Rob Marshall to Bring FOLLIES to the Big Screen?- Page 13

[broadwaybabywannabe2]

Posted: 1/18/15 at 6:34am

well now we have ANOTHER possible Sondheim show to obsess about and i am happy we might get FOLLIES...and i love STREEP for Phyllis...but what i think will make or break this movie in regards to box office will be the four younger actors who take us back to when the four older leads were young...that casting will either make or break the movie as they will need to draw in any younger demo to see this classic SONDHEIM musical...IMHO..

[binau]

Posted: 1/18/15 at 6:45am

I'm sorry to say that the mainstream younger demographic would have no interest in this film.

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/18/15 at 8:06am

Not a fan of Michelle Pfeiffer's bleating vibrato, so I would much rather see Streep as Phyllis.

That would put the other principal actors involved in their 60s ... which I feel is too old, but ...

Personally, I would love to see Streep as Sally and Cher as Phyllis, because I would like to see them play off of each other again on screen, and they would attract a film-going audience. They might have to tailor the material a bit to fit their voices and personalities, but I think it would work (well enough).

If Streep is Phyllis, it makes it harder to cast Sally ... maybe Sarandon could do it ... maybe Bette Midler (with the role tailored a bit for her) ...

As for the men, maybe Richard Gere as Buddy and Kevin Klein as Ben ... or vice-versa ...

[madbrian]

Posted: 1/18/15 at 8:10am

If the cast is in their 60s, maybe Martin Short as Buddy?

[Showface]

Posted: 1/18/15 at 10:56am

"well now we have ANOTHER possible Sondheim show to obsess about and i am happy we might get FOLLIES...and i love STREEP for Phyllis...but what i think will make or break this movie in regards to box office will be the four younger actors who take us back to when the four older leads were young...that casting will either make or break the movie as they will need to draw in any younger demo to see this classic SONDHEIM musical...IMHO.."

No, it does not. It does not need to be a blockbuster...it just needs to make money.



"That would put the other principal actors involved in their 60s ... which I feel is too old, but ... "

I agree with this kind of. I think it depends on how old the actors look. If Streep were cast in this, they could easily make her character be in her mid to late 50's. Same with Pfeiffer (because she is).

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 1/18/15 at 11:28am

If they do cast the actors considerably older than the ages the characters are written I wonder if they will change the time in which it takes place. Instead of 1971, will it be 1981? Or will it be like Mamma Mia where we were supposed to accept that Meryl Streep was 40 and that twenty years ago it was both the 60s AND the 80s?



Updated On: 1/18/15 at 11:28 AM

[Showface]

Posted: 1/18/15 at 11:36am

^If they change the characters from 49 to 55, couldn't they just push back the time when they were performing six years?

[LetticeDouffet]

Posted: 1/18/15 at 11:45am

They can't change it to 1981, because there was nothing like the Ziegfeld Follies in 1951.

Billie Burke Ziegfeld authorized two attempts by other producers to revive it in 1956 and 1957, one starring Tallulah Bankhead and the other starring Beatrice Lillie, but both were flops.

The 1956 Tallulah edition, which closed in Boston and never made it to the Winter Garden, also starred Carol Haney and featured a young Julie Newmar and a young Bea Arthur.



Despite being featured on the cover of Life magazine, the 1957 edition, which opened at the Winter Garden, ran for only 123 performances. Along with Be Lillie, it featured Billy DeWolfe, Harold Lang, Carol Lawrence and Jane Morgan.







Ziegfeld Follies. 1956. NYC. Updated On: 1/18/15 at 11:45 AM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 1/18/15 at 11:49am

Best12, I suggested Midler a while ago as Sally and the board went crazy saying how that was the worst idea anyone in the history of history had ever had.

I still think she'd be great, though.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 1/18/15 at 11:52am

I never suggested the follies would have lasted to 1951.

Updated On: 1/18/15 at 11:52 AM

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 1/18/15 at 1:22pm

I think whoever suggested Amy Adams for Sally was spot on. She's 40, and, age aside, is perfect for the role AND can sing it on film.

I figure it's likely 8 or 9 years will elapse before the movie is ever made.

For Phyllis I dream about Kate Blanchett (age 45), though have no idea about her singing abilities.

Clive Owen for Ben (pushing the upward edge since he's already 50).

For Buddy, Danny Burstein (also 50), is my one holdout from the Broadway revival.

Give Streep the damn Carlotta spot already, one song and out.

[madbrian]

Posted: 1/18/15 at 1:57pm

If the movie doesn't happen until Adams is 50, the Toni Collette should play Phyllis. That would also make James Marsden age-appropriate for one of the male leads, and I think he'd work as Buddy.

[Musical Master]

Posted: 1/18/15 at 2:08pm

@Someone in a Tree2, it was me who suggested Amy Adams for Sally. She'd be a perfect Sally and I think Kate Winslet needs to play Phyllis because she hasn't starred in a major musical film yet and this is a role I think she can do wonderfully.

If anyone is so worried about age for some of these actors, why can't some make-up artist make them look older/younger than they are?

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 1/18/15 at 4:07pm

^Kudos then on putting Amy Adams in the discussion.

I actually worked on Kate Winslet's film LABOR DAY (you're forgiven if you missed it when it opened exactly a year ago). I'd say Kate is a superb actress who could easily embody the queenly hauteur of Phyllis, but she'll be the first to admit she's a hopeless dancer. The little bit of impromptu dancing she needed to do for LABOR DAY was painful to pull off. Staging a "Lucy and Jessie" with her would be a disaster.

[FrontRowDress]

Posted: 1/18/15 at 4:21pm

They could always do Country House instead.

[Musical Master]

Posted: 1/18/15 at 4:31pm

@Someone, I think with strong dedication and with Rob Marshall being a really good director to the actors who he gives support to, I think Kate could pull it off well. After all didn't Renee Zellweger say that she couldn't dance well BEFORE she did CHICAGO? Look what happened there, she did pretty good.

I could imagine that Rob Marshall could choreograph "Lucy and Jessie" in a Charles Walters style for actresses who aren't well known for their dancing skills. But I think Judy Garland was the very exception when she did ZIEGFELD FOLLIES.

Updated On: 1/18/15 at 04:31 PM

[Showface]

Posted: 3/18/15 at 8:42pm

OK, so I'm posting in this thread because it is related to Rob Marshall's involvement. (There's another thread that was revived, which is why I explained my reasoning)








"While previous reports indicated that Streep, who played the Witch in Marshall's 'Into the Woods,' had been approached about Follies, the director said that no official talks had taken place.

'Listen,' Marshall laughed, 'Let me put it this way. I would do anything with Meryl Streep again. We haven't spoken about anything specifically. But I would do anything with her again because there's no one like her. She's a master.'"



http://www.playbill.com/news/article/exclusive-rob-marshall-talks-follies-film-meryl-streep-and-broadway-return-344387

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 3/18/15 at 9:20pm

I think if anyone can crack the nut that is a film of Follies, it may well be Marshall. He's a very thoughtful filmaker and storyteller, extremely musical with a lovely sense of visual composition. But if he wants to make this with Streep, he better move fast before she's "way too old" instead of just "too old."

[Showface]

Posted: 3/18/15 at 9:27pm

I had an idea for the Follies film, and I can't let it go. Everything she be filmed in the same scope and way musical films of the golden era were. I'm thinking similar camera work/techniques should be used. Some numbers should even be slightly reminiscent of iconic musical numbers. I'm thinking "The Right Girl" could be conceived as an "angrier "Singing in the Rain"" moment, where instead of floating through the streets in Gene Kelly happiness, Buddy is marching through the streets in confusion and rage, and at one point he can even do the iconic pose against the street pole and audiences minds will instantly playback to this:



And of course, a grand MGM Loveland.


I think if the film is played out in this manner, it could get away with the more theatrical elements.

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 3/18/15 at 9:37pm

I don't think I understand how evoking Singin' In the Rain illuminates Follies.

[Showface]

Posted: 3/18/15 at 9:43pm

^I just thought it would be a nice to have "homages" to golden era musical films throughout, because:

1. It would be a nice wink to the 1970's film that never was, which was supposed to include archival clips, and from the article I read felt very nostalgic

2. It goes with the rather nostalgic, reliving of olden times theme

3. It could be a good "excuse" for theatricality in the film

4. Many mentioned the magic of "Loveland" especially could not be recreated, because the Winter Garden transformed into the Winter Garden of the former years. Well, I think the entire film could be just as magical if it does similar things, but parallel to cinema...musical films of the golden era.


I don't know...I think it could really be something special. And, many seem to be against a "gritty" Follies, which personally, I am too.

[Musical Master]

Posted: 3/18/15 at 9:45pm

Whenever I look at Gene Nelson's magnificent performance video of "The Right Girl", Michael Bennett's stellar choreography is like an angrier "Singin in the Rain" in a sense.

But I would like a Bartlett Sher directed production of FOLLIES first, then the movie.

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 3/18/15 at 10:03pm

Showface, if the story was about a group of movie industry people having a party before the studio lot was closed down, I'd get your point. But I don't get what movie musicals have to do with a Zeigfeld reunion. Also, Follies already has a "nostalgic" device in the Ghosts, Young Principals and the pastiche Follies' songs.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 3/19/15 at 1:11am

"Showface, if the story was about a group of movie industry people having a party before the studio lot was closed down, I'd get your point. But I don't get what movie musicals have to do with a Zeigfeld reunion."

I assume Showface is going back to the rumored film version from many years ago that would have reset the show to be a bunch of former movie-musical stars of yesteryear coming back for a final reunion at the old movie studio that is about to be torn down. IF that concept should be retained for this possible film adaptation then the Gene Kelly/"Singin' in the Rain" homage would indeed fit.

[lovebwy]

Posted: 3/19/15 at 1:35am

I felt The Right Girl was the weakest part of the recent revival. Danny Burstein had an uphill battle in general. I think Buddy, with lines like "You fourteen-carat bastard!", is tough to pull off in 2015. I don't think Burstein's strong point is dancing and the choreography in that number was not great. Ben is a much easier part to play these days (at least it seemed to me).

I'd love to see a movie, but I just don't know who can "get" Sally the way Miss Collins did. Who aged 50 could really pull off "I'm Still Here" and mean it? There are Broadway actors who can do it, but I don't think today's crop of film actors have the awareness or understanding of the past.

That said, I'm the first in line opening day for Marshall's version.