Fox has located its leading star to topline The Rocky Horror Picture Show telefilm to hit the small screen late next year: Orange is the New Black fan-favorite Laverne Cox.
That’s according to Variety, with Cox primed to portray Dr. Frank N. Furter, the iconic role made famous by Tim Curry in Jim Sharman’s 1975 original. As a “sweet transvestite from transexual Transylvania,” the actress is sure to bring a flamboyant and eccentric performance to the role that Curry helped bring to life across both theater and screen.
Having bombed out at the box office when it initially debuted in theaters all the way back in ’75, The Rocky Horror Picture Show has since developed a cult following and even holds the title for the single-longest theatrical run of all time across the last 4 decades – not to shabby, if we do say so ourselves. In terms of Fox’s new spin on an old gem, the studio will draw from Richard O’Brien’s cult musical, charting the tale of a luckless newly-engaged couple who seek shelter in a nearby castle when their car breaks down all of a sudden. As the overnight guests of the mad doctor, though, their night turns out to be one to remember.
Kenny Ortega (High School Musical) is behind the lens for the small screen adaptation, with Fox’s reboot “expected to stick faithfully to the text and the score of the original but greatly reimagine the story visually.”
Casting is well underway for Fox’s The Rocky Horror Picture Show telefilm, and now that Laverne Cox has been installed to headline the dramatization, the studio’s feature will now work toward its 2016 premiere.
