"'FOSSE/VERDON' COMING TO FX"- Page 2

[KFC1991]

Posted: 7/25/18 at 9:33am

And Sam Rockwell just won an Oscar, so this should get major award consideration.

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 7/25/18 at 9:40am

I've been wanting a Verdon/Fosse sort of biopic for a long time. Even though I wonder about the dancing aspects, I recognize that even veteran dancers wouldn't be able to truly dance the way Verdon did so I understand why they ended up choosing someone who can really act to play her. I'm curious if Michelle Williams can capture Verdon's essence. I wonder if both Williams can capture that voice Verdon had and that voice Reinking later developed with age.

Rockwell should make a fascinating Fosse.

[Fetus]

Posted: 7/25/18 at 9:43am

FX has really been giving the gays everything they want lately. Rockwell and Michelle Williams will be wonderful. Hope the rumors of Allison Williams aren't true, I can never look at her without thinking about her awful character in Girls.

[Rainah]

Posted: 7/25/18 at 10:11am

I appreciate the fact that LMM is using his money and industry clout to just greenlight a bunch of theatre projects in the mainstream. He's got dedication, that's for sure

[greensgreens]

Posted: 7/25/18 at 10:13am

I applaud FX for not giving us gay trash/reality tv with recycled stereotypes and actually presenting stories with depth, a point of view, and something to say. I cannot say that for the other "gay" networks that have been mentioned in this thread.

To bring it back to Fosse, "whatever happened to class?"

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 7/25/18 at 12:08pm

I wonder if they'll have Rockwell and Williams recreate this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIiZuAVZH4w

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 7/25/18 at 12:29pm

Anyone questioning Oscar winner Sam Rockwell’s dancing abilities — take a look-see.   He already has a natural Fosse-esque flavoring to his freestyling.

https://youtu.be/SB7Vb2_QpA0

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 7/25/18 at 2:37pm

Excited for this, it would be really stunning if they were able to infuse it with Fosse's traditionally caustic edge.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 7/25/18 at 2:51pm

Is this the musical adaptation of Frost/Nixon?

[broadwaybabywannabe2]

Posted: 7/25/18 at 3:08pm

this is super exciting news...and YES Sam Rockwell has moves enough for this project based on that YOUTUBE ...and as someone here already posted ALL THAT JAZZ is one of the great movies of all time...the opening casting segment alone is theatrical magic...

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 7/25/18 at 8:55pm

Literally just watched Michelle Williams in I Feel Pretty tonight and she was channeling Gwen in that movie, so that might as well have just been her audition reel. 

[bisous3]

Posted: 1/2/19 at 7:36pm

I guess this is going to finally be aired in the spring. After seeing his performance in "Vice" I am much more intrigued to see Rockwell's Fosse. I do know he has been training for about a year with a former Fosse dancer. I can't imagine we will see any substantial dancing from him, but it'll be all about the nuance anyway.  

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 1/2/19 at 8:40pm

broadwaybabywannabe2 said: "this is super exciting news...and YES Sam Rockwell has moves enough for this project based on that YOUTUBE ...and as someone here already posted ALL THAT JAZZ is one of the great movies of all time...the opening casting segment alone is theatrical magic..."

I think it was Kelly Bishop who said that after seeing the opening of All That Jazz she immediately knew it was Fosse giving the finger to Bennett and creating a huge yard stick that the eventual film version of A Chorus Line would be instantly compared to (though we know now that we would sadly never get to see Bennett's vision on screen)

[LuPita2]

Posted: 1/2/19 at 9:17pm

Every time this thread is bumped I get more excited.  The entire casting is so good.  No premiere date yet though.  

[sabrelady]

Posted: 1/2/19 at 11:24pm

I know they are including Joan McCracken  as a part  of Fosse's life pre Gwen. I'm hoping they will include Jack Cole as part of Gwen's pre Fosse life.  YES i KNOW the relationship  w Cole was not marital or sexual but  he was a an essential part of her training and life when she was his assistant.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 1/3/19 at 9:07am

With all due respect, Bob Fosse didnt get his style until he started working with Gwen. Everything she learned during her time with Jack Cole, she passed on to Bob. Impossible to tell the Fosse/Verdon story without any mention of Jack Cole. Or Bobs previous wives: Mary Ann Niles and the aforementioned Joan McCracken, who pushed Bob to be more ambitious than thinking of just being a nite-club dance act.

[bisous3]

Posted: 1/3/19 at 3:51pm

And the actress playing Joan McCracken is stunning... Susie Misner. A favorite. Apparently she is co choreographing as well. 

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 1/5/19 at 11:36am

Looks like we have our first glimpse of the logo as this is being used by the production:

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 2/11/19 at 12:00pm

So, we now know the series begins during production on 1972's CABARET but then goes into flashback mode to tell Bob Fosse's story as well as Gwen Verdon's then their story connects in 1955 when they finally meet for the Broadway production of DAMN YANKEES.  Thanks to this being an 8-part limited series, both of their back stories will be told in detail.  The series beautifully honors Gwen Verdon and showcases her contribution to Bob Fosse's entire career, which went uncredited during their lifetime.  

Just to keep everyone updated, below is the full cast, including a few not announced previously: 

Bob Fosse - Sam Rockwell
Gwen Verdon - Michelle Williams
Kelli Barrett - Liza Minnelli 
Norbert Leo Butz - Paddy Chayefsky
Joan Simon - Aya Cash
Neil Simon - Nate Corddry
Hal Prince - Evan Handler
Fred Weaver (Bob Fosse's childhood dance teacher) - Rick Holmes
George Abbott - Byron Jennings
Chita Rivera - Bianca Marroquin
Joan McCracken - Susan Misner
Shirley MacLaine - Laura Osnes
Ann Reinking - Margaret Qualley
Ben Vereen - Ahmad Simmons
Cy Feuer - Paul Reiser
Joel Grey - Ethan Slater
Paul Grantner - Stephen Plunkett
Charlie Grass (Bob Fosse's childhood/teen dance partner) - Anthony Rosenthal
Gene Krupa - Tommy Bayiokos
Young Gwen Verdon - Kelli Berglund
Leland Palmer - Lindsay Nicole Chambers
Robert Shafer - Brian Faherty
Irene Ryan - Peggy J. Scott
Ray Walston - David Turnerro
Eric Berry - Bruce Winant
Scott Brady (Gwen's boyfriend when she met Bob Fosse) - Nicholas Baroudi 
Nicole Fosse (at various ages) - Blake Baumgartner, Juliet Brett & Chandler Head

Updated On: 2/11/19 at 12:00 PM

[ACL2006]

Posted: 2/11/19 at 2:52pm

Ben Vereen said in an interview a few months ago he was being portrayed in this but didn't know who was playing him. I wonder if the part got cut out as there's been no mention of who's playing him.

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 2/11/19 at 3:11pm

Ahmad Simmons is playing Ben Vereen

https://www.instagram.com/p/BthLJ1ah6dh/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=7wlq3a8he3f4

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 2/11/19 at 3:29pm

ACL2006 said: "Ben Vereen said in an interview a few months ago he was being portrayed in this but didn't know who was playing him. I wonder if the part got cut out as there's been no mention of who's playing him."

Several pivotal roles like Jack Cole and Mary Ann Niles (Bob Fosse’s first wife) haven’t been added to the cast list but they most definitely, like Ben Vereen, will be portrayed in this series.  At least we know Vereen is played by Ahmad Simmons.  

[ACL2006]

Posted: 2/11/19 at 3:44pm

Thanks!

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

Posted: 2/12/19 at 3:08pm

Sweet, soft-spoken Laura Osnes is playing the explosive, filter-less Shirley MacLaine? I find this so hard to envision. Still excited for the show- it might be the first of these that I actually get into.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 2/12/19 at 3:43pm

Ado Annie D'Ysquith said: "Sweet, soft-spoken Laura Osnes is playing the explosive, filter-less Shirley MacLaine? I find this so hard to envision. Still excited for the show- it might be the first of these that I actually get into."

Osnes is playing the YOUNG Shirley MacLaine, not the older MacLaine.   Early in her pre-Hollywood career, Shirley was choreographed by Bob Fosse in THE PAJAMA GAME (the show where she was discovered by Hollywood people while understudying one of the principals: Carol Haney) and she studied acting with Fosse’s then-wife, dancer Joan McCracken.

The very vocal MacLaine didn’t surface till over a decade or so later.