Director Info on Wicked and Jersey Boys Movies- Page 2

[Kad]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 9:36pm

Glad to see we had the exact same thought at the exact same time, Eric. I just rewatched Spirited Away the other night.

Damn.

I would be first in line to see a Miyazaki directed animated film of Wicked. No lie.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 10:36pm

Ha, yeah just read your post after posting mine (I wish Disney would quit sitting on their asses and release Takahata's Ghibli film, Only Yesterday, but they don't seem to know how to market a rather adult, but not "adult" animated drama even if they gave TCM a print to play during their Lasseter hosted Ghibli fest a few years back--it's my fave of the non Miyazaki, Ghibli films).

Miyazaki would undoubtedly rewrite the plot a LOT, as he tends to do when doing adaptations, but I'd probably find it more interesting (and I'd wager it would have a stronger "message" if that's some people's worry...).

[Kad]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 10:39pm

Oh, he absolutely would rewrite it a ton. And it'd be dark and twisted and undeniably beautiful, and the characters would all be complex and interesting. And there'd be environmentalist themes, naturally.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 11:51pm

Ha I think you're spot on, on all accounts.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 11:56pm

If you don't make the movie an empowering love letter to 13 year old fat girls, you know there will be riots on the streets.

[onedaymore]

Posted: 7/13/12 at 2:49am

Daldry hasn't even signed officially yet. Who knows, the deal could fall through tomorrow, and the whole project will be shelved once again.

Jordan, leave the feel-good fat girl content to Glee.

[Jay94]

Posted: 7/13/12 at 5:31am

This is a Christmas release if i've ever seen it, so i'd say X-mas 2015

[TheatreFan27]

Posted: 7/13/12 at 11:36am

The fact that Stephen Daldry is being courted by Universal gives me hope for the ultimate outcome of this movie. Like with Tom Hooper's LES MISERABLES, I think Universal wants to create another Oscar-worthy film rather than just another summer blockbuster hit musical-turned-movie. I would love to see a darker WICKED on screen that resembles Maguire's novel rather than the fluffy Broadway musical. This could really end up being a magnificent piece of work, if done properly.

[Kad]

Posted: 7/13/12 at 11:48am

Do we even know who's adapting it yet? Because if Winnie Holzman is adapting her own script, I doubt we'll see much of anything dark. Or good.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 7/13/12 at 12:57pm

I would love to see a darker WICKED on screen that resembles Maguire's novel rather than the fluffy Broadway musical. This could really end up being a magnificent piece of work, if done properly.

God I would kill for something more similar to the novel which I found infinitely superior to the bubblegum and cotton candy book and score of the musical. If Winnie Holzman is attached though, I doubt we will see anything remotely darker or scary. For a story about the Wicked Witch of the West, the musical is a little too bright, happy, and peppy for my liking.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/13/12 at 1:33pm

They're not going to throw out the book and score and start over. It will be an adaptation of the stage show. Still, that doesn't mean a director can't emphasize the darker aspects of what already exists, and I'm hoping that's the case. I think the musical has devolved on Broadway and in the tours into a giggly girl-fest, with the two witches (and just about everyone else) playing it as if they were children in a children's theatre production. It's gotten way too "broad," and a director can certainly rein that in, calm everyone down, and set a different tone. That doesn't mean remove the existing humor, just the over-the-top giddy girlie schtick from the leads that will only work for a tweener crowd.

I'm sure Daldry will de-Glee-ify it. And I'm really looking forward to it.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/13/12 at 1:57pm

If Winnie Holzman is attached though, I doubt we will see anything remotely darker or scary.

Actually, if you know the San Francisco and earlier drafts, Holzman's book originally included a lot more of the novel's dark material in the book. But as they trimmed it and honed down, a lot of that material had to be cut to leave time for all the music, leaving Holzman's distinctive humor.

[Overkill]

Posted: 7/13/12 at 2:38pm

I think we all forgot how truly amazing this is. I'm not even a HUGE Wicked fan, and the first time I saw this, I cried. It shows how perfect it is for the medium. The woman who created the video posted this along with it:

---

Dear Stephen Schwartz,
I know you can relate to the plight of loving a story, loving a medium, and trying to convince someone in power to see your vision! You did it with Marc Platt when you convinced him to make it a stage musical. I’m just approaching you with the same sincerity. Is it possible to talk you out of doing a live action movie adaptation? Would you consider doing a traditionally animated adaptation? In my heart I think the musical needs the medium, and I think the medium needs your musical. I just love them both so much and hopefully that shows through in the story reel.

---

Of course, we know that Stephen has no say in how they make it - but it's what she says - The hand drawn medium could benefit so greatly from Wicked, and Wicked from it.


WICKED - Defying Gravity Storyboard

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 7/13/12 at 2:47pm

^ Okay, that was AWESOME. If Defying Gravity is executed like that for the film (whether it is animated or live action), it will be awesome.

[JohnyBroadway]

Posted: 7/13/12 at 3:00pm

It is mentioned in The Wicked section of Schwartzes memoir, that the producers and director asked Holman to cut down a lot of the work she had written. Both her and Schwartz were furious.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 7/13/12 at 5:38pm

Being such a massive My So-Called Life fan, I always feel defensive about Winnie Holzman (she also did many of the best scripts for the sister shows from Herskovitz/Zwick that she didn't create--thirtysomething and Once and Again). She has a lot of talent, and if the book for Wicked doesn't totally work for me, and feels too light in parts (more so than the score, in fact), I feel like that wasn't really her decision, but that may be unfair--and we know that Wicked was shaped largely by a lot of producer (and corporate) decision makers..

That said, being a huge Oz fan, I actually find Maguire's novel overated (though enjoyable--the lesssaid about his sequels, which seem to get worse and worse, and yet I continue to read them, the better). At any rate, I don't think it's something that would translate well to the stage and they were smart to refocus the musical on what they did--even if again I think it could be better done (even details, like do we really need someone comedically swinging in on a rope like Tarzan near the climax?). The book would only really work as a miniseries--wasn't it in the plans to do it that way for a while?

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 7/13/12 at 5:44pm

Overekill, hadn't seen that, but it's pretty great!

I think Daldry is a good and interesting choice--I was worried about this being Ron Howard-ized. My one problem with Daldry is sometimes I think he makes films almost overtly "look at how profound and IMPORTANT and *masterpiece theatre* this is", if that makes sense. The Hours is a fine film, but betwen Daldry, the cast, and Philip Glass' music, part of the less "showy-offy *this* is an *important* story" appeal ofthe original Cunningham novel (or even of Mrs Dalloway) is utterly lost. (Apropos of nothing,I have the same issue with Joe Wright and his adaptation of Atonement).

[DEClarke]

Posted: 7/14/12 at 10:12am

Two Things:

1.) Menzel & Chenoweth, from what I hear, will not agree to return to the roles for the film. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure they both stated that they were not interested in playing their respective roles ever again.

2.) Sotryboard is FANTASTIC... but I really really really want to see/hear the "She's not the one you want. She had nothing to do with this. It's me! IT'S MEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!" part in the film.

[Kad]

Posted: 7/14/12 at 10:18am

The thing that most stands out to me from the book was the weird interspecies sex club.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 7/14/12 at 2:04pm

I'm okay with them making a film adaptation of the musical and would love it if somewhere down the road that long-rumored mini-series adaptation of the novel gets made (chances of that actually happening are slim-to-none but I'm putting it out into the universe).
Daldry is an excellent choice, I get the criticism towards THE HOURS but I actually thought it was one of the most haunting and emotionally draining (in a good way) films I've seen, maybe because I was so young and impressionable when I first saw it, but it's remained one of my all time favorite movies. However, THE READER and EXTREMELY LOUD were huge disappointments, incredibly pretentious messes that didn't work in any way. But I'm thinking here that they're going after Daldry not for any of those films but for his beautiful work on BILLY ELLIOT both on stage and off, he simply did an amazing job with that story, and if you see the way he brings out the musicality in BILLY ELLIOT and the beauty of it all, you can see why the producers of the WICKED film are going after him. I think he'd make a great match for the story.
On a different topic, I really do wonder what ages they are looking at for the characters. I remember when the film came out, Reese Witherspoon and Amy Adams were names being bandied about, by the time this film actually goes into production, they'll be too old for the parts. I imagine the names now are more Rooney Mara, Jennifer Lawrence, Amanda Seyfred, Kristen Stewart, etc. I'd love for a Jennifer Lawrence/Amanda Seyfred pairing (as Elphaba and Glinda, respectively).

[JulesReverie]

Posted: 7/14/12 at 8:51pm

I would put serious money on Anna Kendrick getting cast as Elphaba(If I had serious money)

They'd be idiots not to cast her, she's too perfect, perfect age, even has the needed box office draw(thanks to Twilight), acting chops, but most of all she's the only A-lister(ish) under 30 who can powerfully belt the notes professionally and as good as Idina without the help of auto-tuning(nominated for a Tony at age 12) and can generate a commanding presence at the flip of a hat (which Lea Michelle lacks, she would make Defying Gravity and No Good Deed sound like a another Glee whine fest)

Glinda could be anyone from Kristen Bell to Emily Blunt to up-comer Brie Larson to Ginnifer Goodwin to Taylor Swift(she will try) to even an auto-tuned Blake Lively *shudders* (Amanda Seyfreid wouldn't do a third musical so soon, and if she were it would be Into the Woods)



Updated On: 7/14/12 at 08:51 PM

[DEClarke]

Posted: 7/15/12 at 1:53am

I'm just praying we won't see Lea Michele in the film. I'm not so sure we won't though. ::shudders::

Updated On: 7/15/12 at 01:53 AM

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 7/15/12 at 1:59am

^ she would make an excellent Chistery.

[JulesReverie]

Posted: 7/15/12 at 7:27am

I also hope Lea Michelle doesn't get cast as Louise in the new Gypsy movie either. She could have Spring Awakening but please not Wicked, Gypsy, Into the Woods, etc, etc, etc, etc

It was such a miracle she wasn't cast as Eponine