Richard Linklater developing a film about Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart, BLUE MOON

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 6/4/24 at 9:54am

https://deadline.com/2024/06/richard-linklater-developing-blue-moon-film-richard-rodgers-lorenz-hart-1235958137/
 

This is great subject matter for a film with two incredibly complicated, depressed men at the center of this partnership.

The MGM musical WORDS & MUSIC is a very loose adaptation of the Rodgers & Hart partnership. So this one will definitely be more factual!

Let the casting brainstorm begin! Hart was 47 when he died in 1943; Rodgers was seven years younger. 

Updated On: 6/4/24 at 09:54 AM

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 6/4/24 at 10:15am

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "https://deadline.com/2024/06/richard-linklater-developing-blue-moon-film-richard-rodgers-lorenz-hart-1235958137/


This is great subject matter for a film with two incredibly complicated, depressedmen at the center of this partnership.

The MGM musical WORDS & MUSIC is a very loose adaptation of the Rodgers & Hart partnership. So this one will definitely be more factual!"

I feel like Rodgers and Hammerstein have more of a "known" name, but I feel like, there isn't much of a story or drama there. With Larry Hart, there was his drinking, mental health, etc.

 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 6/4/24 at 10:42am

The problem with a Rodgers & Hammerstein biopic is that I don’t know if there’s a way to make it without Rodgers seeming like a huge asshole in contrast to the cuddlier Oscar Hammerstein.

They’re centering Hart here, which feels like a smart idea: “the film follows Hart as he attempts to save face while celebrating his former partner Rodgers’ great success on the night of his musical Oklahoma!‘s Broadway opening.”

I recall Todd Purdum’s book writing vividly about the breakup of the Rodgers & Hart partnership. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 6/4/24 at 2:17pm

Seeing on social that Ethan Hawke has been talking about a “secret” collab with Linklater which would begin shooting this year. So perhaps this is it? Hawke as Hart could be good!

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 6/18/24 at 5:12pm

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired worldwide rights to Blue Moon, and has announced that it will star Ethan Hawke as Hart alongside Margaret Qualley, Bobby Cannavale, and Andrew Scott.

Blue Moon profiles the final days of Lorenz Hart, part of the hit songwriting team Rodgers & Hart. The film is set primarily in Sardi’s Restaurant on March 31, 1943, the opening night of Oklahoma!, which marked Rodgers’s first collaboration with Oscar Hammerstein II as Hart’s replacement.

Production will commence in Dublin, Ireland this summer.

 

I wonder if Andrew Scott is Richard Rodgers and Cannavale is Oscar Hammerstein?

Also wonder if this is being done with the blessings of the estates or not (which may impact if music by Rodgers/Hart/Hammerstein can be utilized).

[KevinKlawitter]

Posted: 6/18/24 at 5:19pm

The movie being set around an iconic opening night brings to mind Linklater's Me and Orson Welles, a movie I love, so that's a good sign.

And if it's *not* being done with the approval of the estates, being set mostly in a restaurant adjacent to the performance could be a way of circumventing the music issues.

[KevinKlawitter]

Posted: 2/18/25 at 2:28pm

Reactions from its premiere at Berlin:

Indiewire is positive

Variety is positive on the script, but thinks Erhan Hawke is fatally miscast

The Hollywood Reporter is positive

Slant is positive

3/5 from The Independent

4/5 from Ion Cinema

Deadline is positive

7/10 from Next Best Picture