Colman Domingo circles a live-action Tiana film for Disney
Deadline reports Domingo and Robert O’Hara are in early talks to write an original live-action story centered on Princess Tiana.
By Poppy Nakagawa · Culture Writer
3 min read
Colman Domingo may be heading to the bayou.
Deadline reports that the two-time Oscar nominee is in early talks to co-write a live-action Disney film built around Tiana, the heroine of 2009’s The Princess and the Frog. The project is described as an untitled Princess Tiana story, with playwright and director Robert O’Hara also in discussions to write.
The report says the film is still in an early stage, especially where dealmaking is concerned. Deadline characterizes the project as a spin-off from the animated movie rather than a direct live-action remake.
A new route back to New Orleans
The Princess and the Frog was released by Disney in 2009 and directed by John Musker and Ron Clements. Set in 1920s New Orleans, the movie follows Tiana, voiced by Anika Noni Rose, a waitress whose ambition is to open her own restaurant.
The story, based on E.D. Baker’s The Frog Princess, sends Tiana into a magical mess after Prince Naveen is transformed into a frog by the villainous Facilier. When Tiana also becomes a frog, the two must find a way back to human form.
Randy Newman wrote the film’s songs and score. The movie earned $267 million worldwide and received three Oscar nominations: best animated feature and two original song nods for Newman’s “Almost There” and “Down in New Orleans.”
Deadline notes that the Tiana project would sit closer to a character-driven spin-off than a straight remake, comparing the approach to Disney’s developing Beauty and the Beast-related project Gaston.
Disney keeps mining the vault
The reported Tiana film would join several live-action Disney projects tied to animated titles. Deadline lists Tangled, now filming under director Michael Gracey, with Kathryn Hahn, Diego Luna, Milo Manheim and Teagan Croft attached to star.
Other projects cited by Deadline include Stepsisters, a Cinderella spin-off directed by Akiva Schaffer, Lilo & Stitch 2 from filmmaker Chris Sanders, and Impossible Creatures, based on Katherine Rundell’s fantasy books.
Deadline also points to the recent live-action Moana, starring Dwayne Johnson, which opened below expectations with $43 million in the U.S. and Canada but was projected to hold with close to $20 million in its second weekend.
The writers in the mix
Domingo has an extensive theater résumé in addition to his screen work. Deadline reports that he wrote the book for 2018’s Summer: The Donna Summer Musical and co-produced 2023’s Fat Ham, a modern take on Shakespeare’s Hamlet that was nominated for the Tony Award for best play.
His other stage credits cited by Deadline include The Brother(s), the libretto for Lights Out: Nat “King” Cole, and the plays Dot, Wild With Happy, A Boy and His Soul and Up Jumped Springtime.
Domingo received two Emmy nominations this year, according to Deadline: supporting actor in a comedy series for Netflix’s Four Seasons and guest actor in a drama series for HBO’s Euphoria. He previously won the guest drama actor Emmy in 2022 for Euphoria.
O’Hara, meanwhile, wrote and directed the 2011 horror thriller Inheritance. Deadline cites his plays Insurrection: Holding History and Bootycandy, the latter of which won the Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Drama.
This story draws on original reporting from Deadline.