Other Desert Cities Film Version
Other Desert Cities Film Version
#1Other Desert Cities Film Version
Posted: 4/25/12 at 3:34pm
With Other Desert Cities film version being currently in development do you think there is a chance for any Off and/or Broadway original cast members to reprise their roles in the movie? I know that it is very unusual for stage actors to get roles in film adaptations, but Linda Lavin, Judith Light, Stacy Keach and Oscar nominees Stockard Channing and Rachel Griffiths are not exactly last names in the business.
Anyway, who would you like to see being cast in the film version?
sundayclothes2
Featured Actor Joined: 4/10/09
#2Other Desert Cities Film Version
Posted: 4/25/12 at 3:47pm
Isn't the casting of Julia Roberts inevitable?
Updated On: 4/25/12 at 03:47 PM
#2Other Desert Cities Film Version
Posted: 4/25/12 at 3:52pmLet me take a stab-Meryl Streep & Julia Roberts will play Polly and Brooke.
#3Other Desert Cities Film Version
Posted: 4/25/12 at 3:55pmI said before I think Sandra Bullock would be an amazing Brooke.
#4Other Desert Cities Film Version
Posted: 4/25/12 at 4:13pm
It’s quite ironic that an actress, who got rather terrible reviews during her one-time 2006 Broadway stand, landed two back-to-back starring roles in film adaptations of two of the most critically acclaimed plays of American modern theater.
Well, at least Ryan Murphy cast Ellen Barkin in his new TV show if it’s any consolation.
#5Other Desert Cities Film Version
Posted: 4/25/12 at 4:17pmHow about Rachel Weisz for Brooke?
henrikegerman
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/29/05
#6Other Desert Cities Film Version
Posted: 4/25/12 at 4:18pm
Brooke - Catherine Keener or Sandra Bullock
Lymon - Albert Finney
Polly - Ann-Margret
Silda - Jessica Walter or Olympia Dukakis
Trip - Jason Bateman
#7Other Desert Cities Film Version
Posted: 4/25/12 at 4:41pm
Wait...what if Justine came out of retirement to play opposite her brother, henrick.
I can see Glenn Close doing this role. But really...Channing is rather perfect (saw it last night). It would be interesting to see how this translates. It's so...talky.
#8Other Desert Cities Film Version
Posted: 4/25/12 at 4:49pmI can see Glenn Close play any role. Just give her something already. I do understand that unless your name is Meryl Streep or Helen Mirren is next to impossible to land a decent film role for an actress over 60, but Close can't get any film role at all. She was attached to Thérèse Raquin for almost a decade just to be replaced by Jessica Lange right before the shooting. I don't get what's the deal, is she difficult to work with?
#9Other Desert Cities Film Version
Posted: 4/25/12 at 4:51pmJessica Lange would make an amazing Polly, actually.
#10Other Desert Cities Film Version
Posted: 4/25/12 at 4:52pm
Polly - Stockard Channing
Lyman - John Travolta
Silda - Olivia Newton John
Brooke - Michelle Pfeiffer
Trip - Maxwell Caulfield
#11Other Desert Cities Film Version
Posted: 4/25/12 at 4:55pmHonestly though, I bet Cher would knock Polly out of the F'in park.
#12Other Desert Cities Film Version
Posted: 4/25/12 at 6:49pm
In a previous thread, I suggested Jessica Lange for Polly, Gene Hackman for Lyman, Mary-Louise Parker for Brooke, Mark Ruffalo for Trip, and Diane Keaton for Silda.
As I said then, Meryl Streep becoming attached is probably inevitable, but she's a much better fit for Silda than she ever would be for Polly.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
Auggie27
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/03
#13Other Desert Cities Film Version
Posted: 4/25/12 at 10:00pm
Agreed about Lange. I said it the week after I saw the play. Still hoping Lange comes to Broadway in the role. She'd take it in an interesting new direction, and likely be brilliant. And I'm a #1 fan of the Channing performance, which is perfection. But she will leave, and the play needs a star to put a new stamp on it. Lange, yes.
Another wild idea for Polly: Susan Sarandon. Whoa!
#14Other Desert Cities Film Version
Posted: 4/25/12 at 10:10pm
I would argue that Sarandon, too, is way more of a Silda than she is a Polly (and a pretty ideal Silda at that.) Whoever plays Polly has to have a very heightened element of sophistication, and Sarandon screams earthy to me.
While I maintain that Lange is as ideal casting as one could hope to find for the role, Sally Field and Annette Bening also come to mind as terrific contenders, particularly the latter. You could even have Bening play opposite Warren Beatty as Lyman. That would sure be fun.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
#15Other Desert Cities Film Version
Posted: 4/25/12 at 10:19pmLove the idea of Lange as Polly with Sarandon as Silda. Someone make that happen!
#16Other Desert Cities Film Version
Posted: 4/25/12 at 10:26pmJoan Allen as Polly would also be insanely great.
WiCkEDrOcKS
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/13/04
#17Other Desert Cities Film Version
Posted: 4/25/12 at 10:29pmI really hope they take some of these great A-lister suggestions into consideration for replacements on Broadway. I'd kill to see Lange or Parker tackle these roles on stage.
#18Other Desert Cities Film Version
Posted: 4/25/12 at 10:34pm
"I really hope they take some of these great A-lister suggestions into consideration for replacements on Broadway. I'd kill to see Lange or Parker tackle these roles on stage."
^THIS. THIS. A THOUSAND TIMES THIS.
#19Other Desert Cities Film Version
Posted: 4/25/12 at 10:38pmI'm strangely wondering how Robin Williams would be as Lyman.
Auggie27
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/03
#20Other Desert Cities Film Version
Posted: 4/25/12 at 10:41pm
Joan Allen: Chilly, maybe brilliant. Polly is a role that will be interesting to watch as it changes hands.
How about a woman long absent from the stage (I know everyone will say a Silda) Mercedes Ruhl?
#21Other Desert Cities Film Version
Posted: 4/25/12 at 10:44pm
Mercedes was on Broadway a few years ago in that mediocre AMERICAN PLAN with the even more mediocre Lily Rabe. And she's amazing in anything she does.
I'm liking the idea of Annette Bening and Warren Beatty together in this.
#22Other Desert Cities Film Version
Posted: 4/25/12 at 11:41pm
The play already appears to be struggling with an arguably starry group of actors. Considering The Booth is highly desirable real estate, I don't see it running past the summer, when the original cast will all be ready to depart.
On the plus side, it's getting produced at virtually every regional theater in America next season, so we'll certainly have the opportunity to see other great actors play these roles. Women like Dianne Wiest, Blythe Danner, Judith Ivey, Christine Lahti, Kate Burton, and Deirdre O'Connell who so regularly work on stage come to mind as candidates I'd love to see take the piece on as it begins to have a wider life outside of New York.
Auggie27, in addition to doing THE AMERICAN PLAN on Broadway in 2009, Mercedes Reuhl (yes, a complete and total Silda) was also in THE HOW AND THE WHY by Sarah Treem at the McCarter Theater in January of last year. She's hardly been "long absent from the stage," but she has been semi-retired from film and television the last few years in order to concentrate on raising her son, who has special needs. She was set to be a series regular on the forthcoming season of LUCK on HBO before it was cancelled abruptly a couple months ago, but she just filmed a pilot for FOX that is garnering some nice buzz, so she's slowly returning to a more consistent work schedule.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
#23Other Desert Cities Film Version
Posted: 4/26/12 at 7:52amI wonder if they would go with someone like Jack Nicholson for Lyman in the film version. He doesn't seem ideal on paper, but he seems like someone who would be cast (kind of like assuming Meryl would be Polly), and I could see him pulling it off.
dreaming
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/24/09
#24Other Desert Cities Film Version
Posted: 4/26/12 at 8:12amJessica Lange as Polly, Susan Sarandon as Silda, Sandra Bullock as Brooke, Mark Ruffalo as Trip and Jack Nicholson as Lyman.
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