It's Her Turn! Barbra Streisand's GYPSY Movie Finally Moving Forward with New Helmer

Barbra Streisand will finally be singing "Rose's Turn" now that her long-in-the-wings GYPSY film has found a director in RAIN MAN Oscar-winner Barry Levinson (who also wrote the book for Sheryl Crow's musical DINER).

Variety reports that not only has Levinson signed on for the project, which will star Babs, but also that STX Entertainment is in "advanced negotiations" to produce the movie after Universal Pictures put the endeavor on hold last year.

The team is hoping to begin production this year.

"It's Barbra Streisand doing one more, if not the last, movie musical of her career," said STX Chairman Adam Fogelson, gushing about "the type of talent that is clamoring to work with her on one of the most famous and satisfying musicals ever." He added that STX has "a vision for how to turn it into a motion picture event."

Streisand will also produce with Joel Silver, and Richard LaGravenese (who directed THE LAST FIVE YEARS) is writing the script.

Babs' new GYPSY film been one of the most talked about (and most stalled) musical projects of the past few years; Streisand had been working with Universal Pictures on a reboot of the beloved Broadway musical GYPSY since 2011. This would be the third movie version of GYPSY, which was first captured on film in 1962 (starring Rosalind Russell) and then again in 1993 for television (starring Bette Midler).

Screenwriter Richard LaGravenese said last year that the screenplay had been finished since before the holidays. The project is a reunion for the duo -- LaGravenese worked with Streisand on THE MIRROR HAS TWO FACES in 1996. The new GYPSY script is a rewrite of a previous version by DOWNTON ABBEY creator Julian Fellowes.

Streisand has been attached to play the movie's leading lady, Rose, since the early stages of the project. It was rumored last fall that Lady Gaga and John Travolta were being considered for the roles of Louise and Herbie, respectively.

GYPSY is a musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. GYPSY is loosely based on the 1957 memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee, the famous striptease artist, and focuses on her mother, Rose, whose name has become synonymous with "the ultimate show business mother." It follows the dreams and efforts of Rose to raise two daughters to perform onstage and casts an affectionate eye on the hardships of show business life. The character of Louise is based on Lee, and the character of June is based on Lee's sister, the actress June Havoc.

The musical contains many songs that became popular standards, including "Everything's Coming up Roses", "Together (Wherever We Go)", "Small World", "Some People", "Let Me Entertain You", "All I Need Is the Girl", and "Rose's Turn". It is frequently considered one of the crowning achievements of the mid-20th century's conventional musical theatre art form, often called the "book musical".

GYPSY was last seen on Broadway in a production that was first presented by Encores! from July 9 to 29, 2007 with Patti LuPone playing 'Rose', and direction by Arthur Laurents.

Photo Credit: Douglas Gorenstein/NBC