Julianne Moore to play Ben Platt’s mother in big-screen remake of iconic Broadway smash Dear Evan Hansen
Ben Platt and Julianne Moore (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty)
Julianne Moore has been cast in Dear Evan Hansen, joining Ben Platt in a star-studded film adaptation of the Broadway smash.
The Tony-award winning musical debuted on Broadway in 2016 and quickly garnered huge popularity, becoming beloved by queer audiences in the process.
Now, a film version of the musical is in the works from Universal, with Platt set to reprise his award-winning turn as Evan Hansen, while Moore will play his mother Heidi Hansen, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Dear Evan Hansen tells the story of a teenager with a social anxiety disorder who yearns for connection with his peers.
His desire for connection is so strong that he pretends to have been the best friend of a student who died by suicide in an effort to become closer to his family.
Colton Ryan will play Connor Murphy, the teen who Evan pretends to have been friends with, with Amy Adams as Cynthia Murphy, his mother.
Kaitlyn Dever, Amandla Stenberg, Colton Ryan and Nik Dodani are also set to star in the musical film.
The Broadway musical won six Tony awards in 2017, including a “Best Actor” prize for Platt for his acclaimed performance.
The film will be directed by Stephen Chbosky, writer and director of The Perks of Being a Wallflower. The film will also use the original songs and lyrics, written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, from its Broadway counterpart.
Platt originated the role of Evan Hansen in its original Broadway run, and later came out publicly as gay in a music video released in February 2019.
He spoke at length about his coming out experience during a Radio City Music Hall Netflix special.
The Politician star revealed that he called his parents from Tel Aviv when he was just 12-years-old to tell them that he was gay after a chaperone thought he was being bullied because of his sexuality.
“My mom goes: ‘Is this about your sexuality?’ I was like: ‘Let me finish.’
“Basically she said: ‘We know, you spent most of your childhood dressed as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, no one is surprised.’ And I was like: ‘Oh that’s great.'”
He added: “And that was really it, and I really wish for everyone in the world, everyone who’s watching at home, everyone here tonight, that it can be that much of a nothing.
“Because it doesn’t need to be an event or an announcement.”
