The Craft writer Peter Filardi has been approached about turning the 1996 teen horror classic into a Broadway musical, Bloody Disgusting has exclusively learned.
“We really just started discussing it,” Filardi tells me from the set of Damn Handy, a short film he’s writing and directing. “[The Craft] was my story, and I got the story credit, so that gives me something called separate rights, which covers theater. I didn’t even know that!”
He continues, “These people with a track record of doing Broadway musicals approached me and asked me if I had the rights and if I was interested. Once lawyers determined that I did have the rights, I said, ‘I’m definitely interested.’ I’ve just given them a free shopping agreement, and they’re going to try to set it up.”
“I would love it if it happened,” Filardi adds.
The film, co-written with Filardi by director Andrew Fleming, follows four teenage outcasts who must deal with the unforeseen consequences of practicing witchcraft.
“I’m honored that someone would want to reinterpret my work in a different way. I’m completely open to whatever anybody does with it. I’m not particularly precious about any of my work. I had my crack at it, and I’m happy to see others take the ball and run. Even if it just became a little off-Broadway thing, that would be fun for me too. Fingers crossed!”
Filardi attributes The Craft‘s continuing resonance to its evergreen subject matter. “I think it’s the theme. It’s being an outsider and finding a voice,” he explains.
“When I was first talking about it to producers, they were of the mind that the witches would be the overlords of the school, like a Lost Boys type of thing. I was of a completely different mindset. I just knew that, historically, magic, witchcraft, and Wicca were weapons of the underclass. They’re the last resort of people who don’t have a king or an army or a church behind them. They’re the people of the heathens, so they would turn to magic and witchcraft. That’s sort of the type of person I felt like in high school,” he chuckles.
“Magic in general, I think, works best when there’s a real need; an emotional need. It’s the power of adolescent pain. And I think that’s why it resonates: because that’s never going away.
“Andy Fleming brought so much style and fun to the project. Ultimately, you don’t get to choose. You can’t go out and say, ‘I’m gonna make a cult film.’ You make the best film you can make, and then the audience decides. It’s up to them, 100%. They have decided that The Craft and Flatliners are worth revisiting all these years later, which is very flattering.”
Stay tuned for a full report from the set of Filardi’s Damn Handy starring Red Dead Redemption 2‘s Roger Clark. You can support and learn more about the project on Indiegogo.
The post ‘The Craft’ – Writer Peter Filardi Teases a Potential Musical Based on the ’90s Movie [Exclusive] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.