Zac Efron Going Under Big Top For "Showman"

Variety reports that Zac Efron is in talks to join the long gestating musical biopic The Grenatest Showman on Earth.

In development for nearly a decade, the film will tell the story of American showman P. T. Barnum (Hugh Jackman) who had a knack for hoaxing a gullible public even as he created the three-ring circus that made him a household name. The pic also traces his infatuation with singer Jenny Lind known as the Swedish Nightingale. The Lind role was being eyed for Anne Hathaway way back when...Now it's uncast.

Efron's role is not yet known.

Michael Gracey will direct the project.

Jenny Bicks wrote an early script draft with British pop singer-songwriter Mika to write the music and lyrics for the film. Filmmaker Bill Condon was then hired to write a new draft in 2013.

"Dreamgirls" producer, Laurence Mark, will oversee production with Jackman and John Palermo set to produce.