Screen favorites and stage alums Jim Parsons and Claire Danes will star in a film adaptation of A Kid Like Jake, Daniel Pearle’s play that explores early childhood gender identity.
According to Variety, Parsons, an Emmy winner for The Big Bang Theory, who appeared on Broadway in An Act of God, Harvey, and The Normal Heart, and Homeland Emmy winner Danes (seen Off-Broadway last year in Dry Powder), will play Greg and Alex, a Brooklyn couple trying to get their precocious four-year-old Jake into a private kindergarten. As Jake’s proclivity for playing princess over G.I. Joes grows, the two must navigate their young kid’s identity and how to best respond to it.
The play premiered as part of Lincoln Center Theater’s LCT3 developmental program in 2013; the cast featured Caroline Aaron, Michelle Beck, Peter Grosz, and Carl Gugino.
Pearle, whose additional plays include Bel Canto and Tearin’ Up My Heart, will pen the screenplay, while transgender director Silas Howard (Transparent) will direct. Parsons and Todd Spiewak will produce the independent film alongside Eric Norsoph.
Additional information, including further casting and a release date, have yet to be announced.
