Will Glenn Close get her Oscar for Sunset?- Page 3

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 2/26/19 at 10:03pm

rattleNwoolypenguin said: "...Even by Andrew Lloyd Webber fans this is not a universally beloved show like Phantom or Cats.

"

I promise you CATS isn't "universally beloved" (emphasis added). Most words have well established meanings.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 2/26/19 at 10:12pm

markypoo said: "Reaching out for opinions and comments here.
One thing I've never fully understood about SB is just what exactly ended Norma Desmond's career?
Right off the bat, I'm ruling out the transmission to sound, because as we can tell there wasn't a thing wrong with either Swanson's or Close's or Balgord's speaking voice.
Could it have been the types of roles she might have been insistent on continuing to play, while at the same time continuing to mature?
Too unrealistic with her salary expectations?
New people and new talent that shoved her out?
The fact that the movies were adapting themselves more to the tastes of Depression-era movie-goers?
I know - going off on a tangent here, but still.. always wondered about, as C.B. put it... the "brush off."

Thanks.
"

One might look at Gloria Swanson's own career for answers. She starred in "dozens" of silent films, then was left to TV and theater for most of the 1930s and 1940s. As you point out, it wasn't because she couldn't act with her voice.

Even today, alas, for every Glenn Close, who manages to stretch her career throughout her adult years, there is a Mira Sorvino or a Marisa Tomei, who is the "It Girl" for a few years and then mostly forgotten by the industry. Someone once pointed out to me that Hollywood uses actresses the same way male Hollywood executives use their wives: short shelf life in both cases.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 2/26/19 at 10:17pm

BrodyFosse123 said: "In the film and in the musical adaptation, it is made clear several times that the arrival of sound/talking motion pictures ended her career as it did to countless actors who couldn’t make the transition from silent films to sound films. We need to accept this information regardless of our opinions of the speaking voices of the actresses who have played Norma Desmond, including Gloria Swanson who herself was one of the many silent film actresses who didn’t make the silent-to-sound transition."

Is it? I'll take your word for it, but when Max speaks of Norma at her zenith, he describes an incandescent teenager. Talkies or no, no actress can stay 16 forever.

To me, the biggest argument against a musical film of SB is that the stage version is so unimaginative, it is nearly a page for page musicalization of the 1950 classic. (Just because it takes longer to sing than to speak, I'm sure some dialogue was cut, but it wasn't anything I noticed.) The stage version didn't improve on Billy Wilder and there's no reason to think a movie musical will either (unless, that is, some visionary comes along with some brilliant conceit for a film). And that problem remains even if Michelle Pfeiffer (not a bad suggestion) plays Norma Desmond!

[Lot666]

Posted: 2/27/19 at 10:50am

rattleNwoolypenguin said: "and it’s a really small minority that wants this musical on film."

Again, on what source are you basing these claims?

[Kad]

Posted: 2/27/19 at 11:59am

Well, certainly no one has done a comprehensive survey of people, but it's not a stretch to say that as far as musicals go, Sunset Blvd isn't exactly in the top tier of public imagination.

[east side story]

Posted: 2/27/19 at 12:23pm

Two words that are apropos to this case:

Streisand, Gypsy. 

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 2/27/19 at 12:50pm

I would prefer Close forget about this and find another project that's worthy of her talents. I just think nobody is going to finance this, it'll be compared too much to the original, and even musical theatre fans aren't big on this show. Do something else, something that could be financed easier. I hope the goodwill towards her after this Oscar season will make more people interested in Close. She had to fight to make both Albert Nobbs and The Wife happen. I hope all the Oscar campaigning where she got to meet and greet others in the industry made some real contacts and maybe Reese Witherspoon will follow-up on her tweet about looking for a project to produce for Close (and Amy Adams).

[east side story]

Posted: 2/27/19 at 1:22pm

If anyone could make that happen, Reese would be the one. She has become quit the heavy hitter in the industry over the last few years. But she was just responding in kind to their 6th and 7th Oscar losses, respectively. 

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

Posted: 2/27/19 at 1:43pm

Yeah, but she didn't need to and it was unprovoked. I think there's a lot of sympathy for Close right now from many of her fellow actors who seem to be her biggest supporters. On another forum, some people were discussing possible projects that would be easier to produce and be green lit than this foolhardy venture to bring Sunset Boulevard on the big screen. Someone elsewhere mentioned 33 Variations and I think that could work. I was thinking something like Three Tall Women and get like Colman or a known name to play "B" (maybe Laurie Metcalf would like to reprise her role) and a hot young fresh Hollywood ingenue type that the industry is DYING to promote to play "C". Not sure if Three Tall Women lends itself to a movie adaptation though as it's much more of a character-driven piece.

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 2/27/19 at 1:49pm

I don’t think “Three Tall Women” would work as a film and if it were made, why wouldn’t they get two time Oscar winner Glenda Jackson to reprise her Tony Award winning part?

But I appreciate the sentiment of trying to suggest roles for Glenn Close. But don’t forget she began her film career with remarkable performances in small roles, that also generated her Oscar nominations. I have no doubt she will continue working for a good many years and will continue to find interesting parts. Perhaps they will be smaller along the lines of those that she started her career with, but I think there will be other opportunities for her to be nominated in a competitive category.

[Princeton2]

Posted: 2/28/19 at 5:59pm

Baz from the Daily Mail is reporting it starts shooting in October directed by Rob Ashford and starring Glenn Close

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 2/28/19 at 6:18pm

Rob Ashford has as much film directing experience as Susan Stroman did when she was given the opportunity to direct (and choreograph) the film adaptation of Mel Brooks’ THE PRODUCERS. This will be a missed opportunity. This should be directed by an Academy Award winning film director. Oh, well.

[SomethingPeculiar]

Posted: 2/28/19 at 6:35pm

Rob Ashford was Kenneth Branagh's Associate Director on Murder on the Orient Express, and according to sources he basically co-directed the film because Branagh was also acting in it. He's also choreographed films (Branagh's Cinderella, Beyond The Sea, Ted, etc), directed live musicals and filmed stage productions, and has done things like the Ken Cen honors, Oscars, and Tonys. He's nobody's first choice, but he knows his way around cameras, and everyone has to start somewhere.

What this "announcement" doesn't include are producers or a studio. I'm very curious if Ashford/Close/Webber will be able to attract a few other names. No idea if he can sing, but I think Mahershala Ali would be GREAT. Same with the usual suggestions Jake Gyllenhaal and Chris Pine, and J.K. Simmons as Max.

The big question is, will it shoot in black & white or color? My gut says color because they'll want to avoid comparisons to the original.

Updated On: 2/28/19 at 06:35 PM

[woeisme3]

Posted: 2/28/19 at 6:44pm

I know they’ll go for a Hollywood name, but Michael Xavier was brilliant in the revival and I wish he would reprise his role...he played with Glenn very well

[east side story]

Posted: 2/28/19 at 6:47pm

This will be an absolute dumpster fire.

[Kad]

Posted: 2/28/19 at 6:47pm

BrodyFosse123 said: "Rob Ashford has as much film directing experience as Susan Stroman did when she was given the opportunity to direct (and choreograph) the film adaptation of Mel Brooks’ THE PRODUCERS. This will be a missed opportunity. This should be directed by an Academy Award winning film director. Oh, well. "

Hey, at least Stroman was an award winning director, period. 

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 2/28/19 at 7:12pm

I still can't imagine this happening. And even if it's done, how many Best Lead Actress Oscars have been awarded for musical performances? Nicole Kidman and Rene Zellweger arguably could've won their years, but instead won a year or two later. So many Glenn can lose for Sunset and then win for the follow up to that.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 2/28/19 at 8:23pm

I smell a "Nine," rather than a "Chicago."  Though my mind is open. I wish it were handed over to someone with an eye for the milieu, Hollywood in that era. But if I had to chose, I'd go to an odd choice, but a man with period expertise: Todd Haynes. It could use more "Far From Heaven" and a lot less ... I'll say it again, "Nine."   

Updated On: 2/28/19 at 08:23 PM

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 2/28/19 at 8:24pm

Reese Witherspoon won her Best Actress Oscar for WALK THE LINE, Barbra Streisand for FUNNY GIRL and Sissy Spacek for COAL MINER’s DAUGHTER.  Meryl Streep was Best Actress nominee for INTO THE WOODS.

Also nominated for Best Actress though they lip synced: Jessica Lange for SWEET DREAMS and Angela Bassett for WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT and Marion Cottilard won her Best Actress Oscar for lip syncing to Edith Piaf in LA VIE EN ROSE.

[NOWaWarning]

Posted: 2/28/19 at 8:59pm

I hope it’s similar to Nine in the sense of slashing the score to ribbons.

[bk]

Posted: 2/28/19 at 9:39pm

CONFIRMED???  By some hack from the Daily Mail or whatever that is with no other confirmed attribution other than HIS?  Has everyone here lost their sanity?  Rob Ashford?  I mean, this is so ludicrous on every level it's just laughable or would be if everyone here wasn't taking it seriously.  Tell you what, folks - come back in October and if it hasn't happened admit you were had once again by a gossip columnist or a publicist, you know just like all those times with everything else you've gone on and on about for YEARS, Ms. Streisand's Gypsy being the most obvious example of a project that was never real.

[jcl2000]

Posted: 2/28/19 at 9:46pm

Don’t forget jamie foxx for RAY and jennifer hudson for DREAMGIRLS. carthine zeta jones for CHICAGO. liza Minnelli for CABARET...

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 2/28/19 at 9:50pm

jcl2000 said: "Don’t forget jamie foxx for RAY and jennifer hudson for DREAMGIRLS. carthine zeta jones for CHICAGO. liza Minnelli for CABARET..."

We were discussing Best Actress.  Hudson and Zeta-Jones were Best Supporting Actress Oscar winners.  Minnelli indeed was Best Actress Oscar winner.  Foxx was Best Actor, bro.   

[Tag]

Posted: 2/28/19 at 9:51pm

CONFIRMED???  By some hack from the Daily Mail or whatever that is with no other confirmed attribution other than HIS?  Has everyone here lost their sanity? 

LOL it's Baz Bamigboye.  It'll be in the trades tomorrow :P

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 2/28/19 at 9:53pm

Tag said: "CONFIRMED??? By some hack from the Daily Mail or whatever that is with no other confirmed attribution other than HIS? Has everyone here lost their sanity?

LOL it's Baz Bamigboye. It'll be in the trades tomorrow :P"

The Hollywood Reporter has only confirmed Rob Ashford and Glenn Close but no mention of when it is going into production. 

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/glenn-closes-sunset-boulevard-movie-musical-finds-director-1191627