THE GREATEST SHOWMAN- Page 3

[Auggie27]

Posted: 6/28/17 at 11:57pm

A power ballad, a lot of CGI, and a look that seems locked into, say, 2005 (including Jackman's face, oddly enough).  The period details look well budgeted but homogenized, overly familiar, and the "Dr. Doolittle meets Big Fish" vibe seems wrong, if theoretically right for a family picturing opening on Christmas. 

[hamiltonboys]

Posted: 6/29/17 at 12:50am

Not thrilled by the trailer. The song is extremely generic pop, although sung well, it's almost like the big finale to a Disney Channel movie. "Look out cuz here I come, marching to the beat of my own drum" is the most cliche line I've ever heard. I loved Pasek & Paul's work on La La Land but the rest of their stuff doesn't really wow me.

For some reason I was expecting a somewhat artsy, sophisticated Oscar contender. The trailer really isn't giving me those vibes. Looks like a fun but extremely cliched family film, so I'm adjusting my expectations.

[jo]

Posted: 6/30/17 at 1:16am

A very interesting set visit report -- which gives us an unexpected look into the cinematic vision for this movie!

https://www.bustle.com/p/the-greatest-showman-isnt-just-the-next-la-la-land-ok-67101

I love the concept!

 

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 6/30/17 at 3:06am

Thanks for sharing that, a lot of insight into the project that doesn't come across in the trailer.

I'm intrigued by the "fantasy" and time period bending element, that can be really cool when done right. I guess they are not being shy about the "Moulin Rouge" approach haha. Who says musicals need to be gritty and realistic! Still, I don't see how they can try and not tie it to the specific period and place when Barnum lived, but still address the struggles an African American performer would encounter during that same period. (Just assuming this is an element based on the comments in the article)

Also hope they don't paint Barnum as a type of crusader for the people he exhibited in his shows, by all accounts he was pretty sleazy and exploitative and I'm not sure I believe him saying those lines to the Settle character. There's a lot of moral grey area and Barnum was essentially a con man, so I hope that's not washed over.

[jo]

Posted: 7/1/17 at 1:24am

lTHIS IS ME is sung in the trailer/movie by Keala Settle ( as it is meant to be the song of the unusual personalities in the circus) -- but in December 2015, it was sung by Hugh Jackman in his Australian concert series. He must have loved the song because it was the one he chose to introduce his forthcoming GREATEST SHOWMAN project.  The concert choreography was done by Warren Carlyle, if I am not mistaken.  This version is not complete, as the first part was not recorded.  But welcome to THIS IS ME, as sung by Barnum --

 

 

Updated On: 7/1/17 at 01:24 AM

[schubox]

Posted: 7/1/17 at 8:06pm

Am I the only one that finds it odd how they're portraying PT Barnum? He was kind of a terrible person and they're making him out to be some saint for the outcasts of the world. 

[WestCoastActor/Director]

Posted: 7/1/17 at 9:24pm

schubox said: "Am I the only one that finds it odd how they're portraying PT Barnum? He was kind of a terrible person and they're making him out to be some saint for the outcasts of the world. 

Well I'm thinking of Eva Peron and Evita.  She was not the nicest person yet they have the people showering her with adulation.

However since the movie is not released and we only heard a little bit of description and a few little clips how can we say what they are making him out to be?

in the world of entertainment, especially a musical one could expect the spin of the story would be to the subjects favor.

"

 

[schubox]

Posted: 7/2/17 at 1:08am

Well it's a musical coming out on christmas. The trailer has uplifting music and shows a man who got laid off and creates something to save his family. It also shows him giving a motivational speech to a little person saying "nobody ever made it being like everyone else". And it's Hugh Jackman in full charm mode. It's pretty obvious the tone they're going for. 


P.T. Barnum wasn't fired before becoming a showman. He had a general store, a book auctioning trade, a statewide lottery network and he founded a newspaper. He wrote editorials about church elders that led to libel suits and imprisonment, and then lotteries got banned. That's what forced him into becoming a showman.

P.T. Barnum's first success after that was exhibiting his blind and almost completely paralyzed slave, Joice Heth, as the 160-year-old nurse of George Washington. When she died, he had her publicly autopsied to prove she was over 160. She was about 80. I wonder if that part's gonna be in the movie. 

All Barnum cared about was making money, and he didn't care how he did it.

[Wayman_Wong]

Posted: 7/2/17 at 3:18am

To add to what schubox says, P.T. Barnum was a showman best known for peddling hoaxes (like the Feejee Mermaid) and showcasing human ''freaks,'' like Siamese twins, albinos, midgets and giants. To rewrite history and reinvent him as some big-hearted humanitarian whose mission in running a circus was to celebrate our individuality (''Everyone is special'' ) is ridiculous and way too contemporary for this 19th-century, self-promoting huckster.

It is, however, sad and ironic that ''The Greatest Showman'' should open only months after the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus closed in May 2017 after a run of 146 years.

Updated On: 7/2/17 at 03:18 AM

[jo]

Posted: 7/2/17 at 3:25am

His story is presumably more completely told in these Wikipedia notes -- which would include his later involvement in politics and some philantrophy --

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._T._Barnum

[mamaleh]

Posted: 7/2/17 at 10:30am

What is everyone getting so excited about?  Every person is a complex being, with good and bad attributes.  Barnum was also a staunch liberal who railed against slavery.  I'm pretty sure that won't be in the movie, either.  It's not a documentary, folks--it's a feel-good musical geared to the year-end holidays when people like to think positive thoughts.  As one of my favorite movies (because John McMartin played the Lindsay-like mayor) put it, "What's So Bad About Feeling Good?"  Most stage or film treatments of well-known people emphasize the positive aspects. Is anyone naive--or stupid--enough to think that the nasty, sometimes sociopathic sides of well-known people will be a selling point in most biographical tales?

The Blindside, The Social Network and The Elephant Man all conveniently twist the truth to suit the better story. Quills makes the disgusting Marquis de Sade seem like an angel falsely imprisoned.  Maria von Trapp and George M. Cohan, known now mostly via musical movies, had very dark sides. The Birdman of Alcatraz was a monstrous sociopath, but you'd never know it from the Burt Lancaster movie. I could go on an on. 

That's creative license.  Give some slack to The Greatest Showman. It's an entertainment, people.  

[sarahb22]

Posted: 7/2/17 at 10:39am

Wayman_Wong said: "It is, however, sad and ironic that ''The Greatest Showman'' should open only months after the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus closed in May 2017 after a run of 146 years."

In a lot of ways, the time for that sort of entertainment is past.  When you have a culture where you can see amazing marvels with the click of a mouse, how are you going to make some guy walking on a wire attractive?  In past days you did it by making it dangerous, but of course modern circusses aren't really dangerous at all, so there goes that.

And nobody wants to see animals abused, rightfully, so performing elephants and other animals weren't in the show anymore.

And Ringling Bros. circuses haven't been performed in tents since the Hartford circus fire on July 6,1944, which the organization never really recovered from.  

So all in all, The Ringling Bros. era probably died a natural death.  When you think about it, 146 years is a pretty good run.

[jo]

Posted: 7/8/17 at 11:44pm

Another informative set visit report --

http://entertainment.inquirer.net/233579/hugh-jackman-bearded-woman-greatest-showman-set

Check out the main focus of the movie from Jackman's perspective ( surprisingly, it is not the "circus" ) --

and stories about the early involvement of Broadway personalities Keala Settle and songwriters Pasek and Paul.

 

 

 

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 7/9/17 at 4:11am

I don't think anyone is expecting a scathing dark portrayal, but I just think it would be boring to wash over the negative.

As for the Evita comparison, that's really a different story. Eva Peron WAS loved and adulated wildly by the people of Argentina as they show. There isn't really anything comparable for Barnum.