Other Musicals Being Turned Into Movie
 

Word on the street is that Russell Crowe will become Sweeney Todd. Emma Thompson, Imelda Staunton and Toni Collette are rumored to take on the role of Mrs. Lovett. Sam Mendes is slated to direct the movie.

Another big movie production for a musical is Dreamgirls. Jamie Foxx, Usher, Beyonce Knowles and Eddie Murphy are slated to star in this production. Bill Condon have been confirmed to direct this movie.

I'm be excited for both of those. Ragtime would be interesting to see, too, although I'm not sure how it would translate to a movie-musical format -- although I thought the same about Chicago.

Grease 3 would be screwed up, but they could probably at least make it better than Grease 2.

Anything has to be better than Grease 2.

Didn't they already remake Bye Bye Birdie like 10 years ago with Jason Alexander?

That was a made-for-TV remake; it sounds like this one will probably be theatrical and thus higher budget. The original Bye Bye Birdie was a theater-release movie but they deviated from the original musical quite a bit. The TV remake was technically closer to the original script but kind of dry, so neither the original or the TV remake is all that satisfying. I can see why they'd want to do it again.

My college roommate convinced her Freshman English professor to let her write her compare and contrast essay on Grease vs. Grease 2. She got an A+ and it was really well done actually! :D

What I don't get is all the ones that have already been done - Damn Yankees, Rocky Horror, Hairspray, etc. I'd rather see originals (like Moulin Rouge) or the bringing of original musicals to the screen (Rent).

Well they did have a non-musical movie version of Ragtime that wasn't too bad.

What do you guys think about Sweeney Todd? That musical isn't the easiest to sing. I'm not sure about Russell Crowe. Can he handle the challenging vocals? Then again, he only need to get it right once. So, it might work out. Just don't let Schumacher anywhere near the set.

I wouldn't put it past the industry to be more eager to redo the shows that have already been done (Damn Yankees, Rocky Horror, Hairspray) because there is a guarenteed audience for it. It is a safer bet to produce something that people already know about than something nobody knows anything about.

Fun story.... I was a couple of summers ago, I was interning for the marketing department of a NYC production company famous for their stage performances (theater, concerts, musical reviews, etc. Gold star to the person that can guess the company!) Well, one of assignments was to research three classic broadway musicals and put together a breakdown of the plot, a character analysis, and to come up with suggestions for actors to play the lead roles. It turned out that this company was in talks with the people who made Chicago. The Chicago people were looking to buy the rights to another musical and wanted to pair it with a stage musical review/preview produced by my company to generate buzz (and profits). Damn Yankees was one of the musical considerations, so I guess that is the musical they purchased, but who knows if they will follow through with the stage performance too.

I'd like to see Hairspray come to the big screen. A GOOD version of Mame would be welcome, because the movie with Lucille Ball was the pits. I think re-making Rocky Horror Picture Show is a mistake!! Sometimes you just can't improve on the original.

I think they should start bringing musicals that aren't already movies or made for tv movies onto the bring screen.

I was watching the special features on my Phantom dvd and ALW stated on it that a bunch of teenagers in London were thanking him for making Phantom into a movie because they couldn't afford the theater tickets. These are the type of musicals that they should turn to movie, because not everyone can afford a 75 dollar theater ticket.

I would love to see them make Cats into a movie (I'm not quite sure how that would work but I haven't seen the play so hence why I would want it to be a movie).

I really think Chicago and Moulin Rouge opened the door and paved the way for movie musicals to become popular again.

Anything but Cats.

I personally think that Miss Saigon would be incredible on the big screen.

Ditto :)

ETA: as long as they don't cast a bunch of teenybop idols in it....

Ditto with Miss Siagon, especially since it is no longer on Broadway and no longer touring the United States. (it is in England according to the official website).

Hmm I should email them and say "make it a movie". LOL.

Perhaps they will showing the success (and yes I will call it a success) of Phantom and then before that Chicago.

I totally dont get how they will make Contact into a movie, because it is barely a show...

OH, but I like the John Travolta is in talks to play Edna in Hairspray, but I really doubt he'll dress in drag for the big screen...

They're going to redo Hairspray? Say it ain't so!

http://tinypic.com/71i3vl.jpg
"I'm sure many of the other home viewers out there are pleasantly plump or chunky."

They're turning Sunset Boulevard the musical into a movie. Ewan McGregor and Glenn Close will be staring in this movie.

Just think about it, they're making a movie based on a musical based on a movie. :D :D :D

Not unlike "Hairspray."

Give me the original Sunset Blvd. any day.

"You're Norma Desmond. You used to be in silent pictures. You used to be big."

"I am big. It's the pictures that got small."

I saw it with Glenn Close back in the days. The set was so stunning. Music was recycled ALW. I enjoyed myself though.

I saw it with Diahnn Carroll in the lead role when the show was in Toronto. The media said that Ms. Caroll was an unusual choice since shows usually don't cast minorities in a lead role that was originally written for a white actor until after the show is established, if at all.

Sam Mendes have been confirmed to direct Sweeney Todd. Sweet man, let's hope Russell Crowe will not be in jail when they start shooting.

Still waiting for Les Miserables to be filmed.

ETA: Just found out that Crowe is out of the project.

Ok I just saw that they wanted to remake Mame.....I am sorry, but NO

if they decided to remake this, it needs to be Auntie Mame, with Suzanne Pleshette, she really is the only women who I can see attempting to "replace" Rosalind Russell....

I saw the musical with Lucille Ball (whom I LOVE) but it just couldn't stand up

Mame Dennis is such a great women

ok I need to go buy this on DVD

At first I'm really excited about the prospect. Then, I wonder wether or not the public would want to see a 3+ hour sung through musical movie abou a depressing subject. Let's hope they get people who can actually sing, unlike that other long running musical.

I hope to goodness that this works out for the sake of the musical lover. The Les Mis movie they put out several years ago, was just rubbish.

You are SO right! I think Auntie Mame (with Rosalind Russell) was incredible though (just look at my sig haha)... I own it on dvd.

I'm not crazy about the idea of "Damn Yankees" redone. I can see them just completely destroying the story. :( Of course, even the original movie has a hard time comparing to when I saw it on the stage with Jerry Lewis as the devil. ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!!!!

Is that the one with Claire Danes and Liam Neeson? If so, I agree with you totally. They left out a lot of important scenes from the book. If you want to see a really good Les Mis movie, go see the one with Gérard Depardieu and John Malkovich. Be forwarned, it's a miniseries and it's in French. However, it's the best Les Mis movie out there.

It was horrible wasn't it.

My thing is I love, love, love the character of Eponine and I don't believe she is technically in the book (while Cosette and Marius are).


Although I'm sure they will cut it down, because it is a very loooonnnngggg musical. And now that I think about it I can think of a few things that could be cut where it wouldn't hurt the integrity of the story.


I'm so excited for all these Musicals being made into movies. So many aren't running either on broadway, London or even touring companies and it gives the new audiences a chance to see them.

I'll try to check that out. I can probably get through the French, and I don't mind having captioning on. If it's truer to the book, I'll try it. And I do like Gerard Depardieu.....

I think Steve Martin would make a great Thenadier. We know he can sing and the Thenadier role isn't that hard to do (compare with other roles in the musical).

I would make a great Eponine! It's kinda a dream. She's got great songs, the emotion.....

But, like I said, it's a dream. I'm content to sing along with the soundtrack.....


But really, who's gonna play Jean Valjean?

Michael Ball is interested.

Michael Ball as Valjean?

I'm just not feeling it. I mean for me it would be incredibly hard to picture Michael Ball as Valjean when all I can do is picture him as Marius.

How about Emmy Rossum for Eponine?

I don't think it would work.......because now she basically seen as Christine from Phantom. Another unknown would work though (of course, that's why I said, me!)

Linda Eder should somehow play a part in this........she's fabulous!

I hope it isn't Emmy Rossum. She had two expressions during Phantom, confused and more confused. Eponine needs a wide ranging of emotions. Plus, I don't like her voice and you need to know how to belt to play Eponine. Emmy couldn't doesn't have the belting voice.

So very true.....it's scary.

She's got that way to innocent look. No way she could be Eponine.

Eponine needs to be someone that looks like the really lived, someone that from the first note that you hear, sounds like raw emotion, from the gut. Someone you can't get out of your head. Emmy ain't go that.

[mini hijack]

on the flip side, we don't know if she "got it" or not. Emmy is a trained Opera singer. I'm sure the girl can belt. Belting really isn't called for in Phantom.

[end mini hijack]


Thoughts on Marius or Cosette?

Actually, though, she was in some Lifetime or ABC family movie I saw a few months ago, and she sang in it too. Same kind of timid singing....but she was playing the piano....that's cool.

I think they'll need to find a relative unknown, or even somebody from Broadway to play Eponine. As for Javert, how about Russell Crowe. If he's considered to play Sweeney, I think he will be able to play Javert. Plus, Crowe have that menacing look.

Yeah, but he might be too well-known. I always picture Javert as being, forgive me, not so good-looking......maybe that adds to the character or something. If he's a good-looking guy, don't you tend to like him a bit more?

I don't know.