SPIDER-MAN...the nail in the coffin? Taymor takes script

[sondheimfan2]

Posted: 3/12/11 at 2:10pm

More drama Updated On: 3/12/11 at 02:10 PM

[Tag]

Posted: 3/12/11 at 2:13pm

Well I don't blame her.

I wonder how Glen Berger factors into all of this, if at all..

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 3/12/11 at 2:13pm

Good, maybe now they can write something good. Not allowing them to use any part of her script is the best thing Taymor can do for the show.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 3/12/11 at 2:15pm

The typos in the article REALLY bothered me... "threading to take the script" and"due" instead of "do"...

No, this is not the nail int he coffin. They are going to have rework so much of the script anyways that is doesn't even matter. Let her have it.

[Katurian2]

Posted: 3/12/11 at 2:18pm

Sounds like a pretty selfish move. But really, that's the least important thing she could threaten to take. Take the masks, the wiring, the concept and there would be a significant loss. The script? After they've hired a script doctor? No big loss.

But, if she DID take it, how closely would the new script be able to follow hers and the songs without infringement? Would they still be able to retain the characters like Arachne, or would they basically start from scratch?

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 3/12/11 at 2:22pm

I would think they would be able to keep Arachne. The new creative team has already made it quite clear that Arachne's character will be undergoing a lot of changes and will not be as central to the plot. This move in and of itself is going to require a ton of script changes.

[Kad]

Posted: 3/12/11 at 2:24pm

How sexist.

[D2]

Posted: 3/12/11 at 2:32pm

I see a new ad campaign here: "Imagination Untaymored."

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/12/11 at 2:34pm

If I know Bono, what with his appropriation of the title of Black Flag's song ("Rise Above"), he'll simply change her name to "Anarchy" and make her a creepy goth chick in Peter's class.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 3/12/11 at 2:35pm

They should let her have it.

The book was a complete disaster. This would be no great loss for the production.

[suechru]

Posted: 3/12/11 at 2:39pm

I'm predicting that this is only the first legal battle over this show. Taymor doesn't seem like the type to me who'd "go quietly"

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 3/12/11 at 2:42pm

The articles suggests she might do it (or is "threading" to do it, as has already been pointed out), but this thread acts like it's a done deal.

[VernonGersch]

Posted: 3/12/11 at 2:56pm

SHE and that awful Bart Walker need to be stopped

[willheim2]

Posted: 3/12/11 at 3:26pm

This is just so juicy!

[trentsketch]

Posted: 3/12/11 at 3:27pm

If she's actually doing this, I support her. I think she had some interesting ideas in that script that would be better developed outside the context of Spider-Man and if she takes the script away she can do just that. People have been joking for months that she should just write a show about Arachne and that might just be what would happen in this situation. I'm sure she'd change the name and delve further into that character's story, but that's the only reason I can see her taking her toys and going home.

People have also said the book is the problem with the show and if the production cut the Geek Chorus (her idea), Arachne (her idea), and Act II (her idea), it would be decent. If the script is taken away, those people might get their wish: a one act Spider-Man that follows the beats of the film and doesn't try to translate the franchise into theatrical conventions.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/12/11 at 3:33pm

I hope Meredith Baxter plays Taymor in the Lifetime Original Movie!

[Katurian2]

Posted: 3/12/11 at 3:44pm

If you take away those things, I think you would also get something very ordinary and theme park standard. Say what you want about Julie's garishness that she's created, but at least it's theatrical and daring.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/12/11 at 3:47pm

I'm camping out for "Arachne-Woman: Take Back the Script" tickets as I type.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 3/12/11 at 3:52pm

I have to give Taymor credit. Even thou she pretty botched up this production, she has gone where no other director has gone before. I agree with katurian. Shortening this to one act and cutting Arachne would be dumb. This is a broadway production in New York, not a Vegas show or a Universal Studios show. While staying true to the original story and movie wouldn't be a bad idea, It would definitely not be a new and exciting idea.

[D2]

Posted: 3/12/11 at 3:55pm

"If you take away those things, I think you would also get something very ordinary and theme park standard. Say what you want about Julie's garishness that she's created, but at least it's theatrical and daring."

Oh please! There's nothing any more or less theatrical and daring in SPIDER-MAN that hasn't already been seen in TARZAN, PETER PAN and a bunch of other "theme" park shows. What "distinguishes" SPIDER-MAN is that everything is larger, louder and far more expensive than anything yet produced. And yes, I have seen the show. Visually stunning, yes, and mind-numbingly inept.

[Katurian2]

Posted: 3/12/11 at 4:16pm

What qualifies Peter Pan as a 'theme park' show? By all of my considerations, that's a classic musical that's enthralled for decades now.

And Tarzan was a bit theme park, but it's opening sequence was quite gorgeous, as those who saw it can attest. That's theatricality. Obviously, it's not something that can be pinned down by a definition, but using old wire tricks and elementary jungle draping is theme park. Trying, but vastly overreaching for something involving Greek myth and internationally influenced costume design (as seen in Green Goblin especially) is theatrical. Maybe not GOOD theatricality, but since it draws (a bit messily) from thousands of years of theatrical tradition, I think it's hard to argue there's not theatricality present in the piece.

[Kad]

Posted: 3/12/11 at 4:28pm

Yes, I think that it was good for Taymor to bring theatricality to Spider-Man rather than "well, the movie did it this way so we will, too". But in doing so, she completely enveloped the character and all of its decades of history. She made it less about Spider-Man and more about Taymor's Vision.

The fact that you can say she can remove Archne and make an entire show about that character just shows how off-base she was with Spider-Man.

[D2]

Posted: 3/12/11 at 4:31pm

I never said PETER PAN was a theme park show, nor did I say that SPIDER-MAN wasn't theatrical. SPIDER-MAN just isn't very original, daring, or good. And it IS a theme park show.

Updated On: 3/12/11 at 04:31 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/12/11 at 4:34pm

Is she really in a position to threaten now? (or "thread?") She owns only her interpretation of the story, but not the basic Marvel Comics plot or characters. So other than Acne and the Little Shop kids, which so many people dislike, a new book writer could still use anything that came from the Marvel source material. She can't stop them.

I don't know if there's a graceful way for her to handle being removed as director, but this definitely isn't it.

Updated On: 3/12/11 at 04:34 PM

[colleen_lee]

Posted: 3/12/11 at 4:37pm

This has to be about leverage in a contract negotiation.

If she pulls the script the show shutters immediately. That is a lot of lost money for the producers.