The Doubt Movie- Page 2

[east side story]

Posted: 10/21/13 at 12:43pm

Any actor, male or female, is capable of giving a terrible performance. Yes, even MERYL STREEP. She could have been a force of nature with a strong director to pull her in when she became too cartoonish.

[AC126748]

Posted: 10/21/13 at 2:52pm

Was Diane Keaton ever actually under consideration for Sister Aloysius, or is that just a rumor that's persisted over the years?

[Roscoe]

Posted: 10/21/13 at 2:57pm

An actively dreadful film of what is merely rather tedious little play. Streep leaves no scenery unchewed, Hoffman leaves no doubt whatsoever as to whether or not he's a kiddie rapist. There's really nothing there at all.

[east side story]

Posted: 10/21/13 at 3:09pm

Shanley reportedly wanted Streep from the get-go. The Weinstein's pulled the trigger on the project when Streep showed interest, and eventually accepted. It was then Meryl who suggested Hoffman, and Shanley pursued Natalie Portman for Sister James.

Updated On: 10/21/13 at 03:09 PM

[faithzilla]

Posted: 10/21/13 at 3:28pm

Ok, no one kill me please, but was anyone else actually DISTRACTED by the whole snot running out of the nose business with Viola Davis? I thought she was absolutely amazing, but I kept thinking that in real life people wipe their noses and don't let snot pool into their mouths for the sake of drama.

That, along with the random jaunty angles, bothered me a bit. And I agree with most above about Hoffman's casting.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 10/21/13 at 4:32pm

AC, I doubt Keaton was ever considered, like east side story said, all the reports indicate that Streep was the first and only person Shanley approached for the part. How I wish she played the role at some point in her career, which is obviously never gonna happen since she doesn't do stage work any more.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 10/21/13 at 4:38pm

I thought Streep did a quite credible Thelma Ritter impression.

I mean...it was wrong on every level, but entertainingly so!

[Playbilly]

Posted: 10/21/13 at 5:03pm

Meryl + Awful = Still of the Night

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 8:44am

The thing is, none of these former ingenuey, slender actresses are right for Doubt. Even Streep looks like a wuss. You need a woman of substance, and I don't mean fat, but I mean a tower, a brick, the Great Wall of China. A physical roadblock. Not just someone who can act great and powerful, yet stands about 5'5" and weighs 120 pounds.

You need Colleen Dewhurst.


Or Cherry Jones.


Or Kim Stanley.


You know, a linebacker in a nun's habit. Someone who could take you out, physically as well as verbally.

[The Other One]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 9:09am

Shanley should not have directed. I remember thinking that year that a good director (Ron Howard) made a great film of a good but not great play with Frost/Nixon, and a good playwright posing as a director made a forgettable film of a terrific play with his own Doubt. A shame, really.

Streep was good, if no match at all for Jones. Hoffman had none of the tantalizing ambiguity that O'Byrne and Eldard brought to the role on stage. I am not a fan of his, but the main problem with the film was its lack of good direction. Again, a shame.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 11:22am

best12bars, you are correct. Originally when I saw it, I imagined Tyne Daly doing the movie.

[darquegk]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 11:53am

I liked the movie but didn't think it was a masterpiece, and I didn't get the chance to see it onstage. My parents, who saw it shortly after me, both had different reads on the ending. My mother thought he was guilty, and my father thought he was a closeted homosexual, but not a child molester. So there IS some ambiguity I suppose.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 12:14pm

I don't know why people are so convinced that Hoffman's playing shows his guilt. And would be interested in learning more why some so confidently come to that conclusion.

Those who see in his portrayal of Flynn an attraction for Donald are perhaps confusing that with Flynn and Donald having an inappropriate relationship, i.e. with Flynn actually acting on that attraction. Those who see in his response to being told it is known he was kicked out of other parishes, an actual acknowledgment of child abuse, are perhaps confusing his exposure to a past which got him into trouble with his having gotten into trouble for child abuse; there are many other reasons that he could have been let go, including his being discovered as having had a sexual relationship with adult males, or perhaps even females (perhaps whose families - parents, wives, etc., - had discovered the relationship and demanded he be let go).

Part of the craft of the play is that there is doubt about the precise accusation even given Flynn's having transgressed in the past (but in what way?) and given his possible desire for Donald (but not all people with desire for children act on that desire).

So many people who see Doubt seem to want an answer to the question did Flynn abuse Donald. But the value of the work rests on uncertainty. I don't see how the movie - no matter how successful it was on other accounts - gives us a clear answer whether Flynn abused Donald.

Updated On: 10/22/13 at 12:14 PM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 12:27pm

You know who I'd love to see do this role?

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 12:47pm

Oh my God, Frances! Totally. I also long to see her as Lettice!

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 10/22/13 at 1:12pm

Damn you, best12, now I can only imagine and mourn the loss of Colleen Dewhurst never having been able to play the part.

I would be curious to know which angle Hoffman was playing. I worked on one of the earlier regional productions after the rights became available, and the director and the actor playing Father Flynn had an entire rehearsal day where the two of them discussed, in private, what happened at Flynn's previous parish, and what was going on here. The rest of the cast and crew were not told until after the final performance what had come of that day. It was something that obviously had to be decided, as the actor needs to know what angle he is ultimately playing, and it added to the tension that the rest of the cast had to decide on their own what was going on and whether or not he was guilty.

(For the record, they had decided that he had had an inappropriate relationship with a married female parishioner, hence his reassignment. In the current situation they had decided that there was abuse taking place, but that it was the Monsignor who was committing the crime and Flynn was covering for him)