New Sondheim interview (Follies film, new project, etc)

[ljay889]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 2:30am

Saw this interview on ATC.
It looks like the FOLLIES film is still in development, and that is great news. And he is looking into more ideas for a new project.


Q: Sweeney left your fans wondering about prospects for films of your other shows.

A: There are people interested in doing Follies as a film. I can't say who because it's privileged information. I think Into the Woods would make a good film.


Q: And you've really been swimming against the tide most of your career, anyway.

A: True. And there are ideas I'm looking into which are in their earliest form, so inchoate I can't discuss them. But yes, I want to continue writing.

https://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/6677221.html

Exciting.

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 2:49am

Believe in yourself, Steve! Keep writing!!!

[TalkinLoud]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 7:17am

Both would be excellent of course.

And it's Sam Mendes looking to make the Follies film. It's been floating around for a while now.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 9:39am

Well, it was Sam Mendes like a year ago. Maybe it's someone else now.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 11:28am

I hear John Waters owns the rights now. Pia Zadora as Fifi, Patty Hearst as Phyllis and Edith Massey as Carlotta.

[James885]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 11:35am

Personally, I would love to see Into The Woods made into a film.

[Amalia Balash]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 11:38am

I'd love to see a new Sondheim show. I'd adore a Follies movie. What I wouldn't be interested in is yet another reworking of the Mizner brothers story under any name. I wish something else had grabbed his imagination during the years of Bounce and Road Show.

Has he said anything recently about that annotated lyrics book?

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 12:13pm

INTO THE WOODS would be great as directed by Tim Burton. He did such a good job with SWEENEY and WOODS seems like great material for him as well. The whole "dark fairy tale" thing seems perfect.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 1:51pm

I'd love to see Woods as a stop-motion directed by Henry Selnick. HE knows how to make a good film. Burton's lost his touch, based off of Corpse Bride and Sweeney.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 1:54pm

I loved Sweeney, but I know that I'm the minority.

[TheBoyDownstairs]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 2:34pm

I really hope Follies isnt made into a movie. You know they'd cast movie stars in all the leads and while there are adequate choices for Ben, Buddy and Phyliss (I'd love to see Vanessa Williams in that role.) But I cant think of a single Hollywood actor that I think could pull Sally off.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 2:34pm

I thought it was just too..gory...the story involves it, but at times I felt like that was all Burton cared for.

[noradesmond]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 3:32pm

" Burton's lost his touch, based off of Corpse Bride and Sweeney."

What are you talking about? Burton rocked "Sweeney Todd" I think it was his masterpiece. And so did most of the critics. It failed to find a huge audience but who expected it to.

[Pgenre]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 3:38pm

AND it was nominated for GG BEST PICTURE, and won an AA for Dante Ferretti's ingenious set design that somehow managed to do the original production one better. In a lesser year, it would've cleaned up... but hey, THERE WILL BE BLOOD was snubbed so what do you really expect?

LOVE the movie and I feel were it to include the SUNG Ballad over the credits it would have been PERFECT. As is, its 99% perfect. It works as a film, though I would not want to see that cast on stage. BUT, in reverse, I would not want to see the OBC or even the OBRC in THAT film.

P
Updated On: 10/23/09 at 03:38 PM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 3:45pm

It wasn't nominated for Best Picture, but I think it should have been. I wish they'd kept the ballad, too, though.

I disagree that a suitable Sally couldn't be found for a film version of Follies.

[Pgenre]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 4:00pm

Yes, PRS... I suppose we can content ourselves with the fact that in 100 years the SWEENEY film will endure and live on and people will look back at the awards given that season, asking "Coen who? No Country for what?"...

P

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 4:03pm

I think that part of the reason why I'm a dissenter on the film is that I really don't care all that much for the stage version. I felt like the movie shaved it down to just the essentials. And the art direction was fantastic.

[jv92]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 4:04pm

As I've said time and time again, Catherine O'Hara would be perfect as Sally.

[ljay889]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 4:08pm

Burton should stay away from WOODS. We know Burton doesn't like chorus singing on film. Woods is very much an ensemble musical, and the chorus numbers are essential to the piece.
Updated On: 10/23/09 at 04:08 PM

[Pgenre]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 4:10pm

If you like or love Miss O'Hara do yourself a favor and check out her performance on CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM this season in her self-titled episode, "Bam Bam Funkhouser".

I can only hope this will be a recurring character... one of Larry's wackiest characters ever, even giving Kramer a run for his money!

Anyway, her character's name MORE than lives up to its promise!

Sheer hilarity!

P

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 4:14pm

I don't think O'Hara would be a bad choice as Sally, but my Phyllis is always Vanessa Williams and I don't see the two of them making sense.

Although she would have needed help singing it (and that doesn't bother me at all, as long as it didn't sound robotic like the Glee children), I really thought Natasha Richardson would have made a tremendous Sally.

[ljay889]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 4:18pm

^ Natasha would have been great.

Sally really is a bitch to sing. I assume whoever plays the role in the movie will get transposed keys (hopefully not like the Madonna Evita keys).
The range of TOO MANY MORNINGS to LOSING MY MIND is pretty intense, and I doubt many Hollywood actresses could handle it.

Updated On: 10/23/09 at 04:18 PM

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 4:35pm

I'm not concerned about the singing. If I want to see a beautifully sung Sally I can listen to Victoria Clark, Dorothy Collins, Barbara Cook, etc. For the film, I'm just concerned that they get an actress who would be able to truly capture the complexity of the character, if you play her as too needy, too sweet, too much of anything, you'll completely miss the great layers of the part.
I think someone like Amy Adams, for example, could make a great Sally in a good 20 years, but that's the kind of person I'm thinking of. Someone who immediately comes off as vulnerable, but has the range to play different parts of that type of character (I'm specifically thinking of her performances in DOUBT and JUNEBUG).
I think Laura Linney could make a wonderful Sally, though after seeing her in something like NANNY DIARIES one would think she's a more natural fit for Phyllis.
George Clooney, if a bit too predictable, would be pretty good as Ben Stone.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 4:43pm

I still want Alec Baldwin for Ben.

[HVicQ]

Posted: 10/23/09 at 4:47pm

Sally: Goldie Hawn
Ben: Daniel Day Lewis
Buddy: Richard Gere
Phyllis: Michelle Pfiffer

DONE.