EXCLUSIVE: Hot off of notching two Emmy noms this year, we hear that Colman Domingo is looking to co-write an original live-action feature about Princess Tiana inspired by Disney‘s animated 2009 feature The Princess and the Frog. We understand, per sources, that the two-time Oscar nominee will co-pen the feature with 2020 Tony-nominated Slave Play director Robert O’Hara. It’s still early days on the project, particularly as far as deals go.
Princess and the Frog was the last hand-drawn animated feature from Disney, released in 2009 and directed by John Musker and Ron Clements. Set in New Orleans during the 1920s and based on E.D. Baker’s The Frog Princess, the pic follows a waitress, Tiana (Anika Noni Rose), who dreams of opening her own restaurant. She’s set on turning a frog prince, Naveen, back into a human after he’s cursed by an evil voodoo witch doctor, Facilier. However, Tiana becomes a frog as well, and the couple must find a way to become human again.
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Two-time Oscar winner Randy Newman wrote the score and songs, one of the most toe-tapping tunes from the pic being Tiana’s “Almost There.” We hear that Domingo and O’Hara’s take is being billed as a spinoff of the animated feature rather than a full-on adaptation, a la Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast project that’s in the works, Gaston.
Princess and the Frog grossed $267 million at the worldwide box office when it was released and was nominated for three Oscars: Best Animated Feature and for two of Newman’s songs, “Almost There” and “Down in New Orleans.”
Other live-action adaptations of Disney animated pics in the works are Tangled, currently shooting under the direction of Michael Gracey with Kathryn Hahn, Diego Luna, Milo Manheim and Teagan Croft attached to star. There’s also Stepsisters, a Cinderella spinoff directed by Akiva Schaffer; Lilo & Stitch 2 from filmmaker Chris Sanders; and Impossible Creatures, based on the fantasy series by Katherine Rundell.
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Note, Disney live-action takes of classic animated films are still a business. However, if one misfires, the media likes to write the obituary on the subgenre, as its did with the recent Dwayne Johnson live-action version of Moana, which came in well under expectations with a $43M U.S./Canada opening. Still, it is having a great hold in weekend 2 with close to $20M. Last year’s Disney live-action version of Lilo & Stitch was a mega hit, grossing more than $1 billion, one of three MPA films to do so in 2025.
Domingo wrote the book for 2018’s Summer: The Donna Summer Musical and co-produced 2023’s Fat Ham, a modern take of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet that was nominated for a Tony for Best Play. Other theatrical works by Domingo include the the play The Brother(s), the libretto for Lights Out: Nat “King” Cole, as well as the plays Dot, Wild With Happy, A Boy and His Soul and Up Jumped Springtime.
Domingo’s double Emmy noms this year are for Comedy Series Supporting Actor for Netflix’s Four Seasons and Guest Actor Drama Series for HBO’s Euphoria. He’s already won a Guest Actor in a Drama Series trophy in 2022 for Euphoria. Domingo never stops: He’s guest-hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live! all next week.
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Domingo was nominated for two Best Actor Oscars back-to-back, for 2024’s Rustin and 2025’s Sing Sing. Don’t be surprised if you see him again in the awards race this year for his turn as Joe Jackson in Antoine Fuqua’s Michael, which just passed $1 billion at the global box office.
Domingo is repped by WME, Liebman Entertainment, and Shreck Rose Dapello Adams Berlin & Dunham.
O’Hara directed and wrote the 2011 feature horror thriller Inheritance, and also wrote Insurrection: Holding History and Bootycandy, a time-traveling play exploring racial and sexual identity. Bootycandy is a series of comedic scenes primarily following the character of Sutter, a gay African American man growing from adolescence to manhood. The piece won the Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Drama.
O’Hara is repped by CAA and Weintraub Tobin Chediak Coleman Grodin.
