Let’s get musical! Frozen alums Kristen Bell and Jonathan Groff will be teaming up again for original musical Molly and the Moon, Deadline reports. The flick comes from the minds of How I Met Your Mother creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas. Both Bays and Thomas have penned the script and will helm the production as directors.
According to Deadline, Molly and the Moon will boast comedic elements a la How I Met Your Mother, but it will also be infused with personal experience. It’s based on a crisis Thomas himself endured when the beloved CBS sitcom became a Monday night staple.
Thomas revealed that, between Seasons Two and Three of How I Met Your Mother, he was expecting a child with his wife. Unfortunately, their son Elliot was born with Jacobsen Syndrome. He needed open heart surgery at just two weeks old. Thomas mused that Elliot had undergone more turmoil and trauma as an infant than the former had as an adult. Both Thomas and Bays were inspired by Elliot’s journey. Thomas had this to say regarding how his personal life influenced Molly and the Moon:
He was having a more mythic, epic journey that I had in my three decades of life, all in his first couple of weeks of life. Carter found himself wondering too, what is that little life going through in this plastic box? What is Elliot thinking and feeling as he’s lying there? You hear phrases like, ‘Oh the surgery went well but he’s not out of the woods yet,’ and we would wonder, what are the woods like, and how would you show them? Later, that would inspire elements of Molly and the Moon.
Next, Thomas delved more into Molly and the Moon‘s premise:
The meter of Molly Moon is sort of the same as Elliot. Musicals are always about the first moments that prove why they are musicals. Kate, our lead character, the mother, is singing a lullaby to her pregnant belly and the camera pushes in on her pregnant belly and that is our entrance into a whole other world where we see a mysterious little girl in a rowboat in the middle of the ocean, looking up at the moon and hearing that song, hearing that lullaby come through the moon.
Bell will portray Kate and Groff will play Brian, Molly’s father. While the film will be live-action, Thomas and Bays cite Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal as influences for the movie’s tone. Where the Wild Things Are and Alice in Wonderland also helped mold Molly and the Moon. Thomas felt compelled to tell this story because of how common it is in the world of parenting.
I had to tell this story, to honor my son and because there are just tens of millions of people in this country, and more around the world, whose lives have been touched by something like this. So many parents have kids who have to find their way through some sort of difficulty. My favorite quote about parenthood is, to have a child is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. That is really how it feels.
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Here’s my two cents: I’m excited for this. Bell and Groff are immensely gifted on the musical front. The story sounds like it will tug at the heartstrings. Bring it on, I say.
What do you think about Kristen Bell and Jonathan Groff joining Molly and the Moon? Sound off in the comments below!
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What I do: I'm GGA's Managing Editor, a Senior Contributor, and Press Coordinator. I manage, contribute, and coordinate. Sometimes all at once. Joking aside, I oversee day-to-day operations for GGA, write, edit, and assess interview opportunities/press events.
Who I am: Before moving to Los Angeles after studying theater in college, I was born and raised in Amish country, Ohio. No, I am not Amish, even if I sometimes sport a modest bonnet.
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