Josh Gad Reveals What He Wants From a Book of Mormon Movie Adaptation

Those familiar with the Tony Award winning show The Book of Mormon know exactly what kind of humor they can find in the Broadway musical. Even those that haven’t seen it likely have an idea since it hails from the creators of South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone. There’s been some talk since its success on Broadway and touring across the world about adapting it into a feature film, but there’s been no word one way or the other from Parker and Stone about that happening. That said, one of the starts of the original cast thinks that if it does make the leap to the big screen, perhaps some changes are in order for today’s world.

“I think you have to adjust with the times,” Josh Gad said while appearing on PeopleTV’s Couch Surfing, noting he hadn’t heard anything about a film version at this time. “I don’t know that that show could open today and have the same open-armed response that it did then. It’s not to say that it’s any less significant or wonderful or incredible a musical; I just think it’s the nature of art to adapt. I would certainly hope that with a future adaptation there would be that growth. Because I think it’s a cool opportunity for growth.”

Featuring a script and music by Parker, Stone, and Robert Lopez (who would work with Gad once again on Disney’s Frozen and its sequel), the musical dives head first into some serious topics, all of which are naturally the target of a joke. Naturally the entire Mormon religion is lampooned in the musical along with stereotypes of African warlords and many other jokes we can’t repeat here. Knowing Parker and Stone’s history however, we’d wager they wouldn’t shy away from these gags in a feature film adaptation of the musical, but lean into them even more.

“We’ve definitely had discussions about it, but it’s… we’re in no hurry to do that,” Parker told IGN of a Book of Mormon movie. “There’s no pressure. I don’t think Bobby feels any pressure. He’s off doing this stuff. We’re all busy. It feels like it’s too soon, too. We want to talk about it and make it really good, but… We love that we have this little Broadway thing. It’s a Broadway thing. But I think someday I’d want to make the definitive version that’s like, here’s what we’ve sort of intended all along.”

(H/T EW)