‘The Humans’ Movie Adaptation Enlists Richard Jenkins, Amy Schumer, Steven Yeun, And More
Hollywood mega-producerScott Rudinis one of the few people who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony award (EGOT), and he’s arguably as well-known for his theater work as he is for his movies. Now he’s combining those two mediums and producing a film adaptation of the Broadway playThe Humans, and he’s secured an excellent cast to star.Richard Jenkins(The Shape of Water),Amy Schumer(Trainwreck),Steven Yeun(Burning, The Walking Dead), and more are on board. Keep reading to learn about the story and who else is involved.
In addition to Schumer, Yeun, and the Oscar-winning Jenkins,The Humansmovie will starBeanie Feldstein, who’s picking up tons of acclaim for her performance inBooksmartfollowing her breakout turn inLady Bird. It’ll also star actressJayne Houdyshell, who is reprising her role after winning a Tony during the Broadway run of the show.
Rudin is a key figure in the theater world, where he’s been nominated for 42 Tonys and won 15 of them. One of the plays he produced wasThe Humans, a one-act production written byStephen Karamthat went on to win the Tony for Best Play in 2016. NowDeadlinereports that a movie version is in the works, with Rudin producing and Karam writing and directing.
Set during Thanksgiving, the story unfolds at the crummy New York apartment of Brigid Blake, a musician who lives with her boyfriend, Richard. Brigid’s family comes to visit for the holiday meal: her sister Aimee, a lawyer who lives in Philadelphia and happens to be a lesbian; her parents Erik and Deirdre, who live in Scranton and are unhappy that their daughters have left home and abandoned their religious beliefs; and Brigid’s grandmother “Moma,” who has Alzheimer’s disease. The play examines class issues and interrogates the idea of The American Dream in the face of unexpected hardships, and the movie sounds like it could be an intense family drama that touches a nerve.
Eli Bush(Annihilation, The Girl in the Spider’s Web) is producing alongside Rudin, and they’re teaming with A24 on this one, reuniting Rudin with the distributor after they collaborated on films likeLady Bird, Eighth Grade, andmid90sover the pastcouple of years. This will be Karam’s directorial debut, so it’ll be interesting to see how if he’s interested in making this visually distinct or if he’ll sit back and let the actors and the script do most of the heavy lifting.
