Kinky Boots, released by Miramax in 2006, depicts the drag queen’s efforts to help the chief of a struggling shoe company save his business by designing a line of fetish shoes. Ejiofor earned a Golden Globe nomination for his work. Although the film is not a musical — it contained just a few cabaret numbers — and also played primarily as a comedy, producers say they want to emphasise the emotional aspects of the story in the theatrical production. “The story is really about relationships,” Roth said, “and I want to find the heart at the center of it.”

After seeing Kinky Boots at the Sundance Film Festival in 2006, Roth was attracted to its theatrical possibilities and eventually acquired the stage rights from Miramax’s Disney parent. Roth is one of several producers who has been bringing the theatre and film worlds closer together during the past few years; she recently joined with film producer Richard Gladstein to acquire the film rights for the off-Broadway drama Apologize, Apologize and will develop it for the big screen.
Mitchell is no stranger to film-to-stage adaptations. The Tony winner served as the choreographer for the Broadway productions of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Hairspray and The Full Monty, which like Kinky Boots is a raunchy but goodhearted British comedy with class overtones.

Tarantino going into battle with next film
Quentin Tarantino will start shooting his next film, the World War II action tale Inglorious Bastards in October, with hopes of having it ready in time for the Cannes Film Festival next May. The long-gestating project revolves around a Dirty Dozen-like group of soldiers behind enemy lines. No cast is yet in place, though Brad Pitt’s name has surfaced. Tarantino acquired the title and remake rights to Enzo Castellari’s 1978 film of the same name, but his screenplay is said to be an original. The project is set up at the closely held Weinstein Co., which is looking to co-finance it with a major studio in exchange for foreign rights. Weinstein Co. principals Bob and Harvey Weinstein have a long history with Tarantino, stretching from 1994’s Pulp Fiction through the filmmaker’s most recent effort, the commercially disappointing Grindhouse films in 2007.

Comic book elves gather in movie quest
Elfquest, a provocative cult comic series from the ‘70s, is heading to the big screen courtesy of Warners Bros. The original comic, which Wendy and Richard Pini initially self-published in 1978, followed a tribe of elves known as the Wolfriders in their attempts to survive and link with other dispersed elves on a Earth-like planet with two moons while on the lookout for tribes of humans and trolls, both of which acted as allies and enemies.
The series — later published by both Marvel and DC Comics — attracted a more mature audience as it went along, with scenes of battles and sexuality that were intense for that time. Rawson Thurber (Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story) will write, direct and produce the feature, whose format is undetermined. Hollywood has long tried to adapt the series and several attempts at an animated series or feature have been made over the years.