Disney’s Princess Tiana gets live-action film treatment

Emmy winner and Oscar nominee Colman Domingo and “Slave Play” director Robert O’Hara are in talks to write a live-action film about Princess Tiana from Disney’s “The Princess and the Frog.”

The project, which is in very early stages at the studio, is an original idea inspired by the animated classic, 2009’s “The Princess and the Frog,” which featured Anika Noni Rose as the voice of Tiana. The musical fairy tale set in 1920’s New Orleans centers on Tiana, a waitress with dreams to become a restaurant owner, who is set on a journey to turn a frog prince back into a human, only to face the same problem after she kisses him. “The Princess and the Frog” grossed $267 million at the global box office and was nominated for three Academy Awards — best animated feature and two of Randy Newman’s songs, “Almost There” and “Down in New Orleans.” While plans for a spin-off series stalled, Disney commemorated Princess Tiana’s popularity by retheming the Splash Mountain theme park attraction as “Tiana’s Bayou Adventure” at Disney World and Disneyland.

The “Princess and the Frog” project comes as Domingo celebrates a major 2026 with films “Michael” (which just crossed $1 billion to become the highest-grossing musical biopic of all time) and “Disclosure Day,” and the TV shows “The Four Seasons” and “Euphoria,” for which he earned two more Emmy nods.

While accepting Variety’s Creative Conscience Award last month, Domingo shared that he’s noticed a shift in how Hollywood perceives him in recent years. “I’m being seen now in a way that I’ve always wanted to be seen, which was a multi-hyphenate,” he said. “I’ve never wanted to just be an actor. I’ve always wanted to act, write, direct and produce.”

Later this year, Domingo will start work on the Nat “King” Cole biopic “Unforgettable” — where he’ll multitask as director, producer and star. He is repped by WME, Liebman Entertainment, and Shreck Rose Dapello Adams Berlin & Dunham.

O’Hara, a noted playwright and theater director, and Domingo previously collaborated on Domingo’s “Wild With Happy,” which was presented by The Public Theater in 2012. In 2020, O’Hara was nominated for the Tony Award for best direction of a play for “Slave Play.” He is repped by CAA and Weintraub Tobin Chediak Coleman Grodin.

-Variety