Deadline is reporting that Stew Stewart & Heidi Rodewald will compose the original songs and music for a movie musical about the breakthrough of the Pfizer miracle drug: Viagra. The currently untitled film will be directed by Spike Lee (Malcolm X, BlacKkKlansman, Do the Right Thing, Inside Man) who is also co-writing the screenplay with Kwame Kwei-Armah. The movie is based on the Esquire article All Rise: The Untold Story of The Guys Who Launched Viagra by David Kushner and is inspired by the true events surrounding around Pfizer’s discovery and launch of the erectile dysfunction drug. Matt Jackson (The Trial of the Chicago 7, Molly’s Game, End of Watch) is producing the project for Jackson Pictures, alongside Lee’s 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks. Lee has previously helmed Passing Strange: The Movie based on the songwriter/composers’ stage musical of the same title. No word yet on a production start date for the film.

  1. Mark B Weiss says:

    There was a Dick joke cut from “Passing Strange” the press conference conflating “What is the secret of your fried chicken” and something about his Youth’s prowess and he says to both (and neither) “Crisco”.
    That plus Stew’s line about “burning her on my stake” portends two thumbs up for this latest joint.