Danny Boyle Backs Out of SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE Musical; Julian Fellowes in the Wings?

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According to The Independent, Danny Boyle has broken off negotiations to bring a Slumdog Millionaire musical adaptation to the West End. But his collaborator, TV producer Paul Smith, supposedly has Downton Abbey's creator Julian Fellowes in the wings.

An unrevealed source told the news outlet: "Danny has a great attachment to Slumdog, and so of course wanted to make it with exactly the same creative team: screenwriter Simon Beaufoy, composer AR Rahman, and producer Christian Colson. Those talks broke down, and we now hear Smith is in talks with Fellowes and Matthew Warchus, the guy behind Ghost, to make the musical in their place."

Read the original report here.

Due to the controversy, struggles for artistic control and the logistics of putting together a new creative team, the show will now likely be launched in 2014.

Slumdog Millionaire tells the story of a Mumbai teen who grows up in the slums, becomes a contestant on the Indian version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" and is arrested on suspicion of cheating. While being interrogated, events from his life are shown to explain why he knows all the answers. The film stars Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, and Saurabh Shukla, among others.

Talks on Boyle transferring Slumdog to the stage have ended just three years after the film, which began as an underdog project with an unknown cast, snatched up eight 2009 Academy Awards, including the Oscars for Best Achievement in Cinematography (Anthony Dod Mantle), Best Achievement in Directing (Danny Boyle), Best Achievement in Film Editing (Chris Dickens), Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score (A.R. Rahman), Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song (A.R. Rahman and Gulzar), Best Achievement in Sound Mixing (Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty), Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (Simon Beaufoy) and Best Motion Picture of the Year (Christian Colson).

Danny Boyle also recently helmed 127 Hours, which met with widespread critical success in 2011, and is currently working on the London Olympics opening ceremony.