"FOLLIES" film dream casting

[ChgoTheatreGuy]

Posted: 8/2/23 at 6:31pm

Was just sitting here, thinking that I have not anymore news about "Follies" being made into a film.  My thought of who could possibly make it happen would be casting Barbra Streisand as Sally.  I am very sure that her performance of "Losing My Mind", would win her her third Oscar and be a pefect final film for her to be in...

[NOWaWarning]

Posted: 8/2/23 at 6:51pm

I’d love to see Streisand in at least one more musical role, but they’d have to significantly rewrite the piece to cast her as Sally.

[ChgoTheatreGuy]

Posted: 8/2/23 at 6:54pm

But the best part would be how she sings it, she's great with Sondheim songs!

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 8/2/23 at 7:06pm

Mary Louise Streep, AS ANYONE, PLEASE, FTLOG! 😂 ❤️  Michelle Pfeiffer or Catherine Zeta-Jones also give Phyllis vibes…

Without really thinking about it, Shirley Maclaine would fit somewhere…

Would love for Catherine Deneuve or Penelope Cruz to sing Ah, Paris…

Lovely Liza or Julie Andrews or Judi Dench singing I’m Still Here… I miss dear Angela Lansbury…

I can hear Bette Midler, Ellen Greene, or Carol Burnett’s Broadway Baby…

Maybe Christine Baranski or Debbie Allen or Lillias White giving some fierce dancing in Who’s That Woman…

John C. Reilly would be an interesting Buddy…

Can Joel Grey play Weissman?

This is fun!

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 8/2/23 at 7:08pm

A lot of these legends are far too old for any role other than Heidi. Sally and Phyllis and Carlotta are all about 50.

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 8/2/23 at 7:12pm

QueenAlice said: "A lot of these legends are far too old for any role other than Heidi. Sally and Phyllis and Carlotta are all about 50."

I know. Just dreaming. 😊 

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 8/2/23 at 8:49pm

Since this is a dream casting, I'm also going to assume that "One More Kiss" doesn't get cut, and they get one of the great opera singers like Teresa Stratas to come out of retirement to play Heidi.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 8/2/23 at 8:52pm

Sally is 49-50. Streisand is 81, and with a limited voice these days. That glorious voice she once had is sadly not there anymore. It’s painful hearing her attempt any high note these days. You’re thinking it’s 1982 and she’s 40 years old. 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/2/23 at 8:54pm

I’ve said for years it’s gotta be Pfeiffer as Phyllis. 

[UrNotAMachine]

Posted: 8/2/23 at 9:01pm

I think Toni Collette would be a perfect Sally

[evic]

Posted: 8/2/23 at 10:45pm

Why not just forward the timeline.  Some of those you mentioned can still portray the roles.  Just have it be 2023 rather than 1971.  Would be very exciting to have octagenarians portray the roles. Granted “Whos That Woman would have to be simplified but have the “Ghosts” do most of the dancing    But how thrilling it would be see 14 old dames descend the staircase in “Beautiful Girls”.  Throw in Dolly Parton and Jane Fonda and other Glamor Girls from the past. Just don’t have Rob Marshall direct. As for the male roles…..anyone want to cast them?

[Skip23]

Posted: 8/2/23 at 10:55pm

Reese Witherspoon as Sally

Brooke Shields or Vanessa Williams as Phyllis

Stokes Mitchell or George Clooney or Ben Affleck as Ben

Jason Alexander as Buddy

Kelly Clarkson as Carlotta

 

 

 

 

[JSquared2]

Posted: 8/2/23 at 11:01pm

Many (most?) of these suggestions are truly unhinged. Sadly, many of the ladies being suggested can barely walk, let alone  sing, dance and sashay down a staircase! 

[broadwayboy222]

Posted: 8/3/23 at 2:53am

Toni Collette as Sally.

Catherine Zeta-Jones as Phyllis. 

Though Michelle Pfeiffer as Phyllis is really selling me too.

[Impeach2017]

Posted: 8/3/23 at 6:28am

50 is a ridiculous age to insist on nowadays.  A lot of these ladies look damn good well into their 60s and beyond.  

[Musicaldudepeter]

Posted: 8/3/23 at 6:41am

Sally - Renee Zellweger, Amy Adams

 

[Theatrefanboy1]

Posted: 8/3/23 at 8:00am

I think this could make a wonderful art film.  And I completely agree on some of this casting.  Make it a tribute to the modern legends. : Julie andrews. Carol Burnett. Bette midler. Cher. Barbra. Streep pfieffer 

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 8/3/23 at 9:08am

Practically speaking, many of the names mentioned would be difficult to insure.

Realistic casting might look somehting like:

Sally: Renee Zelwegger

Phyllis: Cate Blanchett

Carlotta: Sharon Stone

Hattie: Bette Midler

Stella: Queen Latifah

Heidi: Shirley Jones

Buddy: Hugh Jackman

Ben:  Bradley Cooper

 

 

 

[binau]

Posted: 8/3/23 at 9:09am

49 years old in 1970 is very different to 49 in 2021. It would be fine for someone to be 60 years old imo. Or even a bit older depending on how they look. The tone in general of the show does need people who look and feel like they’ve gone through a lot. I also hope they insist to cast a Sally who can sing (minimum standard Staunton and that’s MINIMUM. Bernadette was stronger). Or they dub the vocals with Kelli O’Hara or something. Enough is enough. 

[BJR]

Posted: 8/3/23 at 9:39am

binau said: "49 years old in 1970 is very different to 49 in 2021. It would be fine for someone to be 60 years old imo. Or even a bit older depending on how they look. The tone in general of the show does need people who look and feel like they’ve gone through a lot. I also hope they insist to cast a Sally who can sing (minimum standard Staunton and that’s MINIMUM. Bernadette was stronger). Or they dub the vocals with Kelli O’Hara or something. Enough is enough."

Exactly. We all know the ladies on And Just Like That are the same age as The Golden Girls. If you were to make a new Golden Girls for 2023, you absolutely need to cast older.

This is also a conversation we've had about plays like Streetcar, where Stanley is 25 and Blanche almost a lost-cause at 30. Ages meant different things 40, 50, 75 years ago.

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 8/3/23 at 10:34am

The point of FOLLIES isn't that the characters are decrepid. It's really not an arguement that '49 looked different in 1972.' The point is that the characters are at a life crossroads where the POSSIBILITY of what they wanted when they were young still glimmers with some (perhaps delussional) hope. We should believe that there is a space for Sally and Ben to be together - that there is still possibility (i.e. they are still young enough) to have a second life together.

I think some of you are also forgetting that actors like Renee Zelwegger, Cate Blanchet and Hugh Jackman are all in their mid 50s now. Sharon Stone is 65. Bette Midler is 77. These are the correct ages to cast the roles (and in fact older than the original actors who created the roles by half a dozen years).

 

Updated On: 8/3/23 at 10:34 AM

[nealb1]

Posted: 8/3/23 at 11:07am

Ann-Margret/Barbra Streisand as Carlotta.

Michelle Pfeiffer/Catherine Zeta-Jones as Phyllis

Bradley Cooper/Richard Gere as Ben

Updated On: 8/4/23 at 11:07 AM

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 8/3/23 at 11:37am

This is also a conversation we've had about plays like Streetcar, where Stanley is 25 and Blanche almost a lost-cause at 30. Ages meant different things 40, 50, 75 years ago."

Yes, but in casting Blanche as a 50 year old, not only is it contrary to what Williams wrote, it robs us of the tragedy of the story, which is tied to a specific time and place.  What is wrong with an audience today seeing a Blanche who is 30 and per the time and place, considered no longer desirable as a woman because of her age?  Not everything regarding age needs to be brought up to current viewpoints of age in order to be resonant or powerful storytelling.

[binau]

Posted: 8/3/23 at 12:19pm

"The point is that the characters are at a life crossroads where the POSSIBILITY of what they wanted when they were young still glimmers with some (perhaps delussional) hope. We should believe that there is a space for Sally and Ben to be together - that there is still possibility (i.e. they are still young enough) to have a second life together"

Yes I agree the possibility needs to be there but my reading of the material personally is it's kind of very much last/desperate hope because of their age and life circumstances, especially Sally (which is what makes the material for me so relentless and devastating). It's the 'final chance' for all of them to get what they want before it's too late and essential resign to waiting it out until death. I genuinely think in 2023 because we are much healthier, have a better quality of life (in theory) and healthcare, we look younger and live longer (e.g. US females can expect to live almost 10 years longer I think now?) that we don't need to worry about casting 49 year olds. In fact, I think we need to be careful not to cast a Sally that looks as good as many people do close to that age do today (e.g. Kelli O'Hara, Sutton Foster etc.)...otherwise at least for me it lowers the stakes a little. Ok if I saw Kelli walk off the stage right now sure she lost the guy but she has so much ahead of her to look forward to. When Bernadette walked off the stage completely hopeless it was devastating because it really felt like she tried and failed to get her dream (Ben), and you really did question what the rest of her life would be like (if she even chose to live). "Oh dear god, it is tomorrow". Had Bernadette performed the role in the 90s when SHE was 49 years old, except that her voice would have been in a much better state to handle the material, again I would really wonder if the tone would be 'lost the guy' instead of 'lost my life'. 

Updated On: 8/3/23 at 12:19 PM

[JBradshaw]

Posted: 8/3/23 at 12:38pm

Goops mommy was stunning in “follies”