What Anthony Rapp said at the Today Show /New Song for the Movie?

I talked to Anthony about the cast and their busy day. He said they had photoshoots after Byrant Park AND...

They were recording at night a song for the end credits of the film. He said he couldn't give out any more details about what song but it is a song Jonathan wrote (so he doubts unless the academy makes a exception it will get an Oscar nomination for song).

That's very cool! Then they CAN get an oscar. Because didn't the same thing happen for Phantom? ALW wrote that new song for the credits and they got a nod. Or has Larson's song been used in something else? Do we know?

---

ha, he loves to give speculation materials, doesn't he?

Let it fly...

---

maybe it's a song that he wrote before he passed and they are re-working it and incorporating it into the film. everything he intended for rent didn't make it into the final version...

Unfortunately, I still don't think it would be eligible for a Best Song Oscar even if it was written by Jonathan before he passed and unused in anything else. The Academy rules clearly state a song must be written specifically FOR THE FILM to be eligible.

From http://www.oscars.org/75academyawards/rules/index_text.html (emphasis mine):


II. Original Song:
An original song consists of words and music, both of which are original and written specifically for the film. There must be a clearly audible, intelligible, substantive rendition (not necessarily visually presented) of both lyric and melody, used in the body of the film or as the first song in the end credits.

---

What if he wrote it with the intent of RENT being filmed. hmmmmmmmmmmmmm?

I doubt that, considering he didn't even live long enough to know what kind of impact the show was going to have and how huge it was going to get.

Well, I'd love to hear Adam sing that some day. Whatever the song is, it sounds like an ensemble number that they're all going to sing.

Although I would love to hear Louder Than Words in a movie theater, I don't think the cast would use a song that actually exists within the narrative of another musical. After all, TTB just might be adapted into a film one day too. Gotta keep things fresh.

Updated On: 8/6/05 at 12:50 AM

I'm not sure that "Johnny Can't Decide" or "Come to Your Senses" would translate seamlessly to the screen. Perhaps we've gotten ahead of ourselves in the wake of Chicago. But hell, the music is gorgeous. I'd love to see such seemingly stagebound shows as The Last Five Years, Parade and Ragtime vastly reworked for the screen. (I'd go into shock right here in the chair if I were to search google one day and find that a film version of Ragtime was in the works.)

But post-Rent, my greatest hope is that Jason Robert Brown will be solicited to write an original musical for the big screen. If anyone can do it well, it's him.

There was a movie, Ragtime, based upon the same booked the spawned the musical.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragtime_%28novel%29

The Cast included:

James Cagney
Brad Dourif
Moses Gunn
Elizabeth McGovern
Kenneth McMillan
James Olson
Mandy Patinkin
Howard E. Rollins Jr.
Mary Steenburgen
Debbie Allen

I don't think it did very well in terms of box office back then, but it was an amazing film.

Different strokes for different folks. I can't argue with you if you did not like it as much, though I agree with the Cagney comment.

While he got top billing, because of who he was, the person I remember from the film is Howard Rollins, who I thought was amazing. I still remember screen shots and passages from that movies, and certain images.

But, I am no movie critic. Just someone who appreciated the film. So, again, different strokes. The main point of my post was to point out that movie did in fact exist.

Oh, Howard Rollins delivered an amazing performance that should've won him that Oscar - especially in the supporting category.

What's really funny is that I own two copies of the film - the videos and the DVD. I watch the film fairly often, but I think it could've been so much better. It really does not make adequate use of the source material. Rollins gives an excellent performance but the absence of so many historic figures and the film's failure to weave them together as the book did means that Coalhouse's apparent motivations for the bombings are reduced to the death of his wife and not getting justice over the damaged Model T. That may be motivation enough but the explanation Doctorow gives (which relates clearly to JP Morgan, Emma Goldman, Evelyn Nesbit, Booker T. Washington, Henry Ford and Harry Houdini) is far more interesting.

The book simply must be filmed again. In fact, there was a CBS miniseries in the works six years ago but the project fell through due to budgeting. Doctorow approved the screenplay and everything... Sad.