Bryan SInger to direct Fosse biopic

I can't believe this hasn't been mentioned here yet--but I did a search and found nothing. Apologies if there is a thread:

Bryan Singer is going from mutants and giants to the life of one of the great choreographer-directors of the 20th Century, Bob Fosse.

Singer (X-Men, Jack the Giant Killer) is slated to direct the project, which is to be a feature-length film designed for the premium cable network. Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, the duo behind movies such as Hairspray and Chicago, is exec producing with Singer. Nicole Fosse, daughter of Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon, will serve as Executive Co-Producer.

The project, now untitled and in early development, will be a co-production with Sony Television.

Agreed--Rob Marshall would probably do it as well :P

It could be interesting. Singer has always talked about how much he's wanted to do a musical--so I'll be interested to see how the musical seuences are staged (who could play Fosse? Gwen?)

The original announcement was in January 2011. Since then, he's directed Jack The Giant Killer and Mockingbird Lane. So, this project - at least with Singer attached - seems moribund at best.
Maybe not...

"It's hard to think of anyone who could play Fosse, Rob Scheider was pretty definitive."

Due to you calling him Rob as opposed to Roy I initially misread that as Rob Schneider and wondered what alternate universe that one happened in.

And I personally don't see how they are going to top All That Jazz. Is there really much that can be said about Fosse's life that wasn't already covered in that movie?

That's putting it mildly.

ggersten, that's interesting that this was announced so long back--I found it on the Bob Fosse/Gwen Verdon website Nicole Fosse helps run, posted mid Aug this year. But it doesn't say anything different from your link...

These days you don't even get cast...

---

Bryan is just doing what Michael Bay and plenty of other directors do (but with less sexism) with young starlets, so more power to him.

---

When i think of Mr. Singer and his leading men it makes me wish he'd direct his own tell-all bio-pic.

As an ardent fan of Bob Fosse and his work since I was 7 years old (since 1972 -- the year I saw my first show on Broadway: PIPPIN at the Imperial Theatre), I've been following the development of this HBO film since it was first announced in January 2011. This particular film is based on a book biography that has yet to even be released: Bye, Bye Life: The Loves and Deaths of Bob Fosse (by Sam Wasson), which pretty much validates the reality that it could be YEARS before this even begins production.

Its right up there with the LONG in gestation HBO film adaptation of Erik Lee Preminger's best-selling autobiography of his life with his mom: Gypsy & Me: At Home and on the Road with Gypsy Rose Lee. The film's working title is: MY G-STRING MOTHER. Sigourney Weaver owns the rights and is set to play the older Gypsy Rose Lee. HBO first announced this production in 2007. We're still holding our breath.

All That Jazz has already been made.......what's the point? That was a pretty good film......

I wish it was somebody a little more hi-brow.

Eric, are we talking about the John Logan-penned, Kathryn Bigelow-directed The Miraculous Year? I thought the script leaked but HBO had a lot of pilots that were not picked up around that time. Both Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones surely ate up money available for those shows had they have been green-lit.

Updated On: 9/18/12 at 10:09 PM

Strummer--that was the show! You're right, HBO for a while was having some trouble getting really break out hits (I know True Blood's second year success helped turn that around--and maybe pointed them partially int he direction they've gone).

I really like All That Jazz, but have never full loved it... That said, it certainly is a much better film than another person involved with musicals's own earlier attempt at a Fellini-esque, musical, autobiuographical film, Anthony Newley's Can Hieronymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? Oy. I only finally saw a copy of that this past year--just, wow.

The Sam Wasson book has a November 5, 2013 publication date.
The Amazon page has an excerpt about a dinner party held in accordance with Fosse's will after his death.

"Suddenly Ben Vereen flew to the dance floor. He threw his hands into the air and then onto his hips and started slithering. At first he was alone, but moments later the crowd caught on. Reinking followed with Nicole and the eternal redhead, Nicole’s mother, the Empress. The bandleader upped the tempo to a funk sound with the kind of heavy percussion Fosse loved, and Fosse’s three women moved closer together. Verdon, sixty-two; Reinking, thirty-eight; and Nicole, twenty-four—wife, mistress, daughter—started swaying, their arms entwined, moving together in an unmistakably sensual, sexy way. Their eyes closed and their bodies merged with the beat, pulsing together, like a hot human heart. Others joined them. First ex-girlfriends, then writers. A circle formed, closing in around the women, then opened, then closed, ceaselessly breaking apart and coming together. Grief and laughter poured out of them in waves."
Fosse by Sam Wasson