Dear God - the JEKYLL AND HYDE movie musical....

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 12/14/05 at 2:13am

From Variety:


'Hyde' fit to be retried as pic tuner
Hatchery bringing B'way musical to bigscreen

By DAVE MCNARY


The Hatchery is birthing a feature adaptation of the horror-themed Broadway musical "Jekyll and Hyde" in partnership with Grand Illusions Media Partners.
Jonathan SangerJonathan Sanger, a producer of upcoming feature "The Producers," will produce the horror-musical feature with Emmy winners Dan AngelDan Angel ("Door-to-Door") and Margaret Loesch along with Ed Elbert of Grand Illusions. Loesch is co-CEO of the Hatchery, a production/marketing entity launched in 2003.

Leslie Bricusse, who's won two songwriting Oscars and was Tony-nommed for best book for "Jekyll and Hyde," will exec produce with Frank Wildhorn, who wrote the music for the Broadway play. Bruce Stein, co-CEO of the Hatchery, and Sarah Ryan Black, senior VP of Grand Illusions, will also exec produce.

Bricusse will pen the adaptation. Sanger plans to hire a director and then turn to casting.

Loesch cited recent successes of feature versions of "Chicago," and "Moulin Rouge""Moulin Rouge" along with the perpetual appeal of the horror film genre as key reasons for moving ahead.


__________________

This could be the scariest movie musical yet! Maybe Barbra can come out of retirement to play the title role!

[colleen_lee]

Posted: 12/14/05 at 2:14am

Maybe we'll get extra lucky and David Hasselhoff will star!!

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 12/14/05 at 2:19am

Thanks for that. The passwords at bugmenot.com weren't working for me.

I'll go if we can arrange some kind of BWW sing-along/costume contest.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 12/14/05 at 2:20am

I'm going dressed as Ashley Olson as Lucy.

[Marquise]

Posted: 12/14/05 at 3:32am

The Cast

Dr. Henry Jekyll/Edward Hyde........Antonio Banderas
Lucy............................Catherine Zeta Jones
Emma....................................Cameron Diaz


Updated On: 12/14/05 at 03:32 AM

[Theatreboy33]

Posted: 12/14/05 at 4:19am

I hope Tri-Star produces this, and instead of that slow motion winged horse running forward in the opening production credits, they replace it with the horseman of the appocolypse.

[shiksa_goddess]

Posted: 12/14/05 at 6:18am

Pshh.. after the David Hasselhoff one, we need nothing more!

[rockfenris2005]

Posted: 12/14/05 at 7:03am

Some people here are real snobs!

Updated On: 12/14/05 at 07:03 AM

Posted: 12/14/05 at 8:48am

In my dreams... Anthony Warlow would be doing this... but alas...

Posted: 12/14/05 at 9:11am

well, this has been talked about for many years and its not a surprise that it will come to fruition...

i would like to see Hugh Jackman (antonio would be good...but i can't understand most of what he sings) ..i think cathrine zeta jones would be PERFECT as lucy...although it would be nice to have linda eder do it...and my choice for Emma would be Reese Witherspoon if she sings..otherwise, it would be nice if they got someone unknown with a gorgeous voice..of course Emmy Rossum would be beautiful as Emma but i wasn't crazy about her voice in the Phantom movie...or Kelli O'hara would be STUNNING!!!

[sharon1]

Posted: 12/14/05 at 9:12am

I have thought about this as a movie musical since I saw it. I have to agree with either Anthony Warlow or Michael Ball. They have the best pipes for the role. If it even happens.

[Hanna from Hamburg]

Posted: 12/14/05 at 9:17am

I get a sense that Kelli O'Hara won't be doing any more Wildhorn . . . I could be wrong. She'd be fab in the role, just don't think she'd agree. Maybe Patrick Wilson would star -- I think he's got a fabulous voice for the role.

Posted: 12/14/05 at 9:25am

you're right about Kelli not doing Wildhorn..but never say never!! its a shame because she is gorgeous on camera and one of the most beautiful Emma's that there ever was...

[WildhornFanatic]

Posted: 12/14/05 at 9:26am

I've known about this and posted info about it awhile ago. HUGH JACKMAN is in talks to play Jekyll/ Hyde but he seems soo busy now. Who knows.

[Craig]

Posted: 12/14/05 at 9:32am

I could swear that I heard the casting would be Hilary Duff as Emma, Lindsay Lohan as Lucy and Aaron Carter as J/H

[jo]

Posted: 12/14/05 at 9:41am

It seems any movie musical project is usually likely offered to Hugh these days.

However, given that he is supposed to be filming THE PRESTIGE, WOLVERINE, maybe the Disney musical project IF YOU CAN SEE ME NOW, maybe REBOUND GUY, maybe FED X, they may have to wait a long time to pin him down for a slot in his schedule. He is probably winding up XMEN-3 at this point and may still have some reshoots for THE FOUNTAIN. The other day we were just talking about him as David Geffen's likely choice for THE FULL MONTY.

I hope he doesn't forget that he is supposed to be in OZ next year for the arena production of THE BOY FROM OZ

[Fan2]

Posted: 12/14/05 at 9:58am

Jo - you forgot "Good", which Hugh's co-star Jason Isaacs said will probably film "early 2006" - I'm thinking after Hugh wraps "The Prestige" in March/April. And I don't think there are any reshoots for "The Fountain" - Aronofsky said the picture was "locked" a few weeks ago which I think means there can't be any changes to it.

A lot of these things take years to happen - "Wolverine" was announced in January and I think it's still in the script stage. And the Disney musical has nothing attached to it yet other than Hugh (so far as we know of course).

[uncageg]

Posted: 12/14/05 at 10:37am

I just hope they put the music back in that they removed when it hit Broadway. "Bring on the Men" on the big screen would fun! And it will be interesting to see what they do with "The Transformation". Would love it if Linda Eder reprised her role. And I suspect we would get a new song for an Oscar nomination. This movie I will run to see, if I like the casting!!!

Updated On: 12/14/05 at 10:37 AM

[jo]

Posted: 12/14/05 at 10:38am

Fan2,

I didn't know GOOD was still a probable movie for Hugh. That would be an interesting role ( I read the play by CPTaylor) and certainly something quite different from his previous or future for-release or announced films.

However, the thing is he may also have plans to go back to the theatre for a one-man show ...I was at the Imperial two weeks ago, and Kevin from the stage door, said Hugh was there about three weeks ago. Kevin says that he heard the plans for the one-man show in a Broadway theatre for a duration of several months are still on. Who knows ?

[children&art]

Posted: 12/14/05 at 10:48am

I already posted this somewhere else but i am so excited about this, I just hope they dont screw it up like they did with the Hasselhoff version.

Do you think they will stick with the original version (creepy and bloody and dark) or will they go with the Broadway rewrite (slick and clean and Vegas-y)?

Whatever they do, they've gotta have BRING ON THE MEN (not Good & Evil).

CASTING OPTIONS

Jekyll/Hyde:
1. Hugh Jackman
2. Johnny Depp
3. John Malkovich
4. Rupert Everett

Lucy:
1. Catherine Zeta Jones
2. Nicole Kidman
3. Megan Mullally
4. Kate Winslet

Emma:
1. Naomi Watts
2. Gwenyth Paltrow
3. Reese Witherspoon
4. Cate Blanchett

Updated On: 12/14/05 at 10:48 AM

[Fan2]

Posted: 12/14/05 at 10:54am

Jo - Jason Isaacs (Hugh's co-star in "Good") said in an e-mail to his fans in November: "Believe it or not "Good" is still more than alive and has raised all its money so I’m hoping that will go early next year."

I'm taking "early next year" as meaning they are waiting for Hugh to finish filming "The Prestige" in March/April and then he will do that one (and who knows if Jason has commitments too). Of course there's no confirmation of that, just my speculation! I think Hugh's production company had something to do with this too (if I remember correctly from the Liz Smith story last year) so I assume it's still the same. I remember Hugh saying it wasn't a long shoot (I'm thinking maybe along the lines of "Scoop" which was seven weeks). We will just have to wait for official word I guess. As for the one-man show - would that really be in 2006? Seems too soon since he's reportedly also doing BFO in Australia in July/August.

[Carl Magnum]

Posted: 12/14/05 at 11:28am

Ugh, no, no, fvcking NO! Do well really want to see the movie musical die? Cause this plastic piece of pop sh!t will kill the genre for good. What's next, Brooklyn the Movie. Oh and ChildrenandArt. Johnny Depp has more taste and intellegence than to sign on for this train wreck. Oh what a piece of crap, do we really need this? And Rockfenris or whatever, we aren't snobs, we just have taste. I hope this never gets out of pre-production.

[WildhornFanatic]

Posted: 12/14/05 at 12:04pm

Carl Magnum - so much hate. Tone it down.

[CVActor1]

Posted: 12/14/05 at 12:13pm

Why does NO one mention Robert Cuccioli? The ORIGINAL Jekyll/Hyde? He should play the role. And Linda Eder should do Lucy. Period. It has CONSTATNLY IRKED me that almost no one who creates a role onstage reprises it in the film of any play (save RENT - and did you know that for awhile they had such WONDERFUL ideas for RENT as casting Tom Collins white? SHEESH!). BTW, I loved RENT. Those characters didn't need to be young. Neither do these. A professor wouldn't be 21-22 anyway, they would need to be older, since science degrees usually take longer than 4 years - and Jekyll has obviously been doing this for awhile now. IS IT A SIN TO SHOW A WRINKLE ON THE SCREEN?????!!!!!!

[colleen_lee]

Posted: 12/14/05 at 12:18pm

With Robert Cuccioli and Linda Eder this film would guarantee to flop (not that it probably won't already).