Spike Lee being considered as director of Rent movie

The New York Post reports that Spike Lee is negotiating with Miramax Films about directing the film version of the late Jonathan Larson’s gritty urban musical, Rent. Lee is a great fan of the stage production and was also on hand for the recent opening of Larson’s early, unfinished musical tick, tick...BOOM! The 1988 film School Daze is the director’s only movie musical experience so far. Miramax acquired the film rights to Rent, which features a variety of gay characters, in 1996, agreeing at the time not to release a filmed version before fall of 2001 so as to protect international productions of the show. The screenplay will be by Stephen Chobosky (The Four Corners of Nowhere).