Oh, oh, Patricia Clarkson can do anything. And WannaBe knows how much I respect his opinion, but I personally think Collette is rather ordinary-looking. The whole premise of MURIEL'S WEDDING was the fact that she was so un-glam that she led that sort of odd life, and she looked incredibly ordinary and trailer-parky in LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE. Sorry she was a bitch to you, Jay, but that doesn't make her any less worthy of these roles.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
The Broadway cast is brilliant, but it's not a realistic option to keep them for the film. Whomever lands up producing and directing this will probably need at least one or two more commercial names -- it's just a safer bet.
Two recent examples: "Rent" and "The History Boys" -- both had (more or less) their original stage casts, and both films were duds at the box office.
Sissy Spacek would indeed be an ideal Violet, though Jane Fonda and Judy Davis are interesting choices too.
As for Barbara, I don't know if I like the idea of Laura Linney. Someone with more of an edge, like Holly Hunter, would be more appropriate.
In regards to the other roles, Kathy Bates is about as perfect for Matti Fae as you could get. I'd love to see her involved.
And as annoying and precocious as she can often be, Dakota Fanning would actually be a very strong choice for Jean.
She successfully played a character with more of a dark undercurrent in HIDE & SEEK, so I'd be interested to see her take on something like this.
Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
I would KILL to have Judy Davis play Violet! I think Laura Linney is an interesting choice for Barbara but I love it. Isn't Dakota Fanning a little young for Jean?
"I've always secretly longed for an actress to get to the top of the cherry picker and projectile vomit all over the guards below."- Wonderwaiter in the "Defy Gravity?" thread.
~~~~~~~~My dream? Sutton Foster as Cassie in A Chorus Line
I bet you could cut a bit from the first 30 minutes of the play without losing a whole lot. Some of that dialogue is to help the audience get their bearings and in film you can establish that stuff a lot faster. I can't wait to see how well the phone call scene translates in Frost/Nixon, I really don't care about Doubt (though I liked the play) but this will be the play I'm most looking forward to seeing on the big screen.
If the audience could do better, they'd be up here on stage and I'd be out there watching them. - Ethel Merman
It would be amazing if they used the original cast since the are phenominal... but obviously not enough of a draw for Hollywood. I'm all for Meryl Streep being involved though! She'd be amazing as usual.
Laura Linney is good at one thing... playing herself. I want to see an actress who can take up Amy Morton's wonderful work and make it her own while still staying true to the character. I hope that if she gets it, she surprises me... but I don't think she will.
FosseBoi, the character of Jean is supposed to be 14, the exact age Fanning is now.
Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
I must say, this is a damned intelligent thread. All of these ideas are wonderful. It's a question of chemistry, isn't it? Who would be good in what combo? My own feeling about Fonda is, she's almost too old -- not that she looks it. I think Violet reading in her early 60s works best (script says 65).
I'd vote for Sissy. (Does anyone remember her extraordinary if overlooked performance in THE STRAIGHT STORY?) I think she'd be stunning. And she'd absolutely capture the humanity in the rage, and the humor. Meryl can do anything, sure, but this seems less likely to be her metier.
Lily Tomlin is such a good idea, I wish they'd consider putting her in to the Broadway production with Deanna leaves. She has the stage legs and would absolutely work.
Makes me wish Robert Altman was around to direct the film.
How about the men? John C. Reilly? Beau Bridges? Jeff Bridges? Rip Torn? Even Steve Carell (the Kerwin part)? They could all have roles.
And for Little Charles? The guy who plays Randy on EARL?
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling
I say keep the original cast. Keep it low budget. And don't give it to William Friedkin.
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
~ Muhammad Ali
Trying to cast actors/actresses is fun and great fodder for the message boards but I am interested to see how the director will shoot Act 2. To me this is the best dialogue in the work and some of the funniest stuff I have seen on a Broadway stage. I am worried that Hollywood will chop it up because I just don't see them spending 1/3 of the movie in the dinning room. A chopped up Act 2 would be a great travesty and ruin the work in my opinion.
So I'd be totally excited to see this as a movie, providing they kept the brilliance from the stage, but can I just ask what is the sudden need for anything successful on Broadway to be made into a movie.
I mean there have been talks about Spring Awakening, this, and now Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. I'm all for making the wonderful work available to a larger audience, but it seems that the minute it is reported that a show recouped its investment there are questions of a film.
Has anyone else noticed this or find it interesting?