Dear Evan Hansen: Tony-winning Broadway musical is being turned into a movie

The musical tells the story of a teenager who struggles with social anxiety

Dear Evan Hansen, the award-winning musical that became a Broadway hit thanks to a surprisingly uplifting take on difficult themes, is being turned into a movie.

Negotiations are under way to take the show, which took six titles during the 2017 Tony Awards, to the big screen, Deadline reported.

Author and filmmaker Stephen Chbosky, who directed the 2017 drama Wonder (itself based on the 2012 novel of the same name by RJ Palacio) is in talks to direct the Dear Evan Hansen adaptation, according to the platform.

Chbosky also wrote the acclaimed 1999 Young Adult novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and wrote and directed the 2012 film version starring Ezra Miller and Emma Watson.

Negotiations on the project are just beginning and there is no official start date yet, Deadline wrote.

Dear Evan Hansen tells the story of Evan Hansen, a high school student who copes with severe social anxiety.

Evan (played by Ben Platt in the original Broadway cast) sees his life change after his classmate Connor commits suicide while carrying a letter Evan wrote to himself – which is mistaken for Connor's suicide note.

It is not known whether Platt (also seen as Elder Arnold Cunningham in The Book of Mormon and as Benji Applebaum in the first two Pitch Perfect films) will reprise the role.