Screenhead

Line Cinema is producing a modern version of the musical Damn Yankees with Jim Carrey and Jake Gyllenhaa attach to star. Carrey will play the devil and Gyllenhaa to play Boyd.  It’s their first musical.

“Damn Yankees” won seven Tony Awards when it bowed on Broadway in 1955. The story follows Joe Boyd, a happily married middle-aged man whose devotion to a hapless pro baseball team prompts him to make a Faustian bargain with the devil to help the team. He’s transformed into slugger Joe Hardy, in exchange for Boyd’s soul. Boyd can break the deal, but the deadline occurs during the World Series. Adding to the plot, the devil engages Lola, a gorgeous lost soul, to seduce the slugger and seal his fate.

Damn Yankees classic tunes include “You Gotta Have Heart” and “Whatever Lola Wants.”

Damn Yankees was produced by Warner Bros in 1958. The film was directed by Abbott and Stanley Donen, with Ray Walston and Gwen Verdon re-creating their stage performances, and Tab Hunter playing the slugger.