Probability of a PIPPIN movie musical, post-WICKED success?- Page 2

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 12/2/24 at 10:23pm

My dream for a Fun Home movie would blend live action with animation done in the style of Bechdel's drawings. Characters and settings dropping in and out between being animated for some scenes and live actors for others, but Bruce is always animated except for “Telephone Wire” so when Big Alison gets into the car with him what throws her really off balance is finally truly seeing him for the first time

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 12/3/24 at 3:56am

joevitus said: "Thanks all for the info on Weinstein. Musical Master's anecdote about Miyazaki is particularly wonderful."

It always baffles me how Weinstein seemed to feel, almost more often than not, that every foreign film needed cutting.  Of course when Miyazaki signed the deal with Disney, the fact that they could not make the cuts was part of the entire deal (as a teen in the 90s I was kinda Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli obsessed and back then you could only see his films on fan traded "fansubs" as Miyazaki would not allow any official releases--though due to contract issues My Neighbor Totoro and Grave of the Fireflies did get full releases.  The reasoning was because in the 80s Miyazaki had licensed the first, kinda, Ghibli film, Nausicaa for an American release and it had about 30 minutes chopped up, and was marketed as a Star Wars-esque Warriors of the Wind.  So I still remember when it seemed like we simply would never get his films released in any sort of translation and the Disney deal shocked me when it happened, but giving Mononoke to their Miramax divison, and so to Weinstein, due to it being one of the more adult Ghibli films was probably a mistake and it wasn't until Disney, under the supervision of uber fan John Lasseter--yes, I know, I know--started releasing the other films under their own label that they took off.  *end of rambling useless info*)

Wasn't there talk at some point--maybe back in the 90s in fact, of Pippin being an animated film (I'm not sure if a studio was mentioned--certainly not Disney.  Maybe Dreamworks?)  No, I'm not thinking of the planned Cats animated film (which probably wouldn't have been great given Spielberg's Amblimation output but would have been better than what we got...)

 

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 12/3/24 at 7:11am

EricMontreal22 said: "Wasn't there talk at some point--maybe back in the 90s in fact, of Pippin being an animated film (I'm not sure if a studio was mentioned--certainly not Disney. Maybe Dreamworks?) No, I'm not thinking of the planned Cats animated film (which probably wouldn't have been great given Spielberg's Amblimation output but would have been better than what we got...)"

Simon Wells, who was set to direct the animated Cats movie, was interviewed by the Kingdom of Dreams podcast a few months ago. He talked quite a bit about his memories of developing it as well as his thoughts on the live action film (@34:10).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78_eu4jsqbM

Updated On: 12/3/24 at 07:11 AM

[kdogg36]

Posted: 12/3/24 at 11:18am

An article from earlier this year suggests (in the very last sentence) that Jake Gyllenhaal's planned Fun Home movie is still in the pipeline.

[BJR]

Posted: 12/3/24 at 7:04pm

kdogg36 said: "An article from earlier this year suggests (in the very last sentence) that Jake Gyllenhaal's plannedFun Homemovie is still in the pipeline."

Well, that's exciting news!

As for PIPPIN, this was Weinstein's personal baby, as it was the first show he saw, or something like that. A draft had been turned in and he was pushing for another when I last heard. That was back in 2017 and long before #MeToo and the indictments.

I doubt it.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 12/3/24 at 7:25pm

I saw the original Pippin at the Imperial at 19 and have a soft spot for its mutability; it adapts to directorial vision and theatrical conceit. A charming high school production convinced me. But as a rewatch of Fosse/Verdon also reminded me, it’s trapped with a schematic and episodic book - Fosse knew and minimized it - and depends on actual live magic to take flight. Because it’s cinematic doesn’t mean it will make a good film. Its existential search - born of Vietnam and leftover 60s domestic upheaval - seems too fragile to hold a movie together in Trump 2.0 America. A lost adolescent ain’t the fiery Elphaba. And another Nine we don’t need.

Updated On: 12/3/24 at 07:25 PM

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 12/3/24 at 8:36pm

Auggie27 said: "I saw the original Pippin at the Imperial at 19 and have a soft spot for its mutability; it adapts to directorial vision and theatrical conceit. A charming high school production convincedme. But as a rewatch of Fosse/Verdonalso reminded me, it’s trapped with a schematic and episodic book - Fosse knew and minimizedit - and depends on actual live magic to take flight. Because it’s cinematic doesn’t mean it will make a good film. Its existential search - born of Vietnam and leftover 60sdomestic upheaval - seems too fragile to hold a movie together in Trump 2.0 America. A lost adolescent ain’t the fiery Elphaba. And anotherNine we don’t need."

That's a good point.  To become a big (or even medium) budget movie right now, I think a studio would feel the need to make a number of changes (a musical about a white straight guy trying to find his place?) that I'm not sure the show could support...

(I did recently come across a Schwartz interview when the last London revival was done--five years back?--where he went on about a brilliant treatment for Pippin that he'd been given but he wasn't allowed to say anything more.  But... I mean, we know that that ultimately means very little.)

 

[Voter]

Posted: 12/4/24 at 1:59am

Well, now I need Kit Connor as Pippin.

 

I don't disagree that it'd be a hard sell as a movie. There's also very few directors I'd want to see tackle it. Chu is not one of them.

Ken Russell would've made a cool Pippin. Spielberg I'd let do any musical after WSS. Terry Gilliam perhaps? Burton? Del Toro's Pippin would be nuts. Gerwig could probably pull it off. It'd be good to get someone with a sense of whimsy and danger. I'd also love to see someone bring out the earthy, 60s quality of it with scrappy filmmaking, lots of medium-wide face-on takes, handheld cameras, and panning.  

[Elibal]

Posted: 12/4/24 at 7:57am

If I were to choose another Schwartz musical to adapt I'd go for The Baker's Wife. It was adapted from a movie so it should fit the medium, the best parts of the musical are the generally intimate solo numbers which lend themselves well to film and maybe the adaptation could be an excuse to either trim the ensemble numbers or give them some depth and energy with the editing. On the other it has zero name recognition and adultery is not that interesting of a topic nowadays. I could see as a Netflix smaller prestige-ish film a la Tick Tick Boom with liked actors.

The other candidate would be Children of Eden, if only because it will never get to Broadway as Schwartz insists on keeping both choirs and it is too massive. It is also his most similar to Wicked score, more commercial and based on biblical stories everyone knows. I'm not sure the presentational / story-theatre side of it lends that well to a film but too me it seemed like such an obvious choice for an Easter or Christmas LIVE tv musical that I was shocked it was never suggested back when those were popular some years ago.

I struggle to see how Pippin would gain anything from the adaptation. However, I wish they would remaster and release the Fosse Cut of the Toronto taping.

Updated On: 12/4/24 at 07:57 AM

[Owen22]

Posted: 12/4/24 at 8:16am

Kad said: "I think Wicked's success helps make a Hamilton movie happen more than anything else."

It actually made me think a Book of Mormon movie now might happen.

[Owen22]

Posted: 12/4/24 at 8:19am

Elibal said: "If I were to choose another Schwartz musical to adapt I'd go for The Baker's Wife. It was adapted from a movie so it should fit the medium, the best parts of the musical are the generally intimate solo numbers which lend themselves well to film and maybe the adaptation could be an excuse to either trim the ensemble numbers or give them some depth and energy with the editing. On the other it has zero name recognition and adultery is not that interesting of a topic nowadays. I could see as a Netflix smaller prestige-ish film a la Tick Tick Boom with liked actors."

The Baker's Wife is such a trifle story it would need mega-expanding to be a satisfying film.