Rob Ashford Is Directing Upcoming CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF REVIVAL- Page 2

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/10/12 at 10:45pm

Here's the original "Big Mama" around the time she created the part, too.



EDIT: By the way, Mildred Dunnock was neither fat, nor coarse, nor crude.

She was fine-boned, willowy, thin, refined, genteel, and perhaps a bit mousey, with a great deal of strength underneath. Did you ever consider those lines she says in "Cat" to be filled with irony when spoken by the right actress?

Updated On: 8/10/12 at 10:45 PM

[random person 112]

Posted: 8/10/12 at 10:50pm

Julie is very wrong for the part she can't drop that accent to save her life, she's also the picture of class and dignity and the audience will think of those things the minute she steps on stage.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/10/12 at 10:53pm

See my add from above;

Mildred Dunnock was fine-boned, willowy, thin, refined, genteel, and perhaps a bit mousey, with a great deal of strength underneath. Did you ever consider those lines she says in "Cat" to be filled with irony when spoken by the right actress as Big Mama?

As far as the accent, you may have me there. I've never heard Julie come close to dropping it.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 8/10/12 at 11:03pm

Oh, come on, what English actor can't do a Southern accent? (I'm sure somebody will have an answer.)

[random person 112]

Posted: 8/10/12 at 11:14pm

Julie also doesn't exactly act like a rambunctious, bumbling, matriarch who ruins her families chance of being taken seriously. This is just not her show. And like you said before she's never come close to dropping the accent. Oh and correct me if i'm wrong, i don't have the play handy at the moment, but in the new version does she not have some light physical comedy bit where she falls on someone or gets frequently exhausted due to her girth.

Updated On: 8/10/12 at 11:14 PM

[Playbilly]

Posted: 8/10/12 at 11:22pm

Big Mama. Lansbury. "Period".

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/10/12 at 11:24pm

Oh and correct me if i'm wrong, i don't have the play handy at the moment, but in the new version does she not have some light physical comedy bit where she falls on someone or gets frequently exhausted due to her girth.

If she does, Tennessee Williams is rolling over in his grave.

That's a terrible notion and completely inappropriate behavior for the character and the play.

This isn't "Hee-Haw on a Hot Tin Roof."

Updated On: 8/10/12 at 11:24 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/10/12 at 11:32pm

Even Judith Andreson, who was considerably more "substantial" than the diminutive and wispy Mildred Dunnock, could hardly be called "heavy," let alone "fat."

She was also British (aka Dame Judith Anderson), and incredibly poised and refined.



And they both played opposite Burl Ives as Big Daddy, who did the part on Broadway and in the film.

[random person 112]

Posted: 8/10/12 at 11:43pm

Keep in mind that is achieved with the help of a corset, and a dress chosen to hide her size. In that role she was certainly not the picture of poised and refined. It's also a role that has been played by Phylicia Rashad, and Margo Martindale. Not exactly small women. Maybe it wasn't exactly like that it's the first scene we see with her Gooper and Mae all together and she does something that embarrasses them, i can't think of what it is at the moment.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/10/12 at 11:50pm

I never limited the possibilities, you did. I'm not saying women of various sizes, ages, ethnic backgrounds, or "classiness" shouldn't attempt to play the part. It's open for a fresh interpretation.

But don't rule out actresses because they're "too thin" or "too refined" to play it when both the actress who created the role and the actress who played it on film are neither heavy nor crude.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 8/15/12 at 3:04pm

If Chris Pine does play Brick, can they add a scene where he undresses in front it Maggie? It would be totally germane to the story!

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 8/15/12 at 3:26pm

Is Jeremy Renner not doing this? Subject matter hit too close to home?

How 'bout some Southern authenticity with Delta Burke and Gerald McRaney?

Though a Robert Duvall/Kathy Bates pairing would be delicious.

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 8/15/12 at 4:26pm

With Andrews and Plummer, Brick is way too old to start having children.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 8/15/12 at 4:34pm

Tuesday Weld would be an interesting Big Mama.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 8/16/12 at 2:15am

I really don't see how Andrews would be right for Big Mamma, there's nothing about her sensibility that shows me she could play a Southern woman who's in her situation; love Andrews but nothing she has ever done makes me think she'd be able to do the role justice. However, Christopher Plummer as Big Daddy is inspired, so would be Tom Skerritt or Gene Hackman.
For Big Mamma my main choice would be Jean Smart. I do hope Jeremy Renner is cast, Chris Pine would be as wooden and boring as Terrence Howard was in the last revival. I'm disappointed that they didn't cast a Brick before casting Maggie; I wouldn't want another production of this play in which Brick is the less relevant character.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 9/14/12 at 1:18pm

I could see Sally Field, Betty Buckley, Judy Davis, Annette Bening, or Ellen Barkin being great Big Mamas as well.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 9/14/12 at 1:51pm

Mr.Midwest, great list, I think Sally Field would be particularly great!

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 9/14/12 at 2:10pm

Cat is interesting because it's always cast (for good or bad) based on our ideas of Brooks' film. Yet Brooks' film perverts the original themes and stories so strongly (granted, not to the extent he did with Sweet Bird), that I think a complete re-imagining, casting wise, even knowing that he cast largely (Liz aside) from people who had done the play. It hasn't yet...