Richard Linklater to film 'Merrily We Roll Along' over 20 years

Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Director Richard Linklater is set to helm an adaptation of musical Merrily We Roll Along and plans on filming the project over the course of 20 years.

Beanie Feldstein, Ben Platt and Blake Jenner are set to star in the film from Blumhouse about a Broadway composer who leaves his friends and career behind to produce Hollywood movies.

Merrily We Roll Along, which played on Broadway, was written by George Furth with lyrics and music by Stephen Sondheim. It is based on the 1934 play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart.

Linklater, Jason Blum, Jonathan Marc Sherman and Ginger Sledge are producing. Linklater previously shot his critically-acclaimed film Boyhood over a 12 year period.

Principal photography on the first segment of the film has been completed.

"I fist saw, and fell in love with Merrily in the '80s and I can't think of a better place to spend the next 20 years than in the world of a Sondheim musical. I don't enter this multi-year experience lightly, but it seems the best, perhaps the only way, to do this story justice on film," Linklater said in a statement.