{"id":412869,"date":"2026-04-23T04:09:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T04:09:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/412869\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T04:09:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T04:09:17","slug":"merchants-wrestling-film-to-be-adapted-into-a-musical","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/412869\/","title":{"rendered":"Merchant&#8217;s wrestling film to be adapted into a musical"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The hit Stephen Merchant wrestling film <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rte.ie\/entertainment\/movie-reviews\/2019\/0226\/1032973-fighting-with-my-family-is-a-solid-smackdown\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fighting With My Family<\/a> will be adapted into a musical.<\/p>\n<p>The 2019 biopic film, which starred Midsommar actress Florence Pugh, actor and wrestler Dwayne &#8220;The Rock&#8221; Johnson and Slow Horses&#8217; Jack Lowden, was written and directed by Merchant and followed the true story of WWE superstar Paige, also known as Saraya Jade Bevis.<\/p>\n<p>The new coming of age musical will be inspired by the film and follows the goth outsider as she is raised in a chaotic British wrestling family dynasty before receiving a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to leave Norwich for America\u2019s WWE arena.<\/p>\n<p>However, when she makes the journey she must decide who she really is without her family.<\/p>\n<p>Merchant said: &#8220;When we were making the film, I always thought of it like a musical: a young woman from the &#8216;chorus line\u2019 fighting to get her big break, surrounded by theatrical, larger-than-life characters and huge sweeping emotions.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I approached each wrestling match like it was a di\ufb00erent dance number, building to a big show-stopping finale.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Seeing the film reimagined for the stage feels like the natural next step. The team have captured the humour, grit and heart of the story in a way that feels both faithful to the film and completely fresh.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 25: Stephen Merchant attends the UK Premiere of \" fighting=\"\" with=\"\" my=\"\" family=\"\" at=\"\" bfi=\"\" southbank=\"\" on=\"\" february=\"\" in=\"\" london=\"\" england.=\"\" by=\"\" dave=\"\" j=\"\" hogan=\"\" images=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/002441c5-614.jpg\"\/><br \/>\nStephen Merchant&#8217;s wrestling film Fighting With My Family will be adapted into a musical<\/p>\n<p>The musical will feature a soundtrack written by songwriter Miranda Cooper who, over the course of her career, has penned a number of hit tracks for major pop acts including Kylie Minogue, Girls Aloud, Sugababes, Pet Shop Boys and Alesha Dixon.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson added: &#8220;Fighting With My Family feels exceptionally well suited for the stage.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It\u2019s packed with personal emotion expressed through the dynamic world of wrestling, which has always been about storytelling and connecting with a live audience.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Working with Stephen Merchant on the film was a truly special experience, and his brilliant work deserves this new act.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;As it comes to life musically, I have no doubt it will be an absolute blast for theatre-goers.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Source: Press Association<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The hit Stephen Merchant wrestling film Fighting With My Family will be adapted into a musical. The 2019&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412870,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-412869","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}