Movie Remake of Cabaret?

[Fan2]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 4:46pm

http://www.moviehole.net/news/6246.html

Is Zellweger going to be a Cabaret singer?
Posted on Mon, 12-Sep-2005

Renee Zellweger's about to shine her slippers, re-visit some hot steps and enrol in a second semester of vocal training. Yep, the Oscar Winner's intent on doing another musical.

Don't hold your hopes for a "Chicago" sequel or "Bridget Jones goes Cha-Cha" though - instead, Zellweger's simply planning to redo someone else's musical moment, notably Liza Minnelli's, says Sky News.

Studio bosses are apparently chewing the fat with the fiesty Oscar Winner to star in a remake of "Cabaret" (1972).

"I do love a challenge as an actress and this would be one of the biggest", Zellweger tells the site.

The film would tell the same story - A female girlie club entertainer in the Weimar Republic era Berlin romances two men while the Nazi Party rises to power around them - but will encompass a few more new tunes apparently.

[cturtle]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 4:49pm

just one more really stupid idea.

[Plum]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 4:54pm

I thought Zellwegger was fine in Chicago, and I realize that Sally doesn't have to be a great singer, but...no. Just no. Can we please spare this movie the remake treatment? Please?

[JulianHookbucks]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 4:55pm

Well, I love Renee, I loved Chicago, and I love Cabaret... and I guess a new version of it would be cool, but I think I'd like to see another original movie-musical. Even though there are like 4 coming out soon... but hey, you can never have enough movie musicality! But if they do do this, I'll be in line to see it.


Speaking of Movie Musicals... sorry to threadjack,m but does anyone know what happened to the one that Kate Winslet was in? Cigarettes and something? Was it an indie? or was it never released?

Updated On: 9/12/05 at 04:55 PM

[WonderBoy]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 4:57pm

First and foremost this film should NOT be remade! Why do studio execs insist on taking classic cinema and remaking it? Second of all Miss Zellegger is wrong for Sally! Toni Collette yes, Renee NO! Oh God!!! Deliver me now!

Updated On: 9/12/05 at 04:57 PM

[Adam Chris]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 4:59pm

I would like to see a remake of the movie after the recent revival directed by Sam Mendes. Personally I thought the original movie was lacking in.... interest.
:) Ha ha. Don't hate me.

However, I would not be too keen to see Renee croon her way through another movie musical.
Updated On: 9/12/05 at 04:59 PM

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 5:01pm

I think Cabaret is one of the two or three finest film musicals ever made. Zellwegger etc need to stay the hell away from it -- it doesn't ever need to be remade.

[SorryGrateful]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 5:04pm

So would they be remaking the movie or the show? Remaking the movie is a terrible idea, but I could see a movie of the latest revival working very well. But, please, as much as I really like Renee Zellwegger, I think she'd be a horrible Sally.

Updated On: 9/12/05 at 05:04 PM

[mygfdontliveincanada]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 5:06pm

Adam,

I agree. Though Liza Minelli and Joel Grey are fantastic in the film and no-one will be able to come close to their performances, I think the movie was uninteresting and unfocused and I couldn't care less about the characters in it. If a director could come along and fix those problems with a film adaptation (ahem, Sam Mendes, Rob Marshall, or Susan Stroman), then I'd say it sounds like a great idea.

But if a Chicago alum must be in it, why not Catherine Zeta-Jones? And she should do a "Kiss of the Spider Woman" film version, too. Unfortunately no studio wants to do that as of yet.

[Fosse76]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 5:06pm

I thought the movie Cabaret was awful. I would rather have one that at least follows the stage production.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 5:12pm

I wouldn't mind a movie adaptation that stays closer to some of the Broadway incarnations. The main reason I don't like the Cabaret movie is because they changed so much and deleted so many characters mostly not for the better. Fosse was a genius, but his cabaret movie does not display that genius at all...

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 5:32pm

Personally, I think the film is a vast improvement over the stage version and the material Fosse cut is the stuff I like least in the stage version, finding it a drag on the overall narrative (sorry, but the entire Fraulein Schneider/Herr Schultz subplot with those damn pineapples always bored me to tears). Fosse bypassed the stage book and I Am A Camera and went directly back to Isherwood's Berlin Stories and had Jay Presson Allen base the screenplay entirely on that. He tossed out all the character numbers and restricted the music to only the numbers which could be performed realistically -- those within the Kit Kat Club and "Tomorrow Belongs To Me" in the beer garden.

It was a brilliant stroke of genius on his part. Film is a realistic medium and one of the reasons most film musicals had failed in the years immediately before Cabaret was that audiences were less and less willing to accept the convention of characters suddenly bursting out into song and dance for no reason. In turning the work into a drama with music, he was able to really focus on the darker aspects of the story without having to leaven it with unnecessary musical theatre character numbers and conventions. A great film -- it deserved its 8 Oscar wins.

[WonderBoy]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 5:32pm

Fosse's film of CABARET adds more of I AM A CAMERA to it which subtracts away from the stage production aspect. It is genius and a new version should never be attempted. A new film that follows closely to the recent revival would be grand but I cannot see it being as successful as the original CABARET film.

[ljay889]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 5:34pm

NOOOO WAY!!!

A movie remake of Cabaret closer to the stage version's script, would be fine.

But honestly, Renee? Give me a break. I am still not completely fond of her Roxie.

[One Song Glory]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 5:41pm

Hmmm, I'm not sure if that's a good idea.

[SorryGrateful]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 5:52pm

I really love the Fosse movie. (I love Fosse, in general.) I do think that the movie and the show should be viewed as separate entities that share common songs. They're so entirely different, but both so wonderful, that I don't think it's possible to say one is better than the other. There's no way to compare other than the music and the vaguely similar composites of characters.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 5:59pm

It doesn't need a remake. However, I wish they'd remake I Am A Camera with Natalie Portman.

[Plum]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 6:03pm

Alright, it's inevitable so I might as well start it- if this movie is greenlighted on the basis of Zellwegger's star power, who would you want in the other roles?

[Gothampc]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 6:10pm

They'll use Alan Cumming for the Emcee. Jude Law as Cliff.

[Kringas]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 7:10pm

I'm one of the ones who didn't care for the original movie all that much. It's fine on its own, but I've always preferred the stage version (even before the Mendes revivial). I'd like to see a remake that was truer to the stage version, and I also wouldn't mind Zellweger as Sally. She can do the accent, and (since I'm also someone who thinks Sally shouldn't be the greatest singer in the world) I think she could sing it.

[broadway86]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 7:17pm

I think it's so strange that this article is coming out now. One or two years ago, I said that Zellweger would be fantastic as Sally, and got pummeled. Same thing with Bernadette Peters in Gypsy, which actually ended up coming true.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 7:19pm

IF they made a movie based on the revival show, I wouldn't call it a remake so much.

I think the story would be so different, as would the approach.

Julia Murney or Toni Collette would be awesome as sally!

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 9:14pm

Several years ago (but after the revival had opened on Broadway) there was some rumbling about a second film version of CABARET, directed by Sam Mendes starring Nicole Kidman.

I don't think we really need a second film of CABARET, but if they were to do something along the lines of Mendes' revival, it wouldn't be so much a remake of the Fosse film as a completely different film animal.

I dont really see Zelwegger as Sally though. She doesnt seem glamerous or mysterious enough. I would, however, love to see Zelwegger do the JANIS JOPLIN bio pic thats been rumored for years. I think she looks the part and could probably pull off the vocals.

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 9:20pm

I don't mind zellweger.

but this movie should not be remade.

[timote316]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 10:15pm

Gotham, I like your casting.

I also like the idea of Catherine Zeta Jones as Sally, but oh well...