THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS Film??

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/3/10 at 1:50pm

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/RIALTO_CHATTER_Lee_Daniels_to_Helm_SCOTTSBORO_BOYS_for_the_Screen_20101203

I loved the show, but a film of a commercial flop that that ran a little over a month?

[CockeyedOptimist2]

Posted: 12/3/10 at 2:23pm

I'll take any little scrap of Scottsboro Boys I can get after it closes.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 12/3/10 at 2:33pm

Well recent adaptations of hit musicals have been crap. Maybe a flop musical can be great.

[bwayfan7000]

Posted: 12/3/10 at 3:45pm

And Lee Daniels is a great filmmaker. Precious was outstanding.

[CockeyedOptimist2]

Posted: 12/3/10 at 3:53pm

I just think that the more that the story gets out there, and the more people that get to see it, the better.

[AC126748]

Posted: 12/3/10 at 3:59pm

Lee Daniels is a serviceable music video director, at best. Let's get a real director, if this is indeed happening.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 12/3/10 at 5:10pm

Oh, I hope I hope I hope Tyler Perry produces it. Then it's sure to be good!

[Wildcard]

Posted: 12/3/10 at 5:24pm

Wasn't Lee Daniels supposed to be doing Miss Saigon next? Or did that fall through?
Lee Daniels doing Miss Saigon

[Ariella]

Posted: 12/3/10 at 8:07pm

I'm in full agreement with you, Cockeyed Optimist.

[Brick]

Posted: 12/3/10 at 8:28pm

Yes, please.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 12/3/10 at 9:12pm

Tape it beofre it closes & release it.

I know it will not happen but I will say it anyhow.

[ace33]

Posted: 12/3/10 at 9:49pm

i actually thought this would make a good movie after i saw it a few weeks ago...

yes it was a commercial flop, but most people i know love the story and the music so perhaps it would translate better on the big screen?

[TalkinLoud]

Posted: 12/4/10 at 12:34am

I think this would work very well as a "Rob Marshall style" musical film.

That being said, I hope Rob Marshall stays waaaaay clear of this movie.

[Almira]

Posted: 12/4/10 at 12:51am

I think this would work very well as a "Rob Marshall style" musical film.

Rob Marshall's style is a just recycling Bob Fosse's style. Only Fosse did it first and better.

Rob Marshall is to film musical what Craig Bierko was to the role of Harold Hill. They are both fresh imitations of the originals: Fosse and Robert Preston, respectively.

[CockeyedOptimist2]

Posted: 12/4/10 at 4:16pm

Every time a movie adaptation of a musical is discussed here, everyone seems to think the director isn't right for it. Granted, most of the time, everyone is correct. It's just interesting that we can't seem to find directors worthy of converting a stage musical into a film.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 12/4/10 at 4:52pm

That's because no one knows how to direct film musicals anymore. And then throw into the mix the fact that you're dealing with non-linear, sometimes fantasmagorphic pieces that really are *so* theatrical: transferring them to a more literal format like film almost guarantees their failure. Look at all the seemingly bullet-proof shows that have gone to sputter and die on film: RENT, PHANTOM, SWEENEY, among many, many others. They die because the producers dont trust the material to work *as is*. It's gotta have a gimmick, as the song says. And invariably it's the wrong one.

[Orangesaretuesdays]

Posted: 12/4/10 at 4:56pm

Sweeney was good. Sondheim even said he liked it. It's just the two leads couldn't sing. And Sondheim himself edited the songs for the film and even said in his book some of the changes he made were better then the original. Plus they did do a straight from stage video in the 70s.

[CockeyedOptimist2]

Posted: 12/4/10 at 4:58pm

Agreed. Though it's not a film, look at Glee. The writers/creators don't trust the format of musical theater so they often have to throw in convoluted reasons for their overblown production numbers (eg. the Britney Spears episodes where the numbers were anesthesia hallucinations). It started out okay, where they let us buy that Rachel is now singing a song because it expresses how she feels (I loved "Take a Bow" in the very second episode). Now, it just seems like they've lost it and don't trust that the audience is willing to suspend their disbelief given that they are watching a musical tv show. OK, Glee rant over.

I agree with you about musical movie directors. The only one I've enjoyed in the last ten years is "Chicago." It's the only one that I didn't think took all of the magic and energy out of the original source.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 12/4/10 at 5:24pm

SWEENEY was a mess. The score was mangled, the leads couldnt sing, and the cinematography was so dark in scenes that it looked like the whole thing was shot through a mud filter. The political foundation of the show was removed, and all that was left was a big ol dressed-up slasher film. The song "Joanna" was stretched out to the point where I wanted to hit the sailor myself just to shut him up. It was almost as bad as LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC.

[Kad]

Posted: 12/4/10 at 6:20pm

The political foundation of the show was installed by Hal Prince's own concept of the original production. I frankly don't see it in the text.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 12/4/10 at 7:32pm

And for what it's worth, Sweeney did manage to turn at least a small profit. I also don't think it was ever seen to be as "bulletproof" as titles like Rent, Phantom, or even The Producers.

[AwesomeDanny]

Posted: 12/4/10 at 9:33pm

To add to the list of problems with Sweeney, I personally thought that the excessive amounts of blood eventually just became gross instead of scary. I haven't heard others complain about this, but that was the most distracting thing so me (that and Helena Bonham Carter's singing).

[darquegk]

Posted: 12/5/10 at 11:06am

The excessive blood was in homage to the low-budget gore of the old Hammer films. Like the original staging was a homage to Brechtian epic theatre, the film was produced as homage to Hammer Horror of the early-to-mid-Sixties, unrealistic gouts of blood and all.

And also, Spike Lee would be great for "Scottsboro." Anyone see BAMBOOZLED?

[dramamama611]

Posted: 12/5/10 at 11:18am

I cannot imagine a movie of THIS musical, no matter who directs.

[JP2]

Posted: 12/5/10 at 12:30pm

Sweeney is great.

Pft, I say! PFT!