Keira Knightley Film BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM Gets Musical Treatment; Aims for West End, Broadway

WENN News reports that the 2002 Keira Knightley film, Bend It Like Beckham, is currently being adapted for the stage, helmed by the film's director, Gurinder Chadha.  The new musical has both West End and Broadway aspirations, according to the report. Says Chadha: "The script is ready to go. It's going to be on both the West End and Broadway. We are currently deciding who is the right person to write the score, so it's at a really exciting stage."

Bend It Like Beckham, the title of which is inspired by soccer star David Beckham and his skill at scoring from free kicks by "bending" (curving) the ball past a wall of defenders, is the story of two femal soccer players - one Indian and one British - their friendship, relationships and success in the game. The comedy-drama film starred Parminder Nagra, Keira Knightley, Jonathan Rhys Myers, Anupam Kher, Shaznay Lewis, and Archie Panjabi. The British film went on to set the record in India for most number of tickets sold during a single weekend for a foreign movie. It also went on to become the highest-grossing Indian-themed film ever in the U.S. with $32 million in box office revenue.

The film is responsible for putting Knightley, a regular in the theatre circuit in the UK, on the international map alongside E.R.'s Parminder Nagra.