Filmmaker Chinonye Chukwu of Clemency fame is directing a film based on Arthur Miller's Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning play Death of a Salesman, reports Deadline. The film will star Jeffrey Wright as an ageing salesperson named Willy Loman and Octavia Spencer as his wife Linda Loman. Chukwu is adapting the play alongside Tony Kushner.
The play follows salesman Loman who feels the pressure to bring his family back on track after prioritising his work life over it. This is not the first adaptation of Death of a Salesman. The 1951 film of the same name, starring Fredrich March and Mildred Dunnock as Willy and Linda Loman, earned five Oscar nominations. There is also a 1985 adaptation featuring Dustin Hoffman and Kate Reid as Willy and Linda Loman, as well as one from 1996 starring Warren Mitchell and Rosemary Harris in the same roles.
Cindy Tolan and Kristie Macosko Krieger are producing the film under the Amblin Entertainment banner, alongside Spencer herself through Orit Entertainment. Kushner will also act as a producer. The film reunites Amblin Entertainment with distributor Focus Features after Hamnet, the Chloé Zhao directorial starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal. Hamnet is set to have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.
