Argentine musician Gustavo Santaolalla has confirmed that the plans to adapt Mexican director Guillermo del Toro's landmark 2006 film Pan's Labyrinth / El laberinto del fauno into a Broadway musical are going forward as the writing of the stage play has been finished, and the producers are moving into the casting process.
"Guillermo (del Toro) is now looking for a stage director and soon will start making castings for the play" said the musician—who twice won Oscars for composing the scores for Brokeback Mountain and Babel— in a press conference in Mexico, where he presented his most recent album.
The news of the adaptation on the musical broke in 2012, but there had been limited information afterwards. It was reported that De Toro was producing the play with Gary Ungarx and Robert Fo, the Mexican filmmaker was also writing the play with Jeremy Ungar, Paul Williams was writing the lyrics, and Santaolalla was writing the music.
Set in Spain in 1994, during the Civil War, Pan's Labyrinth follows 11-year-old Ofelia, who arrives with her ailing mother arrive at the post of her mother's new husband, a sadistic army officer who is trying to quell a guerrilla uprising. While exploring an ancient maze, Ofelia encounters the faun Pan, who tells her that she is a legendary lost princess and must complete three dangerous tasks in order to claim immortality.
Del Toro's film was nominated for six Academy Awards, wining for Best Cinematography, Best Make Up, and Best Production Design.
