Weinstein Company pursues PIPPIN the Movie- Page 2

[all that jazz]

Posted: 4/17/13 at 9:49am

g.d.e.l.g.i. That sounds like a dream! I would love to see a Fosse style adaptation.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 4/17/13 at 10:04am

^ Apparently they were rather serious about it, as there was talk in the trades of grandiose plans like a six-month Fosse intensive for everyone in the cast so they could get the moves down and really climb inside their characters and all that. No clue if that is still the case this time around.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 4/17/13 at 10:26am

Justin Timberlake as "Pippin"
Amanda Seyfried as "Catherine"








...just kidding

[ABitOnTheSide]

Posted: 4/17/13 at 10:29am

Actually I don't think Timberlake would be a necessarily bad Leading Player.

[madbrian]

Posted: 4/17/13 at 10:30am

Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Pippin
Zooey Deschanel as Catherine




...not sure if I'm kidding

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 4/17/13 at 10:33am

I honestly wouldn't mind a Timberlake "type," a young pop star of some kind, to play Pippin. This may be one of the only shows where it would make dramatic sense to do that on film, provided they had the talent necessary (and most of them have been rehearsing choreography and doing "numbers" since they were teenagers, for better or worse). Imagine a young star learning (and giving the message) that sometimes being extraordinary isn't what a person really needs.

Oddly enough, Willow Smith got this point way sooner than almost any of them...

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 4/17/13 at 10:37am

Considering how much visual stylization the book of the musical requires to make it work on stage, it sounds like a natural fit for film.

[madbrian]

Posted: 4/17/13 at 10:38am

We might see Usher as the Leading Player.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 4/17/13 at 10:47am

^ That's one choice I think people would love, given how much he looks like his father... er, godfather...

[OperaBwayLover]

Posted: 4/17/13 at 11:00am

Pippin seems like a curious choice to me. I mean, I know the revival is here, but is the general public really familiar with this show? Not saying they have to be- just wanting to know.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 4/17/13 at 11:12am

I'm just really interested to see how they do it. The last screenwriter had a really great concept for it that worked, but if they're trying to go more like the revival (or, on the other end of the spectrum, pursuing what Greg [darquegk] posted as a possibility), I don't think it will work quite as well. I could be wrong, though.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 4/17/13 at 11:28am

Just like they were going to do CABARET with Nicole Kidman, FOLLIES, DAMN YANKEES, etc. etc...

[darquegk]

Posted: 4/17/13 at 11:55am

If I were the prospective producer, I'd be calling Darren Criss's agent ASAP. Pippin is a pleasant score but not the world's most demanding one, and it would give a rising star like Criss a chance to do the two things he does best: be a good-looking, somewhat moody young heartthrob, and engage in goofy awkward moments of comedy. His rise to television fame and internet fame came at the expense of polarizing his two natures, making him the "serious guy" on Glee and the "comedy guy" on the internet. Something like Pippin would give him a chance to unite the two.

[Owen22]

Posted: 4/17/13 at 12:14pm

I read an interview years ago with Harvey Weinstein where he stated he was obsessed with "Pippin" and wanted to film it.

[ABitOnTheSide]

Posted: 4/17/13 at 1:20pm

I'd kind of like an unknown as Pippin and surround him with stars.

[all that jazz]

Posted: 4/17/13 at 2:40pm

Please Zac Ecron as Pippin!!!

I could also see Beyonce wanting to play the Leading Player.

[kieranbec]

Posted: 4/17/13 at 3:16pm

Elaine Stritch as Berthe.

[MaddieBB12]

Posted: 4/17/13 at 3:18pm

If they go with an unknown for Pippin, which makes sense considering Pippin's a new actor in the show, then they should just use Matthew James Thomas.

[goldenboy]

Posted: 4/18/13 at 9:05pm

"It could work in dozens of ways. It just needs to be re-imagined for the parameters of film"

Yea... like Chorus Line or Man of La Mancha or Nine.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 4/18/13 at 9:07pm

Or Chicago or Hedwig

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 4/19/13 at 9:10am

^ Oh, you're doing a "two sides of the same coin" thing! Yay! I love that! xD

In all seriousness... here's a casting idea I've been thinking about. Especially in the Fosse version of Pippin, sex was a barely concealed subtext to everything that happened in the bulk of the show. With this in mind, I took another look at the role of Berthe and some of her lines (particularly "You could use some frolicking..."). It hit me that there is the barest hint of innuendo in the lines, and the possibility that maybe Fastrada evicted her because she was a threat and not because of a "personality conflict," and I decided to maybe cast the role (in my head) in a way that would up the ante on that.

It needed to be someone that you don't think grandmother of when the name is mentioned. Someone who is clearly old enough for the part, yet still looks like a knock-out. Someone who could give an extra charge to those lines, suggesting that Pippin's immediate family aren't the only fucked-up ones. To be blunt, and excessively crude, for a moment, someone who turns around and her tits nearly hit him in the face, y'know? Where you're struck with the stateliness and voluptuousness of the person, but they're older. A fitting legendary actress/singer from a generation or two back.

Here's the list of possibilities I came out with:
* Debbie Harry. (Shockingly she sneaked up to the right age.)
* Linda Ronstadt.
* Raquel Welch.
* When I initially thought of Dolly Parton, it was a joke, but the more I thought about it, she seemed kind of right for what I had in mind. I began picturing a country singalong "No Time at All," a great surreal moment not unlike her fantasy sequence in the 9 to 5 film... Berthe in a cute little cowgirl outfit, fastening Pippin to the chair with her lasso as she lectures him and the film audience about letting her sing the verses.
* And last but not least, the inevitable "safe" casting choice. Someone that the suits would insist on for the "funny old lady with vim, verve, and charm" part twenty seconds after they heard about it. It doesn't really hit the hallmarks of what I planned, but if she resurrected her Sue Ann Nivens sensibility, Betty White could work.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/19/13 at 9:15am

By the time a PIPPIN film would actually be made, Betty White will be 175 years old.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 4/19/13 at 9:18am

What is a two sides of the same coin thing and who is doing it?

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 4/19/13 at 9:20am

You and goldenboy. He listed unsuccessful examples of musicals "transformed" for the screen, and you listed successful ones. When the "two sides of the coin" thing happens, it's usually unplanned, but always fun.

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/19/13 at 9:47am

I'm thinking Shirley MacLaine will probably go after Berthe.