Film News

Jake Gyllenhaal to Produce and Star in Leonard Bernstein Biopic The American

Cary Joji Fukunaga will direct the film, based on Humphrey Burton’s biography.

Kenji Fujishima
Los Angeles
Jake Gyllenhaal was last seen on Broadway in the 2016 revival of Sunday in the Park With George.
Jake Gyllenhaal was last seen on Broadway in last year's revival of Sunday in the Park With George.
(© David Gordon)

According to published reports, Jake Gyllenhaal is set to produce and star as Leonard Bernstein in the upcoming biopic The American. Cary Joji Fukunaga (True Detective) will direct the film, with screenwriter Michael Mitnick adapting Humphrey Burton's biography Leonard Bernstein.

The film will reportedly be structured in five moments and follow Bernstein's life from age 25, when he first conducted the New York Philharmonic.

"Like many people, Leonard Bernstein found his way into my life and heart through West Side Story when I was a kid," Gyllenhaal said in a statement. "But as I got older and started to learn about the scope of his work, I began to understand the extent of his unparalleled contribution and the debt of gratitude modern American culture owes him. As a man, Bernstein was a fascinating figure — full of genius and contradiction — and it will be an incredible honor to tell his story with a talent and friend like Cary."

BRON Studios will produce and finance the film, which will begin principal photography this fall.