Daisy Edgar-Jones to Play Carole King in 'Beautiful' Musical Biopic, Directed by Lisa Cholodenko

Sony Pictures developing film from producers Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman of Playtone

Photo: John Shearer/Getty Images

Daisy Edgar Jones has landed the plum role of Carole King in Sony’s upcoming film adaptation of the stage musical “Beautiful,” a package as high-profile as it is pedigreed.

“Daisy has a spirit and energy that I recognized as myself when I was younger. She’s a tremendous talent and I know she’s going to give a great performance,” King told Variety.

Jones is familiar to Sony, having starred in the studio’s box office winner “Where The Crawdads Sing.” She will be directed in “Beautiful” by Academy Award nominee Lisa Cholodenko (“The Kids Are All Right”).

Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg, who co-wrote “Kids Are All Right” together, recently completed their own pass on the “Beautiful” script, which is currently in development. Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman of Playtone will produce the film with Paul Blake, who also produced the stage show. Sherry Kondor, Christine Russell, Steven Shareshian, and Mike Bosner will serve as executive producers.

Sony obtained the rights to use King’s songs, as well as life rights from King and other artists featured in the show, more than seven years ago. The stage show “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” ran on Broadway for five years and earned a Tony Award for Jessie Mueller’s lead performance. By the time the production closed in October 2019, “Beautiful” had played 60 previews and 2,418 regular performances.

The musical features many of King’s greatest hits, such as “One Fine Day,” “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” “I Feel the Earth Move” and “You’ve Got a Friend.” King’s prolific songwriting career hasn’t just resulted in hits for herself, it’s also provided chart-topping material for the likes of Aretha Franklin, Little Eva and Mariah Carey. She has produced 25 solo albums, including the Grammy-winning “Tapestry,” which holds the record for the most weeks at No. 1 by a female artist.

Edgar-Jones broke out in Hulu’s romantic drama “Normal People” and later starred opposite Sebastian Stan in the Sundance comedic thriller “Fresh.” She recently received a Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actress in a limited series or motion picture made for television, for her role in FX’s “Under the Banner of Heaven.” Earlier this year, the 24-year-old British star helped jolt adult audiences at the pandemic-era box office with “Crawdads,” which racked up $140 million globally.

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