Donna Murphy joins Hugh Jackman movie THE FOUNTAIN

[jo]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 12:21am

Variety reports that two-time TONY winner Donna Murphy joins this year's TONY winner Hugh Jackman in his new movie , Darren Aronofsky's THE FOUNTAIN.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/variety/20041121/va_ne_al/sean_patrick_thomas_2

Wow - I never thought I would see these excellent stage actors together. Ironically, they will be working together in a movie, and not on Broadway.

Also, it looks like an excellent female support cast for Hugh - Rachel Weisz, Ellen Burstyn and now Donna Murphy.
Updated On: 11/22/04 at 12:21 AM

[#1Elphie]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 12:23am

ooh! This I will definitely have to see.

[Plum]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 12:43am

As a confirmed Hugh Jackman fangirl I'm already obligated to see this movie, but add in Ellen Burstyn and now Donna Murphy and I really can't wait. I wonder who Murphy will be playing?

[Mamie]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 8:22am

The one who never showed up with the one who never missed. Interesting. Presumably whatever was bothering her is over now.

[BwayLover]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 8:30am

Stop it already with the Donna Murphy bashing!! This is getting so incredibly annoying, I can't take it anymore. You have NO idea what really happened and making mean comments about it just shows the type of person YOU are, not Donna Murphy.

And on another note... I'm really excited about this. I hope it's a big part - this cast really is phenomenal.

[Fan2]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 9:20am

If anyone is interested in an old script review for The Fountain, here it is from 2002:

http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=12677

I say "old" because Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett were originally supposed to star but Pitt pulled out at the last minute and the movie was shelved since they didn't have a star and the budget was getting too high, but I'm hoping most of the script is still in tact. Rumor has it that Hugh signed on after the director Darren Aronofsky saw him in The Boy from Oz.

[musicalsFan]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 11:10am

Stop it already with the Donna Murphy bashing!! This is getting so incredibly annoying, I can't take it anymore. You have NO idea what really happened and making mean comments about it just shows the type of person YOU are, not Donna Murphy

"Mamie" was stating a FACT. Donna Murphy never showed up from August 31 - September 26. And Hugh Jackman did not miss a single performance.

Yes, we don't really know what happened behind-the-scenes with Donna Murphy. But it remains a FACT she did not show up for any performances for 4 weeks. No amount of slight-of-hand is ever going to change that.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 11:11am

how many days of filming with donna actually show up for? maybe brooke shields should replace her.

[morosco]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 11:14am

"This is getting so incredibly annoying, I can't take it anymore."

That's precisely the feeling I had each time I attended WT and Murphy was out.

[Plum]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 12:07pm

*headdesk*

Cut it out. We've heard the Murphy-bashing before, many many times. She's had a good, long time to recover from whatever it was that was making her ill. And if you appreciate her talent at all you'd hope she'd get better.

What I find a bit strange about this story is that Murphy and Thomas are only joining the cast now- I think that filming has already started. The cast as listed on IMDB is awfully small, though.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 12:10pm

yep.. she'll have good long time to recover because no producer will be dumb enough to take a risk on her after her Wonderful Town hijinx.

[TVBoy]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 12:20pm

Maybe they can use a computerized Donna... like the characters in "Polar Express."

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 12:22pm

TV,
now the question begs -- which wouold be more lifelike?

[Plum]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 12:24pm

Quit being so self-righteous, bg2. It really doesn't suit you.

[Fan2]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 12:24pm

>>>What I find a bit strange about this story is that Murphy and Thomas are only joining the cast now- I think that filming has already started. The cast as listed on IMDB is awfully small, though.<<

I think filming started on November 15 and will run through February 18. We don't know what the roles for Murphy and Thomas are - it could be that they weren't needed right away. I think sometimes actors aren't cast for certain roles until after the actual filming of a movie has begun. IMDB also has the movie listed as "pre-production" but they have already started filming, so it has to be updated.

[TVBoy]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 12:25pm

Just don't look them directly in the eyes and you'll never know the difference.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 12:26pm

I <3 TVBoy! hahahahahahaha

[B.B. Wolf]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 1:21pm

This is great news! Hugh needs a good strong acting role after that Van Helsing detour (I didn't think it was THAT bad, but I'm a sucker for old movie monsters). If you can find a copy of Erskineville Kings, get it. Hugh's great in it. And I thought Donna was terrific in Spiderman 2. She had such warmth and charm. And I, too, and a HUGE Ellen Burstyn fan. AND a huge Aaronofsky fan! Can't wait to see this film!!!

[Plum]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 1:44pm

If you can find a copy of Erskineville Kings, be careful- it isn't available in Region 1 DVD, so you're going to need a multi-region player or at least a temporary hack in order to watch it.

That and Van Schmelsing are the only Jackman movies I haven't seen.

[B.B. Wolf]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 1:56pm

THat's why you always buy a good DVD player and a CHEAP DVD player. The cheap ones sometimes you discover are regionless. Heh heh heh.

[Fan2]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 2:12pm

I've seen Erskineville Kings - Hugh is unrecognizable in this (it was his first movie) and he was fabulous. He received an Australian award nomination for that role.

About Van Helsing - I'm probably in the minority here, but I enjoyed the movie and have watched it several times. It was a "fun popcorn summer movie" which I think it was all it intended to be. And Hugh wasn't bad to look at in it!

[graphictype]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 3:07pm

You can usually play other region DVDs on your computer. Be careful, though, as you can only switch region codes a set number of times - I think most computers let you change four times total.

Fan 2 - Agree on both EK and Van Helsing. He's amazing in the former and the latter actually gets better with time - you just can't take it seriously.

BB - I bought a cheap DVD player ($49) for that exact purpose but unfortunately it didn't work. One of these days I'll get a multi-region player.

[musicalsFan]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 3:17pm

some discussions about region-free players


http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?s=af6d06fac84512d7636ad59c2bbad546&threadid=395892

[bdwybelle]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 6:37pm

I think that its great that Donna Murphy is doing this movie!!! She deserves the recognition. Updated On: 11/22/04 at 06:37 PM

[jo]

Posted: 11/22/04 at 7:23pm

Cate Blanchett was originally attached to the role to be played by Rachel Weisz. I remember the NYPost reporting that she and Hugh met privately sometime ago when he was still playing in THE BOY FROM OZ ( and he had not signed up for the film project at that time), ostensibly to discuss the movie project. Unfortunately, because she was committed to another film project in Australia which would have run over the revised filming schedule for THE FOUNTAIN ( she was attached to this project since the original cast was announced, with Brad Pitt in the Hugh Jackman role), she probably had to drop from this film.

No offense to Rachel - but Cate, Ellen, and Donna together with Hugh would have been a formidable cast!