Hugh Jackman to star in A musical about Barnum...

Didn't he have a 3 musical deal with Disney? Am I just imagining that?

Why are Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway both being rumored for every possible film project that has anything to do with a musical? Not that I don't love them, but with all this stuff that's being announced, it seems both of them will make nothing but musicals for the next decade or so.

Updated On: 8/4/09 at 12:04 AM

Yeah. Stop talking about all these Movie Musicals
and Make ONE!

Cheno would actually be the perfect Jenny Lind.

I would really love to see some actual progress made on all the rumors of Jackman/ Hathaway duo. all the anticipation is driving me mad

Fox is perfectly awful - I can't remember a picture of theirs I halfway liked since X2. After which they drove away the director through their sheer assholism and killed the franchise. I have absolutely zero faith that they can handle musicals any better than they have sci-fi or any other genre. Good directors don't want to work with them anymore since they know Tom Rothman is a control freak dickweed, and without a good director you're going to have a hell of a time making a good film.

Anyway, I make it a general policy not to listen much to movie production rumors until, at the very least, there's a director attached, and preferably not until there's been a green light and money has started flowing for pre-production. And even then things aren't definite (see the recent scuttling of Moneyball just a few days before filming was to begin, for example). So I'm pretty sure it'll be a cold day in Development Hell before I start believing this one.

Updated On: 8/4/09 at 02:01 AM

It being Variety does give it some weight, but at the very least, the bit about Hathaway is completely unsubstantiated and unsourced. Bad journalism. (Well, typical for entertainment journalism, but still.)

Updated On: 8/4/09 at 02:06 AM

There have been so many rumors and reports of a Jackman movie musical, and a Jackman/Hathaway screen pairing, that I won't believe any of it until I see something onscreen.

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"So you guys don't like:

Slumdog Millionare
500 Days of Summer
The Wrestler
The Simpsons
STAR WARS????
Ice Age
Die Hard

On the musical end:
Carousel
The King and I
Oklahoma
South Pacific
State Fair
Sound of Music (distributed)

Because.. THEY ARE ALL FOX MOVIES!"

I think YOU need to figure out what you're talking about first. The first 3 movies you listed are from Fox Searchlight which has absolutely nothing to do with the money grubbing whore that is Tom Rothman. 20th Century Fox has no control over the Star Wars franchise. That's 100% George Lucas. They're nothing more than a distribution company on that front (which is also why WB has been the one distributing the recent animated series).

Then there are the musicals you listen, all of which were made 30+ years ago. We're talking about 20th Century Fox TODAY. The studio that hasn't put out a good movie in almost 10 years. The studio who just came off one of their worst years in 2008. The studio notorious for micro-managing and giving their directors absolutely no creative freedom. Just look at Rotten Tomatoes and find me a film since X2 that's has a rating over 60%. You wont find many, I'll tell you that.

Updated On: 8/4/09 at 09:31 AM

wow, that's kinda awesome. haha. I love the two of them and have been wanting to see the two in a musical together..I know Anne Hathaway can sing, but can she sing operatic? Jenny Lind was an opera singer I believe right? And yes Hugh Jackman did have the three musical deal with Disney, one of which was supposed to be "If you Could See Me Now" based on the book of the same name, but has yet to happen.. haha

"This year- I'm sure we can look forward to Amelia or Whip It! doing well at the box office and with the critics."

Katurian - Yes, I eagerly await Whip It!'s critical success and upcoming placement in the Oscar prediction's season.

And JP2 is right, Fox Searchlight is completely different than 20th Century Fox. Independent studios have very little to do with the money-making, sequel-loving mainstream studios. The independents all just want to be the next Focus Features.

Why are you so defensive? Do you work there?

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I think the Disney movie musical deal with Hugh is dead, and he is no longer attached to If You Could See Me Now - it went into turnaround and Gold Circle Films picked it up. Someone associated with them posted on the IMDB message board with that news (confirmed on the author's website) and said that Hugh is no longer involved and it's not a musical anymore.

I think Jackman's time for playing Billy Bigelow on film has come and gone - he's too old now. But if A Steady Rain turns out to be good, I'm all for a film version. Especially because there are apparently a couple of sequels to the play, and it would tickle me to have a film franchise that's not in the action or humor genres, just for a change.