Rob Marshall to Bring FOLLIES to the Big Screen?- Page 8

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 8:29am

It would be wonderful to see Paulo Szot in anything but doesn't Roscoe have to be a tenor? The guys who sang those songs while the girls paraded around always had high voices.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 9:36am

I feel like most people who make dream cast lists don't know this show at all.

[madbrian]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 10:08am

Sally- Emma Thompson
Phyllis- Michelle Pfeiffer
Ben- Robert Downey
Buddy- Martin Short
Carlotta- Goldie Hawn
Stella- Darlene Love
Hattie- Angela Lansbury
Solange- Charlotte Gainsbourg
The Whitmans- Don Correia and Sandy Duncan
Heidi- Kiri Te Kanawa

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 11:01am

Nice list, Madbrian, but nix on Goldie Hawn. She used to be good but, sadly, she's become one of those overly surgeried creepy robots.

[Musical Master]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 11:54am

@madbrian That's a great list but I think Thompson would be a great Phyllis.

@Phyllis I have seen the show and I know what I'm thinking when it comes to dream casting like this, plus the term DREAM casting is just wishful thoughts anyway, so I don't see the problem.

[icecreambenjamin]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 12:13pm

I love the idea of Darlene Love as Stella.

[madbrian]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 12:23pm

"Nice list, Madbrian, but nix on Goldie Hawn."

Perhaps Midler instead?

"@madbrian That's a great list but I think Thompson would be a great Phyllis."

I could see her in either role, but I found Sally more difficult to cast.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 12:27pm

Well, Julia Roberts, OBV

[Musical Master]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 12:29pm

@madbrian That's true, but I think Amy Adams (once she looks the part) has the vocal power and the smart skills to pull off Sally more than any other actress working in film today. Emma Thompson's performance as Mrs. Lovett was so good to the point where she is my second choice for Phyllis other than Kate Winslet who does have the right skills to be a really good Phyllis and it can finally give Winslet a musical film which she's always wanted.

[icecreambenjamin]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 1:09pm

Amy Adams - Sally
Emma Thompson- Phyllis
Buddy - John C. Reilly
Ben- Hugh Jackman
Carlotta - Meryl Streep
Stella- Darlene Love
Hattie- Kathy Bates
The Whitmans- Bernadette peters and Mandy Patinkin
Solange- Patti Lupone

Updated On: 12/4/14 at 01:09 PM

[SweeneyLovett]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 1:24pm

I'm in love with the idea of Michelle Pfeiffer as Phyllis. It wouldn't tax her vocally too much and she'd act the hell out of it and look fantastic at the same time.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 1:32pm

You can't cast Angela Lansbury as Hattie. She's not a Broadway baby--she's a West End baby.

[Musical Master]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 1:48pm

@PalJoey Jayne Houdyshell should play Hattie in the movie, she did great in the 2011 revival.

[madbrian]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 1:54pm

Regarding Follies, I respect PJ's opinion enough to kick the five-time Tony winner Ms. Lansbury to the curb for not being a "Broadway Baby". Fine, Lansbury is out, replaced by Kathy Bates.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 1:55pm

Jayne, at least, is a broad. Angela is a lady. She's 100% wrong in every way for Hattie.

[icecreambenjamin]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 1:57pm

O my
Kathy Bates as Hattie would be ahmazing.

[Musical Master]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 2:00pm

I would rather have Kathy Bates as Stella, she has the huge presence and the voice to do it. I'd like to think of this casting as a reunion for Bates and Marshall (for Bates played Miss Hannigan in the 1999 TV adaptation of ANNIE).

[madbrian]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 2:02pm

My updated cast:

Sally- Emma Thompson
Phyllis- Michelle Pfeiffer
Ben- Robert Downey
Buddy- Martin Short
Carlotta- Bette Midler
Stella- Darlene Love
Hattie- kathy Bates
Solange- Charlotte Gainsbourg
The Whitmans- Don Correia and Sandy Duncan
Heidi- Kiri Te Kanawa

[icecreambenjamin]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 2:13pm

I really see John C. Reilly as Buddy. Idk why, but I think he'd have an amazing "Buddy's Blues."

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 2:14pm

Sorry, I don't know in what world Emma Thompson would fit any of Sally's personality traits. I think Amy Adams is a great fit, and since there's no chance this will ever come to pass in the next decade, by 2024 she'll be the perfect age too.

Emma Thompson could do a mean Carlotta though.

[Musical Master]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 2:22pm

@Someone in a Tree2, make-up could do many wonders these days, they could give Adams more lines on her face to make her appear older than she is (40).

@icecreambenjamin, Reilly has a great singing voice but I would love to have a Buddy (for once) who's physically fit to dance his butt off like no tomorrow. That's the reason why I think Nathan Fillion could pull it off.

[icecreambenjamin]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 2:24pm

I see Emma Thompson as Phyllis. We know she can play a crumbling b!tchy woman and she could easily sing that role.
I think that Michelle Pfeiffer may be too b!tchy as Phyllis and may come off as far too unlikable.

Does Buddy need to really dance? I always saw him as being played by someone with a comedic vaudeville dancing style kind of like Joel Grey in Cabaret.
Updated On: 12/4/14 at 02:24 PM

[Musical Master]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 2:32pm

Sure it may not be "required", but I would love to have a dancing Buddy like the original Gene Nelson. Sure it's going to be compared but it could be really good that the comparison starts to vanish.

[madbrian]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 2:35pm

Outside-the-box suggestion for Buddy: Donny Osmond.

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 12/4/14 at 3:16pm

My dream cast, with more "realistic" (but still good) choices in parenthesis:

Sally - Bernadette Peters (Toni Collette)
Phyllis - Donna Murphy (Jane Krakowski)
Ben - Richard Gere
Buddy - Brent Carver or Kevin Anderson
Roscoe - Michael Crawford
Whitmans - Betty Buckley and George Hearn
Solange - Michelle Pfiffer
Hattie - Barbara Harris
Stella - Tonya Pinkins (Queen Latifah)
Carlotta - Patti LuPone (Jennifer Holliday)
Heidi - Barbara Cook

Toni Collette is such a fantastic actress I think she could play both Sally and Phyliss, but I would rather have her show her softer side than playing "T" or "Queenie".


Can you imagine a younger Barbara Harris as Sally?