Entertainment Tonight ran a behind the scenes feature on Christina Aguilera’s live-action big screen film debut Burlesque. Steven Antin’s contemporary musical tells the story of Ali, “an ambitious small-town girl with a big voice” played by Aguilera, who “tries to escape a hollow past by performing in a neo-burlesque club in Los Angeles.” The film hopes to be Moulin Rouge meets Cabaret, with established songs that will be updated and worked into dance numbers. Cher makes her big screen return as Tess, the proprietor of the club, alongside Stanley Tucci. The film also stars a red-haired Julianne Hough, and a brunette Kristen Bell.
Antin wrote the script, which was later revised by Erin Brockovich scribe Susannah Grant. No mention is made of Diablo Cody’s screenplay involvement in the Variety story, which makes me wonder if any of her contributions have made it to the final draft. Antin has described neo-burlesque as “a contemporary take on the traditional burlesque that derived from vaudeville, with singing, dancing, comedy and more tease than striptease.” Antin’s sister Robin created the burlesque troupe The Pussycat Dolls in 1995. Watch some early footage and behind the scenes interviews from ET, after the jump.
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Christina Aguilera has signed on to make her live-action big screen debut in Steven Antin’s contemporary musical Burlesque for Screen Gems. Antin wrote the script, which was later revised by Erin Brockovich scribe Susannah Grant. No mention is made of Diablo Cody’s screenplay involvement in the Variety story, which makes me wonder if any of her contributions have made it to the final draft. Aguilera will play “an ambitious small-town girl with a big voice” who tries to escape a hollow past by performing in a neo-burlesque club in Los Angeles. The film hopes to be Moulin Rouge meets Cabaret, with established songs that will be updated and worked into dance numbers.
Antin has described neo-burlesque as “a contemporary take on the traditional burlesque that derived from vaudeville, with singing, dancing, comedy and more tease than striptease.” Antin’s sister Robin created the burlesque troupe The Pussycat Dolls in 1995. Burlesque is aiming to begin production in January 2010.
Blogger turned Screenwriter Diablo Cody (NOT pictured right) is the new screenwriting IT girl in Hollywood. If you don’t recall, Cody wrote Juno which is one of the best movies of the year. It’s sure to earn her a best screenplay nomination. She’s working with Spielberg, and now Variety reports that Cody has been brought on board to rewrite/revise a contemporary musical titled Burlesque, which Steven Antin (The Good Mother) will direct.
Burlesque follows a young woman who tries to escape a hollow past by performing in a neo-burlesque club in Los Angeles. The film hopes to be Moulin Rouge meets Cabaret, with established songs that will be updated and worked into dance numbers. Antin describes Neo-burlesque as “a contemporary take on the traditional burlesque that derived from vaudeville, with singing, dancing, comedy and more tease than striptease.”
Diablo knows something about this type of world. Cody quit her day job at an ad agency and “on a whim” became a stripper at one of the raunchiest Minneapolis strip clubs for one year. She blogged about her experiences, which later got retold into a memoir Candy Girl: A Year in The Life of an Unlikely Stripper. This helped launch her screenwriting career.
