Adam Shankman To Direct/Choreograph The Rock Of Ages Movie — Page 5

Tom may just be the John Travolta of this film. Eek.

Hairspray was wonderful, yes. And while I thought John Travolta was serviceable, it was obvious from all the reviews, and the reaction from this forum in particular, that Travolta was the weakest in the cast.

Now, in terms of Tom Cruise, I'm not as violently against him as many others seem to be. But, I'm not entirely thrilled either. I will say, however,that Less Grossman is ****ing awesome. If his Stacee Jaxx is anything like Les, then vocals aside it'd be fun to watch.

Updated On: 12/15/10 at 12:39 PM

Cruise was fantastic as Grossman. Made that movie for me (along with Downey's role).

Would actually think Cruise should just play Les Grossman in the ROA movie. Make the RE developer an American instead of a German, and make him also a movie producer. Enter Tom as Les ------> Hilarious.

Love her. Regina?

This film is gonna be a hoot

Yeah Tom Cruise could be funny and an inspired choice. Gwyneth? I don't think so.

It's funny. I never thought of it before you said that, but ROA is camp. However, camp usually implies what is often referred to as "gay camp," playing with the tropes and icons of stereotypical gay culture in a way that, while not explicitly homocentric, has an appeal to that group and their perceived cultural mindset.

Rock of Ages, along with things like Will Ferrell movies, Tenacious D, Fight Club and "The Alphabet of Manliness," are sort of the opposite. As "straight camp," they take the icons and tropes of overtly masculine heterosexuality and inflate them to deflate them. Hence the common phrase "no homo" in use today- it appears that you can only make a thing SO straight before that straightness starts to look gay.

Also, more on topic, if Alec Baldwin plays dennis, then he's going to say the beloved line "Remember when we sh!t-fu@ked that baby llama?" That's going to be my new ringtone (and ever since i got my cast recording, I've been waiting for an excuse to use the word sh!tfu@k in conversation).

I know this is gonna be an unpopular opinion, but...

I really disliked the film version of HAIRSPRAY. It seemed flat and colourless compared to the Broadway production, almost as though it was trying to be a shot-for-shot recreation of Waters' film with a few songs thrown in.

I had the same problem with MAMMA MIA, which I enjoyed enormously seeing on stage. It's almost like, when they made films of these things, they had to make them so very literal ("We have to! It's a movie, not a play!") that they miss the core element of fun that makes these shows so enjoyable. Believe it or not, Travolta was, for me anyway, about the only saving grace of the film: he was clearly having a blast, while everyone else was so very obsessed with "acting".

And I fear that ROA will get the same "literalist" treatment and, as a result, just bog itself down. Who knows, maybe, with luck, they'll come up with a script that makes the leap from stage to screen as successfully as CHICAGO did... but I'm not holding my breath.

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Gwyneth won't be considered for Regina.. Wesley Taylor tweeted someone tonight saying the Franz and Regina subplot is gone from the movie...

Not really. You could easily cut them both and just make Dennis/Lonny lead the protests. You drop the Franz/Daddy subplot and the Franz/Regina subplot. Focus on the Bourbon Room, and Drew/Sherrie.

Staying TOO close will be hard, as Lonny is a character who not only narrates, but interacts with the audience. That sort of thing is hard to do when the image is stuck on screen and can't actually come down into the first few rows.

well the tweet BWW posted from Shankman seems to verify more than it denies. Specifically Gweneth Paltrow as Contstance the Rolling Stone reporter (aka the ensemble girl who serves to essentially cue "Dead or Alive"), as far as I know the general rumor was that she'd play Regina.

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http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/blogs/risky-business/tom-cruise-alec-baldwin-circling-61417

Mentions everything Shankman already confirmed. But adds that Will Ferrel and Steve Carell were both offered Dennis, but passed.

I wonder if Constance will have a slightly bigger role if played by Paltrow?