There was a big step forward today for the movie version of the iconic musical Pippin. The Weinstein Company has selected James Ponsoldt to direct.

The announcement was made today by Harvey Weinstein himself who has owned the rights to the Pippin movie for 10 years.

Ponsoldt has few credits right now but is already receiving a lot of positive buzz for his upcoming film The Spectacular Now starring Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this past January.

“James has rightfully become one of the most buzzed-about young writer-directors in the business,” said Harvey Weintein in the announcement. “After flying to New York to catch a preview of Pippin recently, he met with us and exchanged his ideas on adapting the script for film. ‘Smashed’ and ‘The Spectacular Now’ showed his talent for telling stories of self-discovery, and we’re confident he will have the same success rewriting this story.”

The Pippin movie is still in early days, but we’ll be keeping an eye on it. The musical opened on Broadway in 1972 and recently re-opened there to rave reviews and several Tony nominations. Naturally The Weinstein Company is hoping this movie musical can be a success similar to Rent, Chicago, or Hairspray.