Other SWEENEY movie cast members - LET THE SPECULATION BEGIN — Page 5

Fosca: Anne Hathaway has a decent soprano voice, but it's not appropriate for Johanna and she also has some problems to work out, particularly with her vibrato.

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Imelda Staunton would be a FIERCE Lovett, but they'd definitely go with a bigger name in the role. I see Carter as a really awesome Beggar Woman, much more so than Lovett.

Green Finch? NOOOOOOO!

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Updated On: 6/13/06 at 07:32 PM

Michael Bennett, do you have a link to your review of the Logan script or a link the actual script that you could post?

I have been hoping Donna Murphy plays Mrs.Lovett for about a decade already, no one would be happier, but no one apart from Broadway audiences have any idea as to who she is.

I will have to search through the endless BWW threads to see if I can find it. I was able to read the script through my work, and I don't believe it's actually been "leaked" yet.

To the best of my memory, the songs that had been cut were - WAIT, GREEN FINCH, AH MISS, PARLOR SONGS, and parts of the PROLOGUE and EPHIPHANY. Things like LADIES IN THEIR SENSABILITIES, NO PLACE LIKE LONDON, THE CONTEST, WIG MAKER SEQUENCE and transitional chorus stuff were gone or turned into dialogue. The ending sequence was a bit different too.

Surprisingly, The Judge's JOHANNA was in the script.

Overall it was very stylized and would have been fascinating visually (the deaths were handled in a stunning cinematic way).

John Logan's script is still being credited in those press releases as of today, but my guess is that a director like Burton would definitely tweak it to fit his own unique vision. He's a very different artisan than Sam Mendes.

Megan Mullally as Lovett and Bernadette Peters as the Beggar Woman. Anybody? Annnnybody?

Yeah, I could see Megan Mullally as Mrs. Lovett.

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Frankly, I'd be quite more worried if they cut "A Little Priest" which they might do. I feel that to make it work as a film cutting songs is inevitable, Sondheim has described it as an operetta, it's very theatrical. We're fortunate enough to have two recorded stage versions with great leads released on DVD and VHS, now we should let this film be a film instead of a re-creation of the stage version which we already have.

Although I'm not a huge fan of Green Finch (personal issues...), I think it captures Johanna to a T. Without it, she's even less of a three-dimensional character. I'm still not sure who they could get to play her. There aren't that many well known actors who just happen to be legit sopranos who can pull off playing 16. Even if they cut Green Finch, Kiss Me is still in, correct? And that song actually contains the highest solo notes for Johanna.

And don't even get me started on trimming Epiphany...

I have the lowest of hopes for this film and it hasn't even been cast yet.

I'm only a few years older than 16, look like I'm 14, and could totally hit those notes. Psst, Tim Burton.

Kidding. There are actually a lot of 16-year-olds who could. I'm pretty upset about it being cut. And I would argue to the death that "Epiphany" is far more crucial to the show than "A Little Priest." "A Little Priest" wouldn't be very lost as dialogue, in fact.

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Mandi Moo: That is a good point; we have been overlooking the possibility of Johnny Depp singing this stuff. Erk.

To anyone who's read the script: are they keeping the ballads? I'm praaaaying that they are.

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FYI:

I know someone who works in the movie industry, and the Sweeney Todd movie, starring Johnny Depp, directed by Tim Burton, is a go. It hasn't been "green lit" yet, but it's almost definitely happening. It's from a reliable source. Just throught I'd throw that in.