Other SWEENEY movie cast members - LET THE SPECULATION BEGIN — Page 9

I actually like how the roles are being cast younger. It accounts for them being naive and so quick to fall in love, especially Johanna. "Not While I'm Around" also becomes more poignant with a younger Toby singing it to Mrs. Lovett.

Johnny Depp must be able to sing, if he's set to play the part in the movie and besides if he can't he can always get voice lessons.

Someone on another board brought up Tim Curry for Judge Turpin or The Beadle. I don't know about that, it could work. I still see Christopher Lee as The Judge, but I also like the idea of maybe Jack Nicholson or Christopher Walken as The Judge. There was also a thought of a cameo from Michael Keaton as Jonas Fogg which could work or maybe Paul Reubens could be Jonas Fogg

I think maybe Albert Finney or Glenn Shaddix could do The Beadle. Freddie Highmore will probably be cast as Tobias and Helena Bonham Carter will probably get The Beggar Woman.

According to the article about it on broadway.com, there are going to be going into rehearsals and pre-recordings in November and December and a release in late 2007. I think that they should release it in October, sometime before Halloween.
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Bob Crewe:"You're not hearing it right. I hear it in sky blue and you're giving me brown."
Tommy Devito:"That's cause you're paying us s***."

Neil Patrick Harris is not a big name.

YOu have to remember that they need A-list Hollywood names for this thing. they are not going to hire Patti, she's not well-known enough.

That has been said ten thousand times already.

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LeadingDude - you could also argue Doyle's is all in flashback, and thus Toby would have been a child when the action took place. When he recounts the story, he is all grown up.

But, again, that is Doyle's version. Obviously not Prince's, nor Burton's.

"I just can't imagine a child who can "carry a tune" singing Sondheim's magnificent score."

I don't think they mean someone who is six or seven. Probably more like 10-12. With the right training, someone at that age could sing Toby's two songs.

I actually don't like the idea of Freddie Highmore as Toby. I don't think he could really be that haunted, dereanged person Toby is.

bwaylvsong, agree, I pray they have open calls for Toby. I would love to have that part. Ah, blissful wishful thinking.

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Congratulations. He has a semi-large television following.

That's still not NEARLY enough to sell a movie. Not even close.

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THE PRODUCERS had both Will Ferrell AND Uma Thurman...both A-listers with a much larger fan base than NPH...and it tanked.

So, yes, the more names the better.

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I think Annette Bening (another Tim Burton alumni) could be a fabulous Mrs. Lovett as well.

As far as ages of characters... Johanna is exactly 16 in the musical, unless you want to start changing Sondheim's lyrics and Wheeler's book (which is a definite possibility of course).

Sweeney has several lines during his first encounter with Mrs. Lovett where he refers to being gone on a trumped-up charge for fifteen years. And Mrs. Lovett sings the lyric during Poor Thing: "…Leaving her with nothing but grief and a year-old kid," when Sweeney was sent to Australia. That would make Johanna exactly 16 in the play.

They can change this of course, but that's what is in the original musical.

As far as Tobias Ragg... this character is the only other character (besides Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett) that dates back to the very origins of the "legend" of Sweeney Todd. He is always a boy, roughly 10-12 years old. For the Sondheim musical they cast an older "juvenile" actor with the naïveté of a child. But in nearly all other incarnations of the Sweeney legend, Tobias Ragg is a child.

I have no idea how they will cast the film Toby... but it would make more sense from a "movie audience" POV to have him be a boy... witnessing this horror. Although, I'm guessing they're not pulling for the “family audience” with this film. I don't really see how they could even do that. They will be doing their damnedest to keep this movie PG-13, although I don't see how they can manage it with the throat-slitting, unless they never actually show it on screen, even once. I hope they don’t try to soft-soap it in the name of reaching a wider audience.

I would look for some BIG names in several roles, but not all (necessarily). DreamWorks and Warner Bros. are going to be very nervous about doing a potentially R-rated musical, in this day and age. Someone like the judge is an easy target to cast a real Hollywood heavyweight, which is why I suggested Nicholson. The casting of Lovett will be key as well.

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Updated On: 8/18/06 at 12:28 PM

Susan Sarandon and Helena Bonham Carter will play the title roles in Eleanor and Colette. Marc Bruce Rosin's script follows Sarandon's Eleanor, a patient at a psychiatric institute, who retains Colette (Bonham Carter), an attorney, to represent her complaint against the hospital, which has been prescribing her psychopharmacological drugs. During the lengthy process, the two women bond and form a special friendship. Shooting begins next Spring in San Francisco, Vancouver and Germany

Sounds like filming will stretch over many weeks and many locations...

I actually like the idea of Donna Murphy as the Beggar Woman, it goes along with the thought of casting a (mostly) unknown actress in the role to not give away the plot.
Please, no Tracey Ullman in this movie.
The idea of Bening as Mrs.Lovett sounds rather exciting, she's a devine actress and I can only imagine the layers she'd bring to the role. I didn't know she could sing though.
Now, I know she has been mentioned on the board as a potential star for every movie musical since Chicago, but I believe Catherine Z. Jones could also be a good Mrs.Lovett.

I think using a well-known theatre actress (such as Murphy, or someone else along those lines) for the Beggar Woman is a great idea.

The people who would recognize her are the same ones that would likely already know the plot twists in this story line... and for the general audiences, she would be an "unknown," and it wouldn't draw premature/advance attention to the character.

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