I can’t stop chuckling about Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. That’s the Broadway musical version of the character that has gone way over budget ($50m+) and features music from Bono and The Edge. Granted, I have a great love for the show’s director, Julie Taymor, and perhaps she can pull this one out of the fire, but the whole enterprise seems like a fatally flawed attempt to shoehorn a character into the wrong environment.
Now, just as the musical is set to begin a preview period that has been delayed multiple times, it has lost a lead actress. Evan Rachel Wood is gone, leaving Turn Off the Dark in need of a new Mary Jane. Read More »
It says a lot about the performance of Christian Bale as the murderous banker Patrick Bateman that, when most people hear the title American Psycho, they immediately think of Mary Harron’s 2000 movie rather than the original novel by Bret Easton Ellis. Can any cohort of singing and dancing performers hope to upstage Bale’s Bateman, or even stand up to it? Let’s hope so, as American Psycho is being adapted as a stage musical. Read More »
Two stories today about filmmakers hitting the stage. (Well, one of them is about a filmmaker returning to the stage, but close enough.) First, Trey Parker and Matt Stone are working with Robert Lopez on what is likely to be the musical about Mormons that the three guys have been working on for ages. Lopez was one of the composers and lyricists behind Avenue Q, the adult-themed ‘update’ of Sesame Street. That featured numbers about porn, racism and homosexuality, so it should be fun to see what the three come up with on the topic of Mormonism. Oh, people will probably be angry. An August-September run is planned for the New York Theater Workshop. [Variety]
After the break, the man behind In Bruges teams up with the avant-musical duo of Tom Waits and Robert Wilson. Read More »
“When he pours, he reigns.” In another sign that New York City is losing its edge, prominent stage producer, Marty Richards (Chicago), is bringing the straight-laced yet tutti-frutti Tom Cruise vehicle, Cocktail, to Broadway. *Attempting to hold back a smirk* Richards is teaming up with the film’s screenwriter Heywood Gould—who actually adapted the flick from his book Cocktail, see below—to create a musical based on the story of a young man thriving in the world of “flair bartending” who vacates NYC for a gig (and two romantic female flings) in Jamaica. So, who would play Elisabeth Shue’s heartbroken, humble, and secretly rich cutiepie who is left preggo after a one-night stand with Cruise…mon? Gould tells the NYP: “Marty Richards is on board and he’s working on the score. It’s far too early to talk about casting. We haven’t approached anybody yet. But I do like Katie Holmes.” Get out. Tons of tourist-friendly jams to consider after the jump…
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Paul Reubens has been going around for the past couple years saying that he was developing two new Pee-Wee Herman feature films, one for adults, one for children. Neither of which seem to have advanced past the “is there anyone crazy enough to fund either of these films?” phase, but that doesn’t mean that we haven’t heard the last of Pee-Wee. Reubens has announced that he will be reprising the character live onstage in Hollywood, will have a limited engagement beginning November 8th, 2009, at The Music Box @ Fonda. Details after the jump.
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Overture Films has announced a new, modernized version of Hamlet. This one is to star Emile Hirsch in the title role and be directed by his Lords of Dogtown collaborator, Catherine Hardwicke. The screenplay is being written by Ron Nyswaner who was previously a writer on Philadelphia, Smithereens and apparently, though without a credit, Jonathan Demme’s greatly undervalued Swing Shift. Without Nyswaner on board I’d have absolutely no hope for this film at all.
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There’s been a pair of stories in Screen Daily that tell us of two different films to have just cast Imogen Poots in lead roles. There’s Chatroom, an internet inspired thriller from Hideo Nakata, director of the Ring films, and there’s also Cordelia, a spin-off from Shakespeare’s King Lear that revolves around the life of Lear’s daughter after her exile to France.
Chatroom’s origins are also theatrical, in fact, having been adapted by Enda Walsh from his stage play of the same name. Walsh also scripted Hunger, Steve McQueen’s much loved film about the hunger striker Bobby Sands. One scene in that film is realized as an unbroken shot of around seventeen minutes, providing essentially an extended dialogue from a single camera position. You might be forgiven for wondering if Walsh can break his theatrical style, or if he’d want to.
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How long have I been here at /Film, remind me? About 25 hours I think, and already I’m onto my second Diablo Cody story. Dangerous stuff for a man once told by his wife that he “isn’t allowed” to get a crush on the Juno scribe.
This one comes from a mildly confusing Variety report on Mr. Steven Spielberg digging deep in his own pockets and paying from his personal funds to keep the rights of 17 in-development films under the Dreamworks umbrella. These films include The Trial of the Chicago 7, Atlantis Rising, The 39 Clues… but not Diablo Cody’s “new spin” on William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. So, what is the connection? Read More »
Everyone is wondering: What is Paul Thomas Anderson going to direct next? A big screen adaptation of Metal Gear Solid? Nope. Power Play? Unlikely… A Los Angeles Stage Production starring two cast members from SNL? Ding Ding Ding! … Wait, what?!
On August 5th and 6th. Maya Rudolph and Fred Armisen will be appearing together in a performance co-written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Not much more is known. An email that was sent to members of the Largo at the Coronet mailing list didn’t reveal much more about the event:
“So what is this? What’s the deal? *We’re not tellin’ nothin’ more.* All we’ll say is this: trust us, you won’t regret it. You’re welcome to call the theatre to purchase tickets with your credit card… or bring cash only on the night of the shows. *$25 • doors at 8:30 • curtain at 9. Box Office: (310) 855-0350
*LARGO @ the CORONET*
366 N. La Cienega Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90048
*(you know… next to Trashy Lingerie)*”
All I know is that if I lived in Los Angeles, nothing would stop me from being at Largo on August 5th. Anderson has a history with SNL, having directed a short film for the program in 2000 called SNL Fanatic, which starred Ben Affleck, Jimmy Fallon and Molly Shannon. Maya Rudoph also starred in Robert Altman’s A Prarie Home Companion, in which Anderson was employed as a “standby director.” Some people even claim that Anderson ghost-directed a portion of the film.
source: cigarettes and red vines
