The Library of Congress has an online exhibition on West Side Story: Birth of a Classic. What caught my eye are Leonard Bernstein's casting notes. Note that a young Warren Beatty auditioned for Riff. Bernstein calls him "charming as hell; clean cut." Jerry Orbach auditioned for Chino. He gave a good reading and has a loud baritone. Neither man got the part, but went on to stardom anyway. What would have happened if Beatty had been cast as Riff in 1957?
I love Broadway musicals. It's very rare that I love a film version of a stage musical. And if you're looking at the the Broadway poster of Sweeney Todd rather than the film version, you may have already guessed where this posting is headed. I think Sweeney more than most musicals would never work for me. I fell in love with the music when still a teenager 30 years ago. I memorized the entire score almost instantly. Imagine listening to Beethoven's Ninth with parts of the Ode to Joy removed.
Did the film work on its own merits? Perhaps, but I could never watch it without the staging and music in my ears. I still hear Angela Lansbury or Patti Lupone. I can't help it. Of course, all the plot twists for those unacquainted with the musical might have been thrilling, but I already knew the outcome. The director made a choice. I disagree with the choice. There was too much blood and not enough humor. The actors used their own voices which were serviceable, but the boy soprano who played Toby, blew them all away musically. And they cut vast parts of "A Little Priest." Unforgivable.
Let's be clear: I love Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham-Carter, and most of all, Alan Rickman. I'm just unsure how to make a good film of a stage musical. For instance: as good as West Side Story and My Fair Lady are as films, we all know the female star is not singing. That's Marni Nixon not Natalie Wood nor Audrey Hepburn. Why cut songs and change plots like in Cabaret, A Chorus Line, Evita, and Chicago (which as a film won an Oscar for Best Picture). Stunt casting ruined Hairspray. Thus far, Dreamgirls is the only adaption that has worked for me recently. Ah well. Luckily I have two versions of the stage version of Sweeney Todd to fall back on.
Is it just me, or don't you think all squirrels have a Scottish brogue?
McSquizzy:
That was just a warning. Try it again, I'll be kicking your furry, brown bahookie! Mess not with the furrytail clan. Defenders of the good, crusaders of the righteous....guardians of the pine.
The film Michael Clayton should be mandatory viewing for all acting students. It's not because the cast gives stellar performances, which they do. Yes, Tilda Swinton won an Oscar and George Clooney and Tom Wilkinson got Oscar nominations. The film is very well done: writing, directing, and acting.
In the beginning of the movie there is a small scene, maybe three minutes long or so. The scene sets up the character of Michael Clayton as the fixer for his law firm. A client has been involved in a hit-and-run. The client is played by Dennis O'Hare and his wife is played by Julie White. He has lines. She doesn't. Her big moment (at least in the edited theatrical release) is angrily smashing a glass.
The point for all acting students is this. Dennis O'Hare has a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for Take Me Out. You recognize him from his many guest appearances on Law & Order (four of them) or from the recent TV series Brothers and Sisters. Julie White won her Tony Award for Best Leading Actress for the play And the Little Dog Laughed. She beat out both Vanessa Redgrave and Angela Lansbury. She was also on the sitcom, Grace Under Fire.
So there you are in Hollywood or New York City as an actor. You are struggling to get your SAG card, or perhaps you already have your SAG card and are trying to get parts in feature films. However, in this major theatrical release, two very small parts, one of which is no better than an extra, went to two actors who had previously won Tony Awards! That's what you're up against. Sydney Pollack, Michael O'Keefe, and even the child actor, Austin Williams have bigger parts and more screen time. I'm sure they took only one day to film the scene. If you didn't recognize those actors from seeing the plays, I'm sure no one would know. But that's show business folks.
No sense in waiting. I had the pleasure to see the play Doubt by John Patrick Shanley. It won the Pultizer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for best play in 2005. Shanley has adapted his play into a screenplay and is directing the movie version himself. The movie will star Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Based on seeing the play and knowing that three of the actors in the play won acting Tonys for their roles, I can predict that Streep and Hoffman will (at least) get nominated for Oscars. I'll go further and add Shanley for screenplay (he already has one Oscar for screenplay: Moonstruck) and perhaps the film as Best Film. Since this will be Streep's 15th nomination, I see her getting her third Oscar. The roles as written are just so good and Streep and Hoffman are such good actors, this is just the right mixture of perfection in my eyes.
BTW, I saw Hoffman perform live on Broadway in Long Day's Journey Into Night alongside Vanessa Redgrave, Brian Denehy, and Robert Sean Leonard. I think that may be the strongest cast of anything I've ever seen on stage. It was an incredible night (Redgrave and Denehy scooped up Tonys for their performances).
Well I called most of it right. Marion Cotillard got Best Actress, so it turns out I did see an Oscar performance last year. It was the only one of two (the other being Ratatouille). Tilda Swinton got Best Supporting Actress and all the rest went the way I foresaw. It was great that Diablo Cody won the other screenplay Oscar. This is the first time since 1965 that all four acting Oscars went to non-Americans (two Brits, a Frenchwoman, and a Spaniard). In 1965, three Brits (Rex Harrison, Julie Andrews, and Peter Ustinov) and a Russian (Lila Kedrova) made off with the statues.
I spoke about the Oscars here and here. It seems likely that both Daniel Day-Lewis and Julie Christie are heading for their second Oscars in the best actor/actress categories. Javier Bardem, who I early predicted as a Oscar winner seems a shoe-in for Best Supporting Actor. The Best Supporting Actress race is a toss up. Cate Blanchett won the Golden Globe; Ruby Dee won the SAG Award; and Tilda Swinton won the BAFTA award. I'm going to pick Ruby Dee as the winner. It's a great performance in a career of stellar performances.
Best Picture? Probably my initial prediction of No Country for Old Men will prevail with the Coen Brothers picking up Best Director and Writing too. We'll see next week. Luckily the writers are back and the show will go on.
One of the most frustrating endearing things about Michael is his love of indie movies. Especially gay indie movies. And generally bad gay indie movies. [my usual response is: must someone always die in a gay indie movie? They answer seems to be yes]. There was a time when the only gay movies were Boys in the Band and Making Love. There were some with gay subplots (Dog Day Afternoon), but generally there were almost no gay movies. Then AIDS happened and we had a host of good movies about AIDS, where again, the gay part was tangential at best. Think: Philadelphia, An Early Frost, Longtime Companion. For years, my favorite gay movie was Maurice. My life has little in common with Edwardian England, but at least it was romantic. Also, My Beautiful Laundrette. So, it was obvious any good film about being gay had to come from England. Now in this new millennium, there are quite a few good American gay flicks and they have been so good (acting and writing-wise) that the bar has been set quit high. Think: Brokeback Mountain, Latter Days, Broken Hearts Club, etc. So last weekend, I endured a terrible gay flick. I will not name names, but bad writing and bad acting do happen and should not be encouraged. OK, we've finally got our own genre up and running. Let's not put out bad art--we're gay after all.
