Six Actresses Walk Into a Room...

The Hollywood Reporter is proclaiming that "Awards Season Begins Now" but the cover is freaking me out. Did Nancy Meyers direct it? It's so beige.

Do Amy Adams, Nicole Kidman, Hilary Swank and Natalie Portman all suddenly have the same hairstylist & colorist these days? They're interchangeable. And with women that special, that's a big no-no. Kidman's styling bugs me the most. It's so Blair on Facts of Life.

Am I right?

Read more »

Where Are the Musicals? (Part Two)

Last week I thought I was being a little bit overdramatic when I started worrying about the absence of future movie musicals. But maybe I wasn't dramatic enough. Is it time for panicked hysteria? Just ten years into the genre's spectacular rebirth -- which I trace back to the 1-2-3-4 spectacular punch of Dancer in the Dark (00), Moulin Rouge! (01), Hedwig (01) and Chicago (02) -- it seems to be dying again.

I read today that plans for Hairspray 2 have been halted. It's not often you hear of sequel ideas to hit films being cast aside. Adam Shankman's statement about the dead sequel sounds rational on the surface:

That got killed. I was so happy with the first one, let's leave well enough alone. It's all good.

Since when were Hollywood types ever all zen about the "leave well enough alone". They live for easy money and what is easier than getting a big opening weekend out of pre-sold popularity be it through sequels, remakes, reboots or reinterpretations? Hollywood (speaking generally of course) never has original ideas. What's more they're usually spectacularly proud of their insistence on repeating themselves.

The only musical in development that's getting discussed lately is a remake of My Fair Lady. A remake.

Even weirder and more worrying is that Universal reportedly decided against a Mamma Mia! sequel (2008) even though ABBA has a thousand other great songs that could be similarly massacred for coin if such a film were to exist. I never in a million years thought I'd be freaked out about that decision, "Hooray!" being the only sane response. But I can't recall one time in the history of ever that a major studio has decided not to make a sequel to a movie that grossed over half a billion dollars.

All right... I exaggerate a little. But I'm scared because I love my song & dance. Mamma Mia! is currently the 50th highest grosser ever worldwide*. As it turns out, there are a few higher grossers that don't have sequels (yet) or weren't sequels to begin with. Of the other 49 the stand-alones are (in descending order)

• Avatar (sequel in development)
  
• Titanic (a wee problem called historical accuracy prevented sequels)
• Finding Nemo
• Independence Day
• E.T. The Extra Terrestrial
  
• 2012
  
• Up
• Forrest Gump
• The Sixth Sense
• Kung Fu Panda (the sequel arrives next year)
  
• The Incredibles
• Hancock
• Ratatouille
• The Passion of the Christ
  

That's fourteen other movies, a few of which will undoubtedly get sequels. It seems like the only reason a hit movie doesn't get a sequel is if its lead character dies, or if it stars Will Smith (two examples there, but isn't he his own franchise? Maybe those are sequels) or if it's made by Pixar and isn't named "Toy Story".

If Wicked needs bankable 20something stars,
Anne Hathaway & Amanda Seyfried can both sing.

All of this, plus the weird absence of money-magnet "Wicked" in Hollywood's current Oz-mania production slate, is really getting to me. The stage show's cumulative gross is approaching half a billion dollars (it's currently at $469 million and it still earning over a million a week) Why wouldn't Hollywood be rushing to capitalize on it?

I'm officially very worried. It's too easy to blame it on Nine which cost a fortune (What did they spent the money on? It takes place on a stage! How did that cost $30 million more to make than Mamma Mia! or Sweeney Todd?).Perhaps the problem is actually Sweeney Todd. It earned $152 million worldwide which sounds like a decent amount... until you stop to consider what Burton/Depp pairings usually make.

You'd think it'd be an ideal time to grow a hit musical. The past ten years should be seen as ample fertilizer: the genre has produced hits, several song and/or dance adept celebrities have become much more famous/bankable (Hathaway, Jackman, Harris, Chenoweth, Tatum, Seyfried), musical theater stars have started to gain more fame outside of New York than they have in some time (Cheyenne Jackson, Jane Krakowski, Audra McDonald, Lea Michelle, Idina Menzel) and then there's a little something called Glee on TV. Maybe you've heard of it?

Greenlight some musicals, suits! Just make sure they don't cost as much as Nine so you have a chance at a profit. That shouldn't be hard. It's not like Sweeney Todd looked bad for $30 million less. It looked great. It just didn't sound that way.

*none of these figures are adjusted for inflation. The biggest musical hit of all time (and the third biggest hit of any type ever) is The Sound of Music (1965) which made over a billion dollars in today's numbers.

DVD Releases: Chipmunks, Bette, Sweeney

Run for your lives. Alvin and the Chipmunks is now on DVD and the said-to-be-pure-crap movie which I will never ever see, which won more box office dollars than all of the critical hit dramas of 2007 (or thereabouts) combined, more popular with John Q Public then the bliss of Ratatouille (and I wish I could scream "april fools" after saying that, but alas --tis true), will now be seen by millions more. What a world.

Other new DVD releases: The Good Night (featuring Paltrow, Cruz and DeVito) and Samuel J Jackson's 79th feature film Resurrecting the Champ (he can't say no!)


In better news, Tim Burton's interpretation of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is also out for your home viewing pleasure. Though my own review was glowing, my reaction mirrored its Oscar run. When it opened it had critics and Oscar pundits all hyped up and eager for a shave and then everybody said "nyahh" at the last minute and moved on. A fast fade --not the masterpiece it should have been --but definitely worth seeing for that genius score, Burton's gleeful blood sprays, and pieces of Johnny & Helena's Golden Globe celebrated performances.

Finally, just in time for Davis's centennial (see previous post) is Volume 3 of the Bette Davis Collection. It doesn't have any of her Oscar nominated performances but it's a true 1940s fest with the The Old Maid, All This and Heaven Too, The Great Lie, In This Our Life, Watch on the Rhine and Deception.

8 Days...

more at twiigs.com...

The Beautiful Decay of Helena Bonham-Carter

It's the premiere of the 4th Season of "Hump Day Hottie" -Every Wednesday @ the Experience

So I was listening to Radio Allegro's very rowdy very funny and very long movie special and not too far into that queer beast, there was what sounded like an unplanned but communal dissing of Helena Bonham-Carter's star turn in Sweeney Todd. Typical of my gemini nature I found myself wanting to both join in and defend her. For you see, I also have issues with the performance but I have deep love for "Miss Lucy Honeychurch" in all phases of her career.

Mrs. Lovett, one of the musical theater's unquestionably great roles, is more flexible than Sweeney Todd's new naysayers will have you believe. I've only seen three incarnations but in just those three she's been played with the emphasis on outre comic lunacy (Angela Lansbury), a vampy desperation (Patti Lupone) and now she's like a practical reserved vampire (Helena). Whether the new approach works is a matter up to individual interpretation, of course. But rather than debate the merits of the performance here I want to focus on the woman in all her glory.

To quote her suitor in A Room With a View, the film which brought her international fame at the sparkling age of 19 "Beauuuuutttyyyyy"


She's been one of the screen's most striking women ever since. Consider that round impossibly delicate face, the huge haunting brown orbs we'll call eyes and, as Tim Burton and his cameramen are proud to point out, an ample and inviting bosom.

Helena was also the star attraction in not one but two of the greatest sex scenes of the past decade of film (Wings of the Dove and Fight Club) and yet filmmakers, even her real life love Tim Burton, don't often seem to capitalize on her eroticism. At least not in pleasurable ways. It's both fascinating and disturbing to me that so many of her films have taken care to either dismantle or desecrate the beauty. She meets a gruesome uglifying ending in more than one of her features: Frankenstein and Sweeney Todd are birds of a feather in this sick way and both were directed by men she was sleeping with. Hmmm....

Grafting death and decay onto her doll like prettiness have made her into something of a goth icon (Fight Club and the relationship with Tim Burton didn't hurt) but that came as a surprise to this early adopter. Who among us that fell in love with her royal prettiness in Lady Jane or her ornery loveliness in A Room With a View, knew that the darkness would eventually engulf her?

This is now the Helena movie equation...

...is it not?

related: Last season on Hump Day Hottie and my Sweeney Todd Review
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Attend the Tale of Sweeney Todd

For the legion of hardcore fans of composer Stephen, the wait for the film version of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street has been excruciatingly long. There have been precious few true Sondheim musicals that have made the transfer to the screen and this grand guignol piece has been a long time in coming. Earlier this decade Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Jarhead) was to direct and numerous names were bandied about for the infamous roles of the demon barber and his accomplice Mrs. Lovett. The wait for the film version has also been more than a little frightening (who would direct? Who would star? Who could possibly due it justice?) as perhaps befits the horrific tale of a man who slits multiple throats in gory unfocused vengeance and the woman who bakes the bodies into meat pies to dispose of the evidence.

Once Tim Burton took over the reigns, auditions continued for reasons unbeknownst to many who found it impossibly obvious (in retrospect) which way the casting would go. The famously whimsical and gothic-loving auteur settled on the two actors he always settles on: Sweeney would inhabited by Johnny Depp (his six-time leading man and friend) and Mrs Lovett would be played by Helena Bonham-Carter (his five-time co-star and lady love). That neither could sing didn’t seem to worry the director though it worried Sondheim disciples not a little.

"The Ballad of Sweeney Todd," the glorious choral number that opens the original stage show foreshadows the narrative while painting a rather thrilling shrieking picture of the man in question (Sondheim has acknowledged the influence of Bernard Hermann, of Psycho fame, on his most acclaimed score). Burton’s first move is to slash "The Ballad" from the film version (it’s the cut that will be most obvious to Todd fanatics) in favor of a slower reveal of this bloody man through expository dialogue, general close up visualization --you can't get that on stage -- and sung through flashbacks, perhaps to surprise the uninitiated. To quote the tale end of the original number

What happened then, well that’s the play,
and he wouldn’t want us to give it away…

Not Sweeney
Not Sweeney Todd
The demon barber of Fleet
Street

Thankfully the number remains in spirit and is used admirably well in the underscoring. Though it’s my personal favorite song in the show I found that I hadn’t really missed it once the tale was told.

Read my full review @ Zoom In

Have you seen the movie?
I'd love to hear whether it met your expectations as well.

One danger of loving musicals too much

...is that you end up with show tunes playing constantly in your head. There are worse things to be lodged in the brain than masterful Sondheim ditties but still...

More annoying yet is that I just have one line of the classic "A Little Priest" on repeat, not the whole song. For about 5 days now. I've tried listening to the entire Broadway cast recording (both). I've tried listening to other music: Amy Winehouse, Tom Waits, Madonna, Christmas compilations. I even tried Hairspray's catchiest showstoppers. And still all I hear and all I hum is one single line (in bold below)

Sweeney Todd:
For what's the sound of the world out there?

Mrs. Lovett:
What, Mr. Todd?
What, Mr. Todd?
What is that sound?

Todd:
Those crunching noises pervading the air!

Lovett:
Yes, Mr. Todd!
Yes, Mr. Todd!
Yes, all around!

Todd:
It's man devouring man, my dear!

Both:
And who are we to deny it in here?

I blame the TV commercial which lets that one line sing out louise
...oh please make the ∞ stop. I heart Sweeney Todd but this is too much. Your medical/mental recommendations are most appreciated. How can I escape?

My Sweeney Todd Review
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Tuesday Top Ten: An Oscar Show Unlike Any Other

For the list maker in me and the list lover in you

THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED
I’ve been a little out of the WGA strike loop unless you count playing Laura Linney’s Speechless short film on loop (Hilarious even the 80th time!) I don’t know what’s going on anymore… just that all the news seems to be bad news. But ModFab pointed me to a Hollywood Insider article about the latest setback: WGA not granting waivers to the awards shows. Quite possibly that could mean no film clips.

ModFab wisely suggests more Debbie Allen interpretative dance numbers to fill up the 3 hour broadcast. That’s a great suggestion. Imagine what she could do to… excuse me... for No Country For Old Men. Imagine the tap break possibilities for Into the Wild

5 Ways to Make the Oscars Insanely Entertaining Without The Use of Film Clips

1. Cate Blanchett (I’m Not There) forced on stage to impersonate all of her fellow supporting actress nominees. Can she “do” Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone) and Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton) as well as she apes Dylan & Hepburn? Would capturing the precocious bad seed Saorsie Ronan (Atonement) finally prove too much for her estimable technique? If she pulls it off can they hand her 6 Oscars on the spot. One for each mimicry job + Bob Dylan.

2. All best actor candidates thrown naked into a Russian bathhouse set to fend off real life assassins with their bare hands. Only Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises) is exempt from this challenge, already having demonstrated his bad assery…and his ass.

3. They could nominate five truly great songs instead of schmaltzy power ballads and then give the actual performers ample time to si-- I'm sorry. That's too radical. What was I thinking? sheer anarchy.

4. A walk off for costume design. Keira Knightley (Atonement) in the green dress, Helena Bonham-Carter (Sweeney Todd) in decaying gothic fineries, Someone else in something else… yes, that!

5. Johnny Depp (Sweeney Todd) shaves Phillip Seymour Hoffman live! I’m sorry but someone needs to. He doesn’t even try to clean up for these things.

5 More Ways To Enliven a Writer-less, Clip-less Oscar Ceremony as Suggested By Readers

6. The Opinionated Australian says... "Perhaps, they can take advantage of the extra time they'll have, and stage both Oscars and Razzies on the same night? I can hardly ever tell them apart anyway." snarky... I love it.

7. Daily Tanenbaum says... "Have all the nominees in each category live in a house together and see what happens when actors stop being polite and start acting real." Funny. Do they get to vote each other off... ? cuz that's all the rage.

8. Katey says... "Coin toss with Anton Chigurh-- if you lose, Javier Bardem gets your Oscar."


9. Middento says ... "instead of the honoring the dearly departed over the past year, the Oscars hold a seance instead? The most corporeally rendered gets the loudest applause, naturally." I'm guessing that that goes to Joan Crawford who comes into nearly perfect focus (soft focus!), just itching to get back on that stage.

10. N8 says... "Hold the Oscar ceremony in an outdoor venue and invite the public. It'd be wild" Um, yes. It sure would. Why do I imagine that Sally Kirkland ends up entertaining the masses when the A-list are too afraid to show?
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You may now return to your regularly scheduled blog programming. Nathaniel is unfortunately not a member of the WGA and is therefore still type-type-typing away...

Mood Sweengs (More Todd)

If you add up all of my mood swings in regards to the Sweeney Todd film, I think I qualify for a mental disorder -- schizophrenia, bipolar disorder... something. Is a straitjacket in my future or a padded cell? Check out this very brief snippet of the "Little Priest" number.

Mrs. Lovett: It's priest. Have a little priest.
Sweeney Todd: Is it really good?
Mrs. Lovett: Sir, it's too good, at least!
Then again, they don't commit sins of the flesh,
So it's pretty fresh.
Sweeney Todd: Awful lot of fat.
Mrs. Lovett: Only where it sat.
Sweeney Todd: Haven't you got poet, or something like that?
Mrs. Lovett: No, y'see, the trouble with poet is
'Ow do you know it's deceased?
Try the priest!

There's also snippets of "My Friends" and "Not While I'm Around" among others. I already think I love Helena Bonham-Carter as Mrs. Lovett. Or at least I want to. I've seen Lady Jane and Getting It Right for chrissakes. HBC and I go way the hell back.

Naked Gold Man: Song and Dance

He's 13 1/2 inches tall. He wears only a sword. He's shiny. Everybody wants him. This is a weekly Sunday series --keeping the Oscar discussion corraled in the weekends until the precursors begin.

Previously: Early Birds and Phoenixes

As daily readers of the blog know, I’ve been in a sour mood lately. In trying to shake it and perusing possible topics for this week’s naked gold column I had a flash of inspiration: musicals! Is there any surer over-the-counter remedy for a bad mood? Just pop one in and thrill to a little song and dance. Suddenly instead of waking up on the wrong side of bed and glowering into your coffee, you’re singing in the shower. Musicals = better moods. It’s a fact. Even depressing ones lift spirits … on account of all the serotonin locked inside of showtunes.

This year three musicals are in the mix: Once, Hairspray and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Before we consider each, let’s take a quick trip back through Oscar history. Do the Academy voters love musicals? Certainly a lot of musicals have been nominated but this was a fairly common movie genre for many decades. Just how much does the gold man prize singers and dancers?

Read the Rest for more on...
If John Travolta is nominated could he be a threat to win?
Can Once's musical affect bring it gold?
Why the quality of Johnny Depp's singing won't affect his Oscar's chances
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An Evening with Tim Burton & Sweeney Todd

I'd like to tell you a little bit about what Tim Burton said about Batman Returns, Pee Wee's Big Adventure and even Planet of the Apes last night. See, I roll like that: I don't need cinema to be new to get me chatty. But I rather think you might slash my throat and serve me up as pie if I don't get straight to the business of Sweeney Todd


They showed Tom O'Neil, myself and a few hundred other salivating folks three scenes from the Sondheim musical, roughly 17 minutes of film. Yes, I wanted the other 100 some immediately thereafter.

The scenes --all musical ones even though the movie isn't the nearly sung through operetta that the stage show is-- were in chronological order. Burton intro'ed them only by describing them something like this

'Sweeney arrives'
'Sweeney gets pissed'
'Sweeney gets down to business'

'Sweeney arrives' is the "My Friends" number from the stage show which is sung to the demon barber's blades. He hasn't seen them in years. Before the singing Sweeney (Johnny Depp) gets the skinny as to what's gone down with his family from Mrs Lovett (Helena Bonham-Carter). Rather immediately it's apparent that Burton and design team have gone for a muted Sweeney Todd. The room where Sweeney will do his barbaric barbery is unadorned and gray. The actors are going straight for haunted drama rather than the blackly comic effect of the musical's most famous version: Mrs Lovett seems matter of fact and tired; Sweeney, miserable and single minded. Their voices? Helena sounds good but we didn't get to hear much so I could be wrong. Depp's voice is sadly lacking in the power and melodic department. He sings on key and he's a strong enough actor that the performance looks to be compensating for the vocal troubles but it'll be frustrating to musical aficionados. The Sondheim lyrics are still obviously brilliant though --you can't muck that up unless you rewrite them.

Anyway....back to the scene. The barber hardly seems to notice his female companion once his blades come out. Mrs Lovett joins his song anyway. I loved the brilliant shot of Mrs Lovett reflected in Sweeney's blade, pulling him out of his song and trance.

'Sweeney gets pissed' takes you out into the streets where the same pervasive grayness rules. The song "Epiphany" is all about Sweeney Todd's misanthropy

There's a hole in the world like a great black pit
And it's filled with people who are filled with shit
And the vermin of the world inhabit it.
But not for long...

They all deserve to die.
Tell you why, Mrs. Lovett, tell you why.

Three scenes is not a lot to go on but the desaturated, almost black and white look that this production chose is fairly striking. The new movie doesn't appear to be erring on the side of Burton's typical creepy cute visual flourishes which is a very good thing. Sweeney doesn't need cute. It needs creepy. The grayness of the palette pays off beautifully in the best scene they showed, the last: the one where the red blood starts flowing.

"Johanna", one of the musical's most beloved numbers, is sung beautifully by Jamie Campbell Bower who plays Johanna's suitor Anthony. Mr Todd chimes in from time to time (for Sweeney newbies, Johanna is the demon barber's daughter whom his arch enemy Judge Turpin has adopted and raised since Sweeney was sent away) and Depp's voice works much better in the scene --when he's not asked to carry the song it's not distracting, the rough quality feels more like a character choice than a drawback. In this sequence we also see several very gruesome murders. The blood is a shock in the desaturated surroundings but what'll throw hands up over eyes and/or ears in theater is the disgusting disposal of the bodies, filmed in loving detail. Gross.

To sum up: Helena and Johnny continue to be fine actors but they don't sing as well as Broadway or other movie stars with vocal training (this shouldn't surprise anyone). We saw not a glimpse of Sacha Baron Cohen or Alan Rickman. The technical elements look great --Oscar nominations can be safely anticipated (how many is where the debate will lie). I'm now hopeful that this'll be a good scary musical drama even if the songs won't sound as great as this Sondheim fanatic was hoping for.

P.S. More on that evening with Tim Burton here

P.S. II Some Oscar thoughts re: Depp and the movie.

don't miss any posts!




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"Attend the Tale"? Sweeney Todd Trailer

"at last my arm is complete again"

The Sweeney Todd trailer has finally arrived. True to form with Tim Burton movies it looks like sweet sweet dark eye candy. Helena and Johnny both look good (from what little we can tell here). Unfortunately Hollywood's marketing departments still haven't learned the lessons of Chicago, Moulin Rouge!, Dreamgirls and Hairspray. It's not 1986 anymore. People actually like musicals again. They go to them. Those first three won Oscars. The last one had the best musical box office opening in decades. This wishy washy "it's a musical. but it's not really a musical! OK, there's some music" thing is so passé.

Notes (and a Plea) from Venice - Day 7/8

Boyd from European Films here, reporting on the ongoing Venice Film Festival

Mood: tired
Weather: sunny but not particularly warm
Films seen: Cassandra's Dream, The Nines, La graine et le mulet, Un baiser - s'il vous plaît, The Darjeeling Limited, Hotel Chevalier, Il dolce e l'amaro, En la ciudad de Sylvia, Der Freischwimmer, Mal nascida, Sukiyaki Western Django, Désengagement
People currently on the same square mile of earth as I am: Peter Greenaway, Manoel de Oliveira, Amos Gitai, Tsai Ming-Liang, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Tim Burton, Johnny Depp.

A Plea from Venice:

Dear directors (and dear editors of the aforementioned),

Life is short. Please remember this when putting your films together. Life is short. Repeat after me: Life is short. Life is short. Life is short.

Directors! What has happened to you? If the new films presented at the 2007 Venice Film Festival are any indication, anything shorter than 80 minutes is considered a short film, and anything shorter than 100 a medium-length feature. Don't you think viewers and especially critics don't have anything better to do?

Here is the evidence for my case:

Atonement: 123 minutes
Se jie (Lust, Caution): 156 minutes
Sad vacation: 136 minutes
Michael Clayton: 119 minutes
In the Valley of Elah: 120 minutes
Les amours d'Astrée et de Céladon - 109 minutes
Empire II - 180 minutes
Hotel Meina - 110 minutes
Cléopatra - 116 minutes
Cassandra's Dream - 108 minutes
La fille coupée en deux - 115 minutes The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - 155 minutes
La Graine et le mulet - 151 minutes
I'm Not There - 135 minutes
Sukiyaki Western Django - 121 minutes
Désengagement - 115 minutes
Freischwimmer - 110 minutes
Nightwatching - 134 minutes
and the list goes on...

Do you really think we have nothing else to do in life? That we have no friends, no family, no TV set, no internet connection? What is wrong with you people? If you want to mirror life in your films, please remember what I said earlier: life is short.

In the list above, there are only two films that merit every single minute of their running time: Atonement and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Both are historical epics and benefit from the long running time (in Atonement's case it should ideally have been even a bit longer; it's closing section is handled too quickly). All the other filmmakers have committed what might be a minor infraction if you are out on your semi-weekly multiplex visit, but what turns out to be something on the level of a crime against humanity if you are at a film festival.

If all the films above would have been shortened by just ten minutes, I would have had three whole hours of my life back, in which I could have: a) seen two medium-length films, b) watched the restored copy of D.W. Griffith's Intolerance playing here in Venice, c) gone out for a nice Italian meal d) gone for a swim in the Mediterranean and a nice Italian snack.

So, my dear directors, pleas bear this in mind when putting together your next film. Less is more. Life is short. Critics also like solid food instead of straw-fed Red Bull and coffee. And a dip in the Med is more than they could ever hope for. After any of the above occurrences (or -- God forbid -- a combination of them) , they might even be more mildly inclined towards your movies as they will not review them in a state of lethargy or somnambulance.

Thank you for your future consideration.

(a sleep-depraved) Boyd
editor of european-films.net and
TFE guest blogger from Venice

NB: Note to the editors working with the directors: If you feel that the film you are working on is too long, please advise the director to "jump straight into the story" (read: chop of the endless city-, landscape or other useless shots at the beginning) and to go for an "enigmatic" ending (read: chop ten to twenty minutes of the ending).

Reviews:

Though I've seen a lot more, I haven't been able to review much (or very extensively) for the past two days, since I've had about a dozen interviews that will be published in the upcoming weeks at european-films.net.

What I can give you are the two reviews of highly anticipated titles that both come with reservations: Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited and, as promised, Woody Allen's Cassandra's Dream. Both star stars and are too long but should appeal to fans of the directors. The links above are to the medium-length reviews on european-films.net.

The score board:

On the score board published in the festival daily, the French film La graine et le mulet (The Secret of the Grain) is currently the top choice of both the Italian critics and the Italian audience so far, with Branagh's Sleuth in second place for the audience and the critics placing their bets on Rohmer's Les amours d'Astrée et de Céladon. My personal top three of festival films so far: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Atonement and Se
jie (Lust, Caution).

Tim Burton & Sweeney Todd:

Earlier today, US director Tim Burton received the Career Golden Lion from the hands of an actor completely unknown to the director until the time of the ceremony: Captain Jack (the two bearded and bespectacled men can be see in the picture above, courtesy of Fabrizio Maltese). In honor of the director, the festival declared September 5 "Tim Burton Day" and screened the 3D version of The Nightmare Before Christmas and the first eight minutes of Sweeney Todd, which I haven't seen but which I have been told were quite out of the ordinary (not that anything less would have been acceptable from Burton).

The director walked down the red carpet with his rotund partner Helena Bonham Carter (she is eating lots a the moment but has good reason: she's pregnant), who plays the pie-baking Mrs Lovett in the adaptation of the Sondheim musical about the demon barber. Johnny Depp plays the sharp-cutting title character.

I'm Not Link

OK...well maybe I am a little

<--- I Watch Stuff Richard Gere and Heath Ledger as Bob Dylan in I'm Not There. new pics
Guardian Oscar winning screenwriter Christopher Hampton on adapting Atonement to the screen... "an arduous task"
Reverse Shot has an interesting piece up about the disorienting action of The Bourne Ultimatum. I admit that I was thrilled while watching but also readily agree that I had no clue where anybody was at any given time (which usually prevents me from being thrilled, go figure) I enjoyed it more as abstraction but I do hope we don't continue down this road

And finally a new pic nabbed from WG/WB (one of my favorite theater blogs) from the forthcoming Sweeney Todd with Johnny Depp as the demon barber and Helena Bonham Carter as his would be girl and accomplice Mrs. Lovett.


...a project about which I am still enormously nervous. So nervous that I'm not at all giddy though it is easily one of my favorite musicals of all time. And you know that's saying a lot. I'll be attending the tale of Sweeney Todd with nerves in turmoil
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That's What I Link About You

ModFab goes and blabs that he talked me into my NY stage debut this weekend in a reading of Charles Ludlum's insane Conquest of the Universe, or When Queens Collide. I warned them that I cannot act. My part is as small as Britney & Lindsay's rehab stints are short...
Cinematical says that "if you go to see a movie in the next couple years, there's a 50% chance Emily Blunt will be in it"
Man With Towel "things you can do when you're dead"
Wit of the Staircase informs that Tim Burton will receive honors at the Venice Film Festival along with (possibly) a sneak at Sweeney Todd. But the way things are going Todd could easily go the way of 2008.
Reel Fanatic more work for Meryl & Cate? A Margaret Thatcher biopic maybe. [that sound is the weeping of Streep & Blanchett's peers who can't seem to get a job, what with these two tireless minxes in the mix]

You didn't ask but my favorite song right this minute is "I Can't Decide" from the Scissor Sisters Ta-Dah CD. Thought I'd share.

We Can't Wait #3 Sweeney Todd

For the uninitiated an explanation and unspoilery synopsis of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. It's sometimes referred to as a true story, but it's more of an urban legend. In the 19th century a barber slits a lot of throats in London. His accomplice Mrs. Lovett disposes of the evidence in her seedy pie shop. The story has taken on many forms including straight plays, comedy sketches, songs and films but its most famous and celebrated incarnation is the Stephen Sondheim 1979 musical (or opera if you like... much of it is sung through), which starred Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Lovett and Len Cariou as the titular barber on Broadway. It's this Sondheim classic, one of the greatest musicals ever written, that's being transferred to celluloid even as I type this.

Recent Variety ad marking the start of filming. The film arrives in December 2007

Tim Burton directs his muse Johnny Depp as Mr. Todd (this marks their sixth screen collaboration) and his own lover Helena Bonham-Carter as Mrs. Lovett. Sacha Baron Cohen is Pirelli, Todd's barber rival and Alan Rickman (having a busy year) is Judge Turpin, Todd's true nemesis. The only musical theater vet in the production is 25 year old Laura Michelle Kelly (Mary Poppins from the recent British production of the musical) who plays Lucy Barker. [*a note: in the comments you'll read about musical theater vets in supporting roles --that's good news. But for some reason the IMDB does not yet list them as cast members and still has certain roles as "rumors" -ed.]

My previous posts about Tim Burton's forthcoming adaptation have all gone something like this: "worry worry worry i-love-sondheim worry worry omg-sondheim-is-a-genius worry worry miscasting worry" so I'm turning it right over to my comrades so that I don't repeat myself. Take it away guys...

Lulu: The recent Broadway revival showed just how strong the Sweeney source material is. Specifically, how it's able to be enhanced by the reimaginings of a bold director. Against popular opinion, I'm holding out hope that Burton will make something brilliant and surprising. I don't expect it to be a Sweeney I already know and, frankly, that's what I'm most excited about...

But if the sound mixing's as muddy as Wonka's, we're all doomed.

Gabriel: I've seen the musical in many different ways -- the New York City Opera revival, the video of the 1979 Broadway original, the John Doyle reimagining last year, community theatre productions, you name it -- and I think it is incredibly strong material. It's got a strong story, a powerful score, and almost iconic characters.

Angela Lansbury (the original Mrs. Lovett), Pattie Lupone (revival). Helena Bonham Carter
gets one of the all time best roles in musical theater in the film version.

What Doyle's revival in 2005 proved is that Sweeney Todd has tremendous malleability. I think that Burton's film will really put that malleability to the test, however. How does this brutally British story translate to the Hollywood culture of celebrity...with Captain Jack Sparrow in the lead? How does a musical work with performers who have little or no professional singing experience? Will Sondheim's vision be overwhelmed by Burton's detailed cartoon gothicism? I am hopeful, but I am very unsteady about how it's going to turn out.

Joe: This is one of those times where I embarrass myself in front of the cinephiles: while I had been familiar with the title “Sweeney Todd,” the first glimpse I ever got of any kind of staging of it was in Jersey Girl when Affleck and his daughter performed a song from it at the big talent show thingamajig.

I know!

In my defense, I was never a theatre kid at all. So if you’re looking for a polar opposite of Gabriel’s experience, that would be me. That being said, I am a big fan of Tim Burton, even though I have become wary whenever he chooses to adapt a known quantity, which this is. I love Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham-Carter, too, and I don’t want to have to knock them for not being able to sing, so they goddamn well better take their lessons seriously.

JA: My exposure's even less than your, Joe; I haven't even seen the Jersey Girl scene you speak of. But I am familiar with the story and the tone of the story and I think Burton could possibly do something really terrific with it, at least in the abstract form it takes in my mind.

And hopefully whatever seemingly insane iteration of Deppness we get works with the material and doesn't distract terribly like I found his Wonka to do.

George Hearns (replacement Sweeney in original B'way run) and Michael Cerveris (revival) as
Sweeney. Johnny Depp plays the murderous barber in the film version.

Nathaniel: I sometimes wish --and I realize that this is because I'm a huge film nerd -- that Hollywood would double up on production costs and let two or three films be shot with the same sets, etc... so that we could see different auterial takes on the same story. I realize this will never happen for about 4 million different reasons but I love Sweeney Todd so much I'd love to see multiple film versions so that I don't have to feel that Tim Burton's (however good or bad it may end up being) becomes "definitive"

Do you know what I mean?

JA: Do I ever! Like, I'd have loved to have seen what, say, Bruce LaBruce did with the same cast and sets as Brokeback Mountain. Ahem.

Nathaniel: OK, folks. Share your history with Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street or your thoughts about the upcoming film adaptation in the comments. Or just enjoy these Sweeney Todd clips. To your left, the opening scene of the original Broadway production and to your right, Patti Lupone doing "By the Sea" in concert.



Previous Related Articles: Mrs. Lovett on the Casting Couch Helena Bonham Carter gets the role * Cyndi Lauper in Sweeney She's auditioning for Tim Burton * John Christopher Depp ~ Top Five Actors of the Aughts.

previously on "we can't wait"
#4 Evening, #5 Lust, Caution, #6 I'm Not There, #7 Margot at the Wedding, #8 moved to 2008, #9 The Golden Compass,#10 Grindhouse, #11 Bug, #12, Sunshine, #13 Southland Tales, #14 300, #15 Hot Fuzz, #16 Stardust, #17 The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, #18 Spider-Man 3, #19 Rendition, #20 The Bourne Ultimatum
Intro -films that didn't make the list

tags: Sweeney Todd, Johnny Depp, Stephen Sondheim, Helena Bonham Carter, Patti Lupone, movies, Broadway, adaptation, Tim Burton, musicals,moviemusical

If You're Looking for Mrs. Lovett, She's on the Casting Couch.

Pardon the indelicacy but it pays to boink the director. Helena Bonham-Carter, Tim Burton's eternal fiancee, has landed the legendary role of Mrs. Lovett in his adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd. This after, apparently, lots of A list courtesy auditions for Toni Collette, Cyndi Lauper, Annette Bening, Emma Thompson, and more...

Don't misunderstand me. Helena Bonham-Carter is a fine actress. If this were The World According to Nathaniel she'd have won the Oscar in 1997 for her sensationally incisive turn in Wings of the Dove.


But Tim... Tim... Casting your girlfriend in the lead role of a difficult musical? Especially after auditioning other more consistently great actresses who have already proven they can sing superbly? It just seems so... I don't know, Hollywood producer. Not auteur like at all. Are you not taking moviemaking seriously? Couldn't Helena have played the Beggar Woman or something? That's the type of role you used to give your girlfriends: slightly backgrounded or, at most, key supporting and that was fine. A film doesn't live or die by those roles.

Now. I had heard that Stephen Sondheim had been heavily involved with the pre-production which confuses me given the casting decisions thus far. Is no one listening to him? Or am I overestimating him? They've announced four actors: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham-Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen and Jim Broadbent. I actually like all four of those actors. But only one (Broadbent) has proven he has what it takes for a musical. You'll remember that Depp was dubbed for Crybaby, with songs that are roughly 197 times easier to sing than the ones in Sweeney Todd.

I wish them all luck. I really and truly do. I hope that the casting powers-that-be know something I don't about this cast. I want this to be great --musicals being my favorite genre and this being one of my all time favorites within it. But I have a terrible sinking feeling...

Previously in my obsession with Sweeney Todd

Cyndi Lauper to Star in Sweeney Todd?

Breaking Exciting News: Cyndi Lauper let slip on her blog that she recently auditioned for Tim Burton. In her own words

I went in to audition for Tim Burton for a movie which was exciting..,

This bomb is dropped inconspicuously in the middle of run-on paragraphs about performing "Mack the Knife" from Threepenny Opera in her tour, working with a Canadian Idol, and her new hotel room. It's just thrown in there -- detail free.

This can only mean Sweeney Todd! The Tim Burton adaptation will star Johnny Depp as "the demon barber of Fleet Street" and is scheduled to start filming soon. Jim Broadbent has been widely reported as tapped to play the role of Sweeney's nemesis, Judge Turpin. As of this writing, to my knowledge no female cast members have been announced. For those unfamiliar with the mindblowing brilliance of Stephen Sondheim's musical classic, there are three female roles.

• Mrs. Lovett, the gleefully amoral owner of a horrid pie shop in London, Sweeney's willing accomplice and would be lover. It's the female lead. Angela Lansbury was the original Mrs. Lovett and her darkly comic performance is legendary. In the recent production on Broadway, Patti Lupone worked her magic in the classic role and won a Tony nomination.
  
• Johanna, Sweeney's sweet and swooning teenage daughter.
  
• Beggar Woman, a mysterious homeless woman who wanders in and out of the narrative and knows a great deal about the other characters.
  

Given Lauper's low profile as an actor, I assume this means she is in consideration for the Beggar Woman role but I really and truly hope we're talking Mrs. Lovett. This role requires a performer with a funny bone. Check. The role requires an amazing vocal gift. Check. The role requires star charisma. Check. It would be truly inspired and unexpected casting.

It's all well and good to have a huge talented star like Johnny Depp as the title character but it is actually Mrs. Lovett who is most crucial to any successful incarnation of this musical. She has a huge number of songs, she's a catalyst for much of the action, and she's also the comic relief. Before hearing of this tantalizing popstar possibility, I was hoping they'd go with one of two very legit actresses that have the right combo of dramatic range, comedic appeal, and powerhouse vocals: Imelda Staunton who is most famous for Vera Drake but happens to be an acclaimed musical theater star and Meryl Streep who we know can do anything, including sing her ass off.

What about you readers, who is your dream cast for Sweeney?



For lots more info on the musical, check out its Wikipedia page

* Thanks to my bosom buddy in Michigan, KristofferRobin (who you can spot occassionally in the comments on this blog) for making me aware of this.

Tags: movies, theater, Stephen Sondheim, cinema, Cyndi Lauper, Johnny Depp, Meryl Streep, Tim Burton, film, Broadway, musicals, celebrities

Tony Watch: BEST ACTRESS in a Musical

Previous Categories Investigated: Lead Actor, Featured Actor and Featured Actress. Watch the TONYs tomorrow night (Sunday, June 11th) on CBS! Read these entries first and you'll know more than all of your friends...

AND THE NOMINEES ARE...

Sutton Foster as "Jane Roberts" in The Drowsy Chaperone
If you've been reading the Film Experience for the past couple of years you know how I feel about Ms. Foster. I'm a fan. She was great gangly fun in her TONY Winning role in Thoroughly Modern Millie and undervalued as Jo' in the musicalized Little Women but her performance here may be favorite yet. She plays a spoiled star who is threatening to retire from showbiz. The best number in this show "I Don't Wanna Show Off" is hilarious and the choreography and Sutton herself keep extending and upping the joke which is that she doesn't mean it at all. Whenever Sutton shows off, I'll buy a ticket. Strangely for such a young and talented beauty she hasn't done any television or film. I'm glad to have her on stage but it's odd considering the general pattern of how stage careers work.

LaChanze as "Celie" in The Color Purple
This is LaChanze's sixth Broadway show and her second nomination. She's been mostly OffBroadway for the last several years having success in shows like Dessa Rose and Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin and benefit concerts. She also does frequent TV guest work.


Patti LuPone as "Mrs. Lovett" in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Patti is one of two true Broadway legends nominated in this category this year. This is her umpteenth Broadway show and her fourth nomination. Her Broadway career started in the 70s. Her one and only TONY award came for her star-making role in Evita in 1980, sixteen years before Madonna won the Golden Globe for the film version. She has worked often in TV and Film. Her most famous film appearances are arguably her brief appearance as Harrison Ford's sister in Witness or her part in the award winning ensemble of State and Main. Her new 14 song CD is called The Lady with the Torch.

Kelli O'Hara as "Babe" in The Pajama Game
This is O'Hara's sixth Broadway show and is coming right on the heels of her biggest success, last season's The Light in the Piazza which you've heard me rave about endlessly. [PLEASE NOTE: Piazza without O'Hara but still starring its headlining TONY winner Victoria Clark will be broadcast live on PBS on June 15th. If you love musical theater you'd be crazy to miss it -ed.] This is O'Hara's second consecutive nomination. I'm not impressed with her as a headliner and leading lady (too bland) but her voice is clear and beautiful and, to her credit, this performance surprised me. I think it's her best.

Chita Rivera in Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life
Patti Lupone is not the only true legend nominated this year. 73 year-old Chita has been a prized hoofer on Broadway since the mid 50s. This is her 9th nomination for her 15th Broadway run. Her resume is astonishing. She originated two roles which went on to be Oscar winning ones for others: "Anita" in West Side Story before Rita Moreno and "Velma Kelly" in Chicago before Catherine Zeta-Jones. In addition to being a trailblazer for Hispanic actresses, Chita has won two TONY Awards. The first came starring opposite Liza Minelli in The Rink and her second was for the Sonia Braga role in the Broadway adaptation of the Oscar-nominated Kiss of the Spiderwoman. Sadly, this revue of her career was not a hit with auds or critics. If it had been she would probably be a sentimental threat for the win. I saw her three years ago in Nine for which she was also nominated. And even @ 70 that woman could high-kick. She floored me.

WHO WILL WIN?: It's between LuPone and LaChanze for the prize. I think the 26 years since Patti Lupone's one and only win will tip the scales in her favor. The Color Purple is not a sure thing in any category (though certainly a threat in several) and could theoretically go home empty handed after 11 nominations... just like at the Oscars.

TONY Nominations + Movie Suggestions

STOP! Don't scroll down or click away. I know that theater news probably provokes that response in moviegoers reading this blog. But as is my way, I filter everything through a celluloid lens. We're looking briefly at the top two musical categories and offering movie counterparts to inspire your jazz hands. Pretend it's the Oscars if you must. I'll throw in movie rental ideas to keep you informed even if you're as far from glitzy Times Square as you can be.

MUSICAL the nominees are...
The Color Purple. This one's easy to enjoy on your entertainment center at home. Guess why? This category is for "new" material. But whenever they "adapt" a movie it becomes a "new" play or musical. Which is very annoying as trends go but there you have it. The music is new but I was hoping they'd at least keep "Miss Celie's Blues" (Sister) the song that was so excellent (and Oscar Nominated) in the 1985 film. *sigh* No the Steven Spielberg film version lost every Oscar it was up for...even though it was up for a whole bushel full of them. Will the same fate await Oprah Winfrey's baby musical?

The Drowsy Chaperone It's a cheeky quite funny look at a musical theater fans obsession with a particular (fictional) musical comedy. There's lots of meta joking rather like a Charlie Kauffman movie (Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) except that it's sweet too and with less serious resonant subtext. So imagine one of those as a musical only with more slapsticky hijinx. Or something lighter with excessive 'aren't I adorably naughty?' narration like maybe Ferris Bueller's Day Off. It's hard to describe but it's a really fun show. It's a kindred spirit to Noises Off too, if less hyper and brilliant in its construction. But with Noises Off I'm speaking of the play (brilliant) as opposed to the movie version (merely OK)

Jersey Boys This musical about Franki Valli and the Four Seasons is a runaway hit and the frontrunner for the win --unless the Broadway-specificity of Chaperone pushes it over the edge, which it might. Movie Suggestion? Any musical biopic would work to put you in that jukebox frame of mind. But if you're looking for matching outfits too maybe you oughta take another spin with the red jackets and shades of That Thing You Do!, remember that? Say what you will about its disposable quality but with Schaech, Scott, Tyler, Embry, and Zahn in tow it was easy on the eyes.

The Wedding Singer Like The Color Purple this is a musical adapation of a film everyone knows and presumably loves. It was a fun night at the theater but a nomination is quite excessive. It's basically the movie plunked down on stage only with the charisma of Drew Barrymore removed and some funnier bits from the periphery --as I've mentioned before Felicia Finley playing the ex-girlfriend rocker is gangbusters (she was snubbed for a supporting nomination. argh!)

Snubbed The much maligned Elton John musical Lestat based on Anne Rice's famous character. Somehow rich producer types are still trying to make vampire musicals work. Money make you stupid. Just ask les soeurs Hilton. Tarzan, which we covered earlier in our film fashion was also beaten to a pulp by Tony voters.

REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL and the nominees are...
There were only three revivals this year so view the achievement of these three nominations with that in mind.

The Pajama Game Remember when Harry Connick Jr played a psycho in that Sigourney Weaver/Holly Hunter serial thriller movie Copycat? Well that has nothing to do with this really (sorry!) but I was thinking of it during the first half hour of this musical because Harry's acting was just a little "severe" for what is ostensibly a purely oldfashioned fluffy musical comedy. At any rate this is based on the original musical which became this movie starring Doris Day. And for trivia fiends. The original Broadway musical was the one that famously gave the movie world the great Shirley Maclaine. She was an understudy who went on suddenly one night for an injured Carol Haney. Director/Producer Hal B Wallis was in the audience and Shirley was almost immediately whisked off to fame and fortune in the movies. Welcome to Hollywood!

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
In this you're on your own filmwise. Sondheim musicals are still the great untapped territory for the movie musical genre. (If you don't count his very early (mostly) lyricist work in greats like West Side Story). I think this will and should win the revival prize. It's a canonized masterpiece of the musical theater given a new intriguing minimalist spin. And, yes, the movie version which has been in development hell forever is still trying to get itself made. They're looking at 2008 now. Still now word on whether or not those Russell Crowe, Johnn Depp, or Kevin Spacey as "Sweeney" rumors were true.

The Threepenny Opera
Bertol Brecht, the creator of this über influential musical (famous songs include "Mack the Knife" and "Pirate Jenny"), was recently quoted (rather horrifically I might add) on the Oscar stage. The quote "art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it” is a great quote when looking at Brecht's work and a super annoying when used to defend Crash. To get a sense of this musical you'll want to grab a DVD focused on Weimar Germany, say, Cabaret (you can't go wrong with Cabaret) and then make it a double feature with something by Lars Von Trier, let's say Dogville since he's one of many filmmakers influenced by Brecht's theory of alienating the audience. You can substitue the Von Trier with anything by Godard or Fassbinder . Sounds like a light double feature, right?

the complete list of nominations What you'll need to know right away is that Julia Roberts was snubbed (must've been those savage reviews) for her Broadway debut. Ross David Schwimmer was also given the heave ho for his work in The Caine Mutiny Court Martial. And in the saddest news, Cyndi Lauper was also ignored even though she was the best thing (by far) about the misguided Threepenny Opera.

Other celebrity film and television stars were luckier. Mark Ruffalo, Ian McDiarmid (You know, The Emperor in the Star Wars flicks), Ralph Fiennes, Oliver Platt, Tyne Daly, Lynn Redgrave, and Cynthia Nixon (Miranda!) will all receive congratulatory phone calls this morning.

Break a leg! And if you're nowhere near a Broadway stage rent some movies as it heals and you'll be all pumped for the Tony Awards on CBS June 11th, 2006.

tags: Tarzan, Broadway, theater, movies, Tarzan, Sweeney Todd, Julia Roberts, Mark Ruffalo, Drew Barrymore, musical theater, Oprah Winfrey, Lestat, Stephen Sondheim, Cyndi Lauper