‘Sesame Street’ Movie Taps Jonathan Krisel to Direct Musical

The “Sesame Street” movie has tapped “Portlandia” co-creator Jonathan Krisel to direct the live-action musical, an individual with knowledge of the project tells TheWrap.

Created by Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett and featuring muppet characters created by Jim Henson, “Sesame Street” is one of the most important educational programs in the history of television. The series features a combination of live-action and puppetry, as well as animation and stars Big Bird, Bert, Ernie, Grover, Oscar the Grouch, Cookie Monster, and Elmo.

Mike Rosolio wrote the first draft of the screenplay, with Chris Galletta writing the most recent draft, which is currently undergoing revisions.

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Shawn Levy is producing with Michael Aguilar. Levy has been developing the project since 2012 when 20th Century Fox held the rights. Jesse Ehrman is overseeing for Warner Bros. Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind the longstanding children’s program, will be involved with the development of the project.

In 2015, premium cable network HBO partnered with Sesame Workshop to air the next fives seasons of the children’s series on HBO, HBO GO, HBO On Demand and HBO NOW.

The “Sesame Street” live-action musical will be Krisel’s first studio film after spending several years on “Portlandia.” The show has received numerous nominations including three directing nominations for Krisel.

Krisel is repped by UTA and Mosaic.

Variety first reported the news.