Like I said, Nina is supposed to be 19 at the most. Christina Aguilera does not look 19 nor could she pass for 19. Ferrara is the only Latina actress who is recognizable and could act the role--probably couldn't sing it though. Oscar nominee Catalina Sandino Moreno might be able to pass for 19 too (she's pushing 30 though), but can she play Puerto Rican? Can she sing? Who knows? Overall, I really don't think the show should be turned into a film. I wonder which songs will be cut. Definitely they will have to do away with the recitative (and not turn it into dialogue directly like they did with the awful RENT) in "Blackout," "Champagne," etc. "Inutil" and "Enough" will probably be goners as well.
"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"
I agree with RaynAllThatJazz. I just don't think it will be that successful a movie. First of all, no one is familiar with the brand name. The musical hasn't become enough of a world wide phenom like Mamma Mia or a classic like Chicago. Secondly, while we may appreciate the rap and latino infused score as modernizing musical theatre music, it's still musical theatre music. Those who are in to real rap and hip hop will still find it cheesy.
However, I do hope they give Hudes an opportunity to expand the book and flesh out the relationships more. She did some great (very different, almost poetic) work in A Soldier's Fugue and showed that she could write deep characters with real emotion. The book as it is on Broadway would be disastrous in a movie.
What if America lip synched to Christina's voice? A girl can dream....but I see Christina as more of a Vanessa anyway, and I would KILL to hear her belt It Won't Be Long Now!
They'll scale it down, unfortunately. Inutil will get cut, as it stops the entire show dead. I think they have the sense to keep in "Champagne", though. I think the movie could definitely do without "Carnaval del Barrio", as most of THAT can be turned into dialogue.
"Carnaval del Barrio" is one of the best numbers in the show, on film it'd work really well if you combined dialogue (and do away with the recitative) with the chorus and the "alza la bandera" section. I'm not sure that Vanessa is the same age as Nina. I always saw her as older, but even if she isn't, they could still change her age and the storyline wouldn't be affected at all. Nina has the specific arc about her leaving to college right after finishing high school, and now she is returning home after being a year away. If she graduated at 17-18, she is 18-19 during the show's storyline. I read Vanessa as being closer to Usnavi's age.
"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"
That makes sense, but I still think Vanessa's age could be easily changed for the film whereas Nina's is part of the storyline.
"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"
Nina and Vanessa are both 19. Usnavi and Benny are 24, Graffiti Pete is 18, and I got bored waiting for the .pdf to fully load before scrolling down to Sonny (who is 15 iirc). Everyone else is "in their ??ies".
I would like to start a campaign to keep from Rosario Dawson starring in any movie, much less another musical, ever again.
Also? It's a real shame that pretty much all the latin stars in Hollywood are already too old to play any of the main roles.
That said, I do think the show has real potential to be trimmed down to feature length without compromising the story - in fact, I think some of the off-Broadway dialogue would work in the film version.
"Hey little girls, look at all the men in shiny shirts and no wives!" - Jackie Hoffman, Xanadu, 19 Feb 2008
"There's nothing good on. The media hates Christmas. The media loves vampires, though. Maybe they will show a Twilight Christmas." -Danmeg's 10 year old son.
I actually think, if they go with younger stars, Chris Brown would work as Benny.
Excellent dancer, good singing/rapping.
Va(g)nessa Hudgens is far too young/poor a singer/no star quality to be in the film. Corbin Bleu is a good triple threat, but totally not right for Benny...as for Zac Efron, he owns the teeny bopper musical leading man these days, so he should stick to that.
Another name (although I can't remember it just now) to throw in the mix, Carla from Scrubs? She has a really nice singing voice.