Rob Marshall to Bring FOLLIES to the Big Screen? — Page 4

True tazber-my bad.

It would be so cool if Rob Marshall have the ghosts think they're still doing their job and seeing the guests and the guests acknowledging them.

Nathan Fillion as Buddy Plummer, make it happen Marshall! Make it happen!

I'm all for a film version of FOLLIES-- it actually seems like a property ideally suited to the screen. Let them use every corner of the theater, much the way BIRDMAN does and does fantastically. I actually think the weaknesses in the book allow room for rich new explorations in the screenplay, new ways to weave flashbacks of their lives 30 years before into the events happening on the stage during the reunion. Look at Ken Russel's THE BOYFRIEND to see how well a feature film can make a cinematic meal of a stage-bound property and make it soar. Look at ANNA KARENINA for a recent breathtaking example that mixed fantasy and choreography and stage magic dazzlingly well.

Speaking of Anna, I'd be thrilled if Joe Wright took on the directing of a FOLLIES, as long as Sarah Greenwood was his designer again.

I think any movie adaptation of Follies is doomed to fail.

We'd be far, far better off if Craig Zadan and Neil Meron did a television version of it in an actual old theater.

They could get any of a number of 50-something performers for the four leads (including Christopher Walken for Buddy) and some old broads for the specialty acts. They could have cameras all over the theater and tape the book scenes in the lobbies and lounges and the pastiche numbers on the stage.

Since they wouldn't have to construct sets, perhaps they could spend the set budget on Loveland, reconstructing Boris Aronson's Loveland designs.

But I worry for what unimaginative ghost effects any film version would feel compelled to create.

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THE WIDOW GOLDMAN

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I don't know about that PalJoey, there's some creative and imaginative people in Hollywood out there who would do justice to FOLLIES without resorting to live production on television which would be a HUGE disservice to FOLLIES big time.

BTW growl, THIS is Widow Goldman.

Updated On: 12/2/14 at 02:32 PM

PalJoey, of course your ideas for a Follies movie are best. I think filming in the New Amsterdam would be the best idea because that was were most of the Ziegfeld Follies were. I think they could do a little more than the Loveland designs for the OBC and do someting insanely lavish, because in the script they describe as the most lavish Folly imaginable. They could do something like The Great Ziegfeld with the beyond spectacular sets.

Updated On: 12/2/14 at 02:41 PM

You should know that the CHICAGO theater was a set built on a soundstage in Toronto. Credit to John Myhre's cool design.

Auggie27, you're very lucky to have that memory. Most of us don't.

But I do have memories of what made the revival special, and a talented film maker could bring out even more.

Follies strikes me as the kind of show that could make an amazing movie, if all the stars align correctly.

In a few years, Toni Collette will be age-appropriate for Phyllis. We should wait until then.

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^ yes, and not because of Folies