Streisand: Too busy for GYPSY?

[MichelleCraig]

Posted: 12/3/15 at 4:54pm

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 3, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Barbra Streisand has come aboard to direct "CATHERINE THE GREAT," written byKristina Lauren Anderson, it is announced by Gil Netter who will produce. With Streisand helming and Netter producing, casting is now underway.

The film is about a young, sensual Catherine trapped into an abusive marriage with the heir to the Russian throne. But, when her inept husband proves incapable of ruling, she utilizes her intelligence, fortitude, and passion to rise to power, becoming Catherine the Great. Anderson's script was honored with the top spot on 2014's 'Black List,' an insider's list of Hollywood's best yet unproduced screenplays.

Barbra Streisand is an icon, with award-winning success as filmmaker, actor, singer and composer. The three films directed by Streisand, "Yentl," "The Prince of Tides," and "The Mirror has Two Faces," received a total of fourteen Oscar nominations. Streisand won Oscars for Best Actress in "Funny Girl" and Best Original Song for "Evergreen." In 1984, she became the first woman to win a Golden Globe for Best Director, for the motion picture "Yentl." With that film she also became the first woman to direct, write, produce and star in a major studio film. One of show business' most highly-lauded stars, she is the only person ever to receive all of the following: Oscar, Tony, Emmy, Grammy, Golden Globe, Cable Ace, National Medal of Arts, and Peabody award, as well as the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement honor and the Film Society of Lincoln Center Chaplin Award. Most recently PresidentBarack Obama awarded Streisand with our nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Gil Netter produced "Life Of Pi," nominated for 11 Academy Awards, Best Picture among them, winning four Oscars including Best Director for Ang Lee; "The Blind Side," also nominated for a Best Picture Oscar and winning Best Actress for Sandra Bullock; and "Water for Elephants" starring Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon, and Christoph Waltz. Netter's upcoming slate includes: "The Graveyard Book," directed by Ron Howard, "Just Mercy" with Broad Green Pictures, "The Glass Castle" for Lionsgate Entertainment, and "The Shack," based on the best-selling book, starring Academy Award®-winner Octavia Spencer and Grammy Award® Winner Tim McGraw.

Kristina Lauren Anderson was recently hired to co-write "The Black Count" with Cary Fukunaga for Sony. Her other projects include a Warner Bros and Di Novi adaptation of "Invisibility," Studio Canal's "Life and Death in Eden" with Grand Electric producing, and she recently sold a pitch to Paramount titled "The Briefcase."

Updated On: 12/3/15 at 04:54 PM

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 12/3/15 at 7:47pm

Gypsy was never going to happen anyway. It was just the wishful thinking of an aging star. She is a talented woman, but not so talented that a studio would be willing to bank a film version of a 66 year old musical on a 73 year old actress playing a woman in her 30s to late 40s. I'm not saying she couldn't do it, but I understand why a studio would shy away from it.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 12/3/15 at 9:11pm

Oh, I'll say she couldn't do it. Has anyone heard her sing lately? Has anyone ever seen her be willing to appear unsympathetic and unattractive on screen?

 

Re CATHERINE THE GREAT, I don't care whether the legend is true or not: I hope they include the scenes where Catherine has sex with a horse, the animal lowered on top of her with a sling. And the scene where the sling breaks and she is crushed to death beneath the horse's weight.

 

It was a favorite back-alley tale when I was 11 or 12. Yeah, it was grossly sexist and I highly doubt it ever happened. But I'd still like to see it in the film!

[Mike282]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 3:58pm

Perhaps Barbra is doing this as part of a deal to get Gypsy made. Think about it. And as for you Barbra Streisand detractors, it's a shame you have no idea what you're missing. 

[broadwayboy223]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 4:08pm

I was thinking the same that she might be doing this to get Gypsy made. I want her to do Gypsy so much! 

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 4:31pm

Oh, I'll say she couldn't do it. Has anyone heard her sing lately? Has anyone ever seen her be willing to appear unsympathetic and unattractive on screen?

 

Apparently you never saw the 2012 film THE GUILT TRIP where she looked her age - in all it's beautiful 70 years old glory.  Total vanity aside which was refreshing to see.  

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 4:38pm

Updated On: 12/4/15 at 04:38 PM

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 8:51pm

BrodyFosse123 said: Apparently you never saw the 2012 film THE GUILT TRIP where she looked her age - in all it's beautiful 70 years old glory.  Total vanity aside which was refreshing to see.  

 

"

Yeah, I missed it. But looking at on-line .gifs illustrates the problem: if she DOES look her age (now 72), then she's far too old to have children under the age of 10! Moreover, I did see and hear her concert from the Village Vanguard and there's no way she has enough voice left to belt that particular Jule Styne score. (And we're talking as if the script is ready to shoot tomorrow. I highly doubt that is true. So you're likely to end up with a Streisand in her late 70s.)

 

There are none so blind as first-time parents and fanboys.

 

(For the record, I think Streisand makes a handsome septuagenarian. But the character of Rose is in her 40s! Merman was 51, but that was from a distance in the theater.)

[DAME]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 9:00pm

GavestonPS said: "Oh, I'll say she couldn't do it. Has anyone heard her sing lately? Has anyone ever seen her be willing to appear unsympathetic and unattractive on screen?

 

 

I heard her sing just last year and she sounded great.  You might want to also check out the comedy Guilt Trip on cable.  She looks her age.   

 

 

Updated On: 12/4/15 at 09:00 PM

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 9:49pm

DAME, I think you're hearing what you want to hear. And that's okay. Streisand remains a unique stylist and I'm not saying she should stop singing and recording.

 

But her belting is tentative--I'm listening to the live concert from 2008--and she has sounded as if she were singing through a cold for at least 10 years. She cuts the big and high notes short, sings mostly quiet ballads, and talk-sings much of the time. The character of Rose is ANYTHING but tentative.

 

My point isn't that Streisand is "bad". Hell, she sounds great for her age! My point is she is WRONG for one particular role. And no amount of wishing is going to change that.

 

A Streisand GYPSY threatens to be her MOMMIE DEAREST. And she deserves better.

Updated On: 12/4/15 at 09:49 PM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 9:51pm

I thought she didn't look 70 in The Guilt Trip, but I'm not sure I can pinpoint what age she looked. I think in 90% of she looks great, but every once in a while she looks like she's wearing a Barbra Streisand mask made out of silly putty.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 9:54pm

Phyllis, I didn't see the film, but I did peruse on-line .gifs for this conversation. They bear out your summary of her look.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 9:57pm

 

"What did she just say about my face?"

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 9:59pm

I listen to her at least once a day. I can say that about the face because I mean it with love. 

 

 

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 10:02pm

And I share this video so often on Facebook I think my friends hate me for it, but this might be favorite Barbra thing ever. 

[gypsy101]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 10:02pm

That face ain't natural, that's for sure.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 10:07pm

She is ageless and evergreen.

 

If Meryl Streep could play a still-menstruating woman in Mamma Mia, Barbra can play Rose. 

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 10:14pm

That face ain't natural, that's for sure.

 

I don't think she's had anything over-the-top done, though.

 

 

^ A couple of weeks ago, at the White House.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 10:20pm

Perhaps Barbra is doing this as part of a deal to get Gypsy made. Think about it.

 

I have thought about it, and nah, I don't find that theory remotely credible. It's not like a period drama about an abusive marriage set in Imperial Russia is going to give the Avengers a run for their money, even if it does have horsey-sex.