Film News

Speech & Debate Heading to the Big Screen With Original Star

Stephen Karam’s play is about to become a major motion picture.

New York City
Sarah Steele as Diwata in the original Roundabout Underground production of Stephen Karam's Speech & Debate in 2007.
Sarah Steele as Diwata in the original Roundabout Underground production of Stephen Karam's Speech & Debate in 2007.
(© Joan Marcus)

Stephen Karam's acclaimed drama Speech & Debate is heading for the big screen, with one of its original stars leading the company.

Karam will pen the screenplay for the feature film, which is directed by Dan Harris, the screenwriter behind Superman Returns and the upcoming X-Men: Apocalypse. Sarah Steele, who took on the role of Diwata in the show's New York premiere at Roundabout Underground in 2007, will reprise her performance. She will be joined by Liam James (The Way Way Back) and Austin McKenzie (Deaf West's Spring Awakening).

Speech & Debate, which originally starred Steele alongside Gideon Glick, Jason Fuchs, and Susan Blackwell, follows three high school misfits linked by a scandal involving one of their teachers, who revive their school's long-defunct speech and debate society.

Tom Rice and Sycamore Pictures will produce, according to Deadline.