to elaborate on the latest short list for the lead role and could not say how soon filming will begin or when the movie will be released.
Stone was out of town and could not be reached for comment.
Lloyd Webber and Rice were optimistic that Stone will make the stage play into a good film.
" `Evita' has been a uniquely challenging project to adapt into a motion picture, and I am confident that Oliver Stone's approach does justice to the original play while opening up the story to tremendous cinematic possibilities," Lloyd Webber said.
Stone won Oscars for "Midnight Express," "Platoon," "Salvador" and "Born on the Fourth of July."
His latest movie, "Heaven and Earth," opens Christmas Day.
Among Stigwood's many musical production credits is the 1973 movie version of an earlier Lloyd Webber-Rice collaboration, "Jesus Christ Superstar."
Lloyd Webber's latest work, "Sunset Boulevard," is a musical adaptation of the 1950 Billy Wilder movie.