Scarlett Johansson to Lead 2013 Broadway Revival of CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF? Chris Pine, Jeremy Renner to Co-Star?

The New York Times reports today that a Scarlett Johansson is in talks to star in a revival of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof on Broadway in the Spring of 2013.

The winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (1955), the Tennessee Williams classic takes place on the Mississippi plantation of Big Daddy Pollitt, a wealthy cotton tycoon, and follows the relationships of Big Daddy's family, primarily between his alcoholic son Brick and Brick's wife Maggie the "Cat". Johansson, who won a 2010 Tony Award for her Broadway debut in A View From The Bridge, would play Maggie. Those in the running to play Brick are Star Trek's Chris Pine and Johansson's The Avenger's co-star Jeremy Renner. Casting options for the remainder of the cast are not yet known.

Stuart Thompson will produce the revival.

For the full report in the New York Times, click here.

The original Broadway production, which opened in 1955, was directed by Elia Kazan and starred Barbara Bel Geddes as Maggie and Ben Gazzara as Brick. It was revived in 1974 by the American Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford, Connecticut starring Elizabeth Ashley and Keir Dullea. Kathleen Turner led a 1990 Broadway revival, which was followed up by a production in 2003 starring Ashley Judd and Jason Patric. The show was last staged on Broadway in 2008 featuring an all-African-American production directed by Debbie Allen starring Terrence Howard as Brick, James Earl Jones (Big Daddy), Phylicia Rashad (Big Mama), Anika Noni Rose (Maggie) and Lisa Arrindell Anderson (Mae). In November 2009, the production moved to London's West End, where it received the 2010 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Revival of a Play.

A film and TV child star, Scarlett Johansson rose to international fame with the films Girl with a Pearl Earring and Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation, both in 2003.  Additional films include A Love Song for Bobby Long, Match Point, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Iron Man 2, The Avengers and more.  On stage, Johansson made her first appearance in the Off Broadway play Sophistry and in 2009 made her debut on Broadway,as Catherine Carbone in A View from the Bridge alongside Liev Schreiber for which she won the 2010 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play. She has released two albums, Anywhere I Lay My Head and Break Up.