Precious Director Daniels Moving On To Miss Saigon

Last week Coming Soon heard some hints from Precious director Lee Daniels that a movie adaptation of the Broadway musical Miss Saigon might be his next directing project. Now his reps have confirmed it in Variety, where they report that Paula Wagner will produce the film under her new Chestnut Ridge Productions.

Cameron Mackintosh, who produced Saigon's Broadway run as well as just about every giant-budget Broadway show you can think of from the 90s, will be producing the screen version as well. The story follows the basic outline of the opera Madame Butterfly, with the setting updated to Saigon during the Vietnam War, and the romance taking place between an American soldier and a 17-year-old Vietnamese bartender. Things don't end well, of course, but lots of songs are sung and lots of love is declared before things wrap up. It sounds a little too overcooked and melodramatic to successfully make the transfer to the movies (see what happened with Phantom of the Opera), but with Lee Daniels directing, who really knows?