Confirmed! BEAUTIFUL is Headed to the Big Screen!

As scooped first by BroadwayWorld.com earlier this week here, the hit Broadway musical BEAUTIFUL is headed to the big screen. Sony pictures confirmed today that "The film version of "Beautiful" will be produced by Tom Hanks; Gary Goetzman, a producer whose movie credits include "Mamma Mia!" in 2008; and Paul Blake, the lead producer of "Beautiful" on Broadway. Douglas McGrath, who wrote the book for the stage production, will work on the screenplay."

The current Broadway cast of Beautiful includes Chilina Kennedy as 'Carole King', Scott J. Campbell as 'Gerry Goffin', Tony Award-nominees Anika Larsen, Jarrod Spector, Liz Larsen, and Paul Anthony Stewart.

The production also just opened to rave reviews in London, and is next headed on a US tour. The West End cast members include Katie Brayben as Carole King, Ian McIntosh as song-writer Barry Mann, Alan Morrissey as King's husband and song-writing partner Gerry Goffin, Lorna Want as song-writer Cynthia Weil, Glynis Barber as Genie Klein, King's mother, andGary Trainor as music publisher and producer Don Kirshner.

Per press notes, "Long before she was Carole King, chart-topping music legend, she was Carol Klein, Brooklyn girl with passion and chutzpah. She fought her way into the record business as a teenager and, by the time she reached her twenties, had the husband of her dreams and a flourishing career writing hits for the biggest acts in rock 'n' roll. But it wasn't until her personal life began to crack that she finally managed to find her true voice. Beautiful tells the inspiring true story of King's remarkable rise to stardom, from being part of a hit songwriting team with her husband Gerry Goffin, to her relationship with fellow writers and best friends Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann, to becoming one of the most successful solo acts in popular music history. Along the way, she made more than beautiful music, she wrote the soundtrack to a generation."

Douglas McGrath is a filmmaker and playwright. His play Checkers opened the 30th anniversary season at New York's Vineyard Theatre. He collaborated with Woody Allen on the screenplay for Bullets Over Broadway, for which they were nominated for an Academy Award. His first film as writer/director was his adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma. He has also written and directed Nicholas Nickleby, which won the Best Ensemble Cast from the National Board of Review; Company Man; Infamous; and His Way. His essays have appeared in the New Yorker, The New Republic, Vanity Fair and The New York Times.