Could SUNDAY in the Park with George work as a film? - Page 2

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 7/19/09 at 10:38am

This would have a very limited & small audience.Never gonna happen with any director. It has as much of a chance happening as a musical of Pacific Overtures

[wickedfan]

Posted: 7/19/09 at 11:53am

That wasn't the question, Mr. Roxy. The question was whether it would WORK as a movie. That's the discussion taking place, don't change the subject.

[TheatreFreak05]

Posted: 7/19/09 at 12:21pm

If you listen to the commentary on the Sunday in the Park With George DVD, Lapine and Sondheim mention that at one point a film was in the workings. I really wished that would have happened.

[dramarama2]

Posted: 7/19/09 at 1:04pm

It'd be a lovely film. and really. with a cast of big names, it wouldn't struggle to find an audience at all.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/19/09 at 3:37pm

I hope Burton never comes near another film musical again. He hates choral singing (a group of people all singing the same thing at once), so he would cut the song "Sunday." Still want him to direct it?

My dream team, if they filmed it right now:

Director: Baz Luhrmann (second choice is Rob Marshall, third is Julie Taymor)
George: Robert Downey Jr.
Dot/Marie: Renee Zellweger
Jules/Bob Greenberg: Daniel Day-Lewis
Yvonne/Naomi Eisen: Cate Blanchett
Old Lady/Blair Daniels: Angela Lansbury
Mr./Lee Randolph - Victor Garber
Mrs./Nurse - Kathy Bates
Frieda/Betty - Toni Collette
Franz/Dennis - Jude Law
Boatman/Charles Redmond - Russell Crowe
Soldier/Alex -Ewan McGreggor
Celeste 1 and 2 - Scarlett Johansson and Ann Hathaway
Louise - Abigail Breslin

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 7/19/09 at 3:54pm

In its existing form it would not work as a film. It is too imaginative while film is too literal.

They COULD start with George's Chromolume presentation and follow him to the island where after lesson number 8 he becomes Seurat, taking us back to the start of Act One and following through the finishing of the paining. Then it would fade away and rejoin the last half of Act II. That would put the first act as a concept of Young George imagining what Seurat may have gone through in developing the painting.

I don't get those who don't like the second act of SUNDAY. That is where the show's heart really is. "Children and Art", "Lesson #8", "Move On" and the finale are all incredibly moving and in retrospect make the first act that much stronger.

I have long suspected that those who don't like Act II were frustrated because they hoped the second half would pick up George and Dot's story and bring them together, and even though it does it is in a non-linear fashion.

Those who don't like Act II of SUNDAY, where do you think it should go?

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 7/19/09 at 4:07pm

I agree with frontrowcenter, Act II is what brings everything together, especially the love story. I believe Sondheim has said that SUNDAY is a love story that takes a century to resolve or something to that effect.
I wouldn't want Burton to be a part of this, though I still think Depp would make a wonderful George. Javier Bardem played a great artist in VICKY CHRISTINA BARCELONA, he'd be great in the part as well.
There really is no one I want to see play Dot/Marie more than Kate Winslet.
I think this would be a great project for HBO to take on.

[Scripps2]

Posted: 7/19/09 at 4:17pm

"Still want him to direct it?"

I never said I wanted him to direct it - I just described what I'd observed on The Jonathan Ross Show.

[wickedfan]

Posted: 7/19/09 at 4:34pm

I would love to see Burton do another movie musical, though not SITPWG. Into the Woods, maybe, or even Company (totally out of left field, I know, but that doesn't stop me from imagining it).

Were there to be an actual film in the making, I would love to see Jean-Pierre Jeunet direct it.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 7/19/09 at 4:46pm

I beg to differ Wicked

Whether or not a film will succeed finally does enter into the equation whether it would work as a film. Unlike Broadway where a Sondheim show not making money is the norm, the suits in film will think twice about backing something they know will have no Box office draw. Gross is just as important as artistic merit especially in film.

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 7/19/09 at 4:50pm

I have never ever liked 'Sunday', but if Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet were in it...I think it might convert me.

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/19/09 at 4:52pm

Liking SUNDAY comes with time, especially if you are younger.

I personally LOVE Act 2. I think it's perfect.

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 7/19/09 at 4:58pm

^ That's possible, I just can't sit through it without being bored to tears. It has a very thin plot, which I honestly do not mind, and the music (which takes up most of the show) bores me to tears.

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/19/09 at 4:59pm

And that's fine. But come back to it in 2-3 years. I bet you'll feel differently.

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 7/19/09 at 5:03pm

^ Hey, you just might be right. I used to think classical music was the most boring thing ever until I picked up the violin...now I'm hooked on it.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 7/19/09 at 5:10pm

It definitely takes a while for us younger adults. I hated the Broadway cast recording the first time I heard it, but that was mostly because I just didn't get it. I wasn't really ever able to sit down and watch the DVD from start to finish either. It wasn't until the revival came along that I gave it another shot and now it's one of my favorites. It took a few years and I'm not even exactly sure what changed.

[wickedfan]

Posted: 7/19/09 at 5:16pm

This thread, Roxy, is purely for fun. No one here intends to barge into every Hollywood studio tomorrow with a copy of this thread, demanding that SITPWG be turned into a movie. Whether the movie would be financially successful is not the issue people are discussing. We are all thinking in our pretty little heads, how the show could work as a film (artistically). Finance and artistic merit in film are only linked together if you're an actual Hollywood producer. Correct me if I'm wrong, but none of us here are one. Not to mention, bringing up how it would do financially is merely unnecessary since everyone here KNOWS that it wouldn't do well financially. Why point out the obvious?

[Plum]

Posted: 7/19/09 at 9:23pm

I was fairly unimpressed with Depp's singing in Sweeney Todd, even with the benefits of technological enhancements he no doubt enjoyed. And seriously, I'd keep Burton the hell away from this project. He did pretty well with Sweeney Todd, but the world does not need Helena Bonham Carter and her breathy little excuse for a singing voice as Dot.

It's really too bad the originals have aged out of their roles. Mandy Patinkin annoys the crap out of me in non-Sunday musicals, but he has real warmth and presence as a screen actor. And Bernadette will always be Dot to me.

[binau]

Posted: 7/19/09 at 9:29pm

On second thoughts I agree that Depp might not be vocally up to the role. I think besides HBC a Burton Sunday would be interesting though.


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This thread wasn't intended to be "It should happen" (Hence "It will never happen"), so whether it is financially suitable or not is another discussion :P, though I would say that I think a Sunday if done brilliantly (the suggestion about interweaving act 1/2 seems good), with some names *cough*Kate Winslet*cough* would be a lot more marketable than PO, Mr Roxy.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/19/09 at 9:31pm

I hate Act 2. Drop it and expand Act 1 to full length. It could be filmed as a regular movie, then when the finale starts, they switch to Imax 3-D.

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/19/09 at 10:28pm

Because of this thread, I cannot help but hope that the rumored FOLLIES movie will still happen.

[Plum]

Posted: 7/19/09 at 10:33pm

The proposed Follies concept of making it about old-school movie musicals rather than stage follies has so much potential.

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/19/09 at 11:24pm

That was proposed in the 70's.

[Plum]

Posted: 7/19/09 at 11:40pm

It's still awesome to me. :)

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 7/19/09 at 11:59pm

I'm still wanting to know who the director and movie star that Sondheim said were attached to the proposed FOLLIES film are.