Shhhhhhh. Dorothy has had a long day. As a 'Friend of...' I share in her exhaustion so I'll be back to blogging tomorrow. But first...
Cast This! See in truth I'm not dozing with the poppies. I'm actually off to see Wicked for the second time (I haven't seen it since the original cast. It's years later so....wish me luck. You know how these Broadway shows depreciate). When they make the inevitable movie version about Glinda and the Wicked Witch's pre Dorothy days who would you like to see cast as the bubbly good witch and her moody green skinned frenemy? They'd need to be 20something, charismatic and gifted at both singing, pathos and comedy. Who should play their carefree mutual love interest Fiyero? And finally which classic old stars would you love to see dragged out of movie retirement and into those plum supporting parts (Madame Morrible and The Wizard)? Who could possibly make it into a great movie in the director's chair? He/She would have to be wizardly, too.
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57 comments:
elphaba... anne hathaway
glinda... michelle williams [can she sing?]
fiyero... james mcavoy
just some thounghts
oh my ... anne hathaway ... NICE!
elpahaba-agreed on anne hathaway
galinda-amy adams
fiyero-james marsden (an enchanted reteaming!)
madame morrible- angela lansbury
the wizard- frank langella (looks the part, some minor singing lessons could only help)
this is fun!
Ooh, Anne Hathaway. Très inspired!
Amanda Seyfried for Glinda?
James Marsden as Fiyero?
Ooh, Kevin D. and I think alike!
I thought of Amy Adams too, but is that too expected?
elphaba - anne hathaway obvi
glinda - kristen bell (watch "Reefer Madness" and you'll understand)
i can totally see anne hathaway and amy adams starring...
and I have a huge hunch that it WILL be Amy Adams.
And... Julie Andrews as Madame Morrible? :D
Jim Broadbent as The Wizard with some good old prosthetics?
I cannot think of anyone for Fiyero... James Marsden is OK, but I'm sure there's better choices.
I don't understand why they can't just get Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel to do it. They are pretty big stars in their own right. It's not like they've never done anything in the screen medium before. If you have something that works (commercially) why mess with it?
Then again, I suppose if you cast Anne Hathaway and Amy Adams you get the movie star audience AND the Wicked theater fans on top of it. Sigh, I just answered my own question. And I suppose keeping the theater stars didn't work too well (commercially) for Rent and The Producers.
I actually think this kind of thing could be an interesting project for Baz Lurhman. He needs to work on a non-original script that happens to cater to his particular brand of spectacular spectacularity. Then he can serve the story without being able to go too far off the deep end, or get too tonally confused.
Maybe even Sam Mendes? He needs to work on something that's SUPPOSED to look pretty.
Otherwise... who are some of the people who directed "Pushing Daisies"? Its candy-colored theatricality is perfect for this.
I'm actually warming to the idea of Anne Hathaway and Amy Adams. They have relatively equal and compatible star wattage, each with a new hint of "prestige" about them, and they'd fit the roles. With them, the project has instant globe nominations and built-in audience. And possibly more.
OK, so I just realized Idina Menzel is pushing 40, and Kristin is already there. Nevermind. They were already so old when they originated the roles...!
Anne Hathaway and Amy Adams it is.
Oh, easily Anne Hathaway for Elphaba and Amy Adams for Glinda.
If Baz has anything good left in him (loathed that Oscar medley), Wicked would be the perfect place to show it.
Or how about the Wachowskis? Would be interesting to see their art direction for Oz and perhaps see them get into some of the bigger sexual themes from the book.
Elphaba: Anne Hathaway
Glinda: Amy Adams (or is she too old?)
Wizard: Joel Grey
Morrible: Angela Lansbury
Agreed with Anne Hathaway and Kristen Bell... when I saw it on Broadway Rue McClanahan played Madame Morrible and she was pretty fantastic.
I see I'm not the only one whose mind immediately drifted to Anne Hathaway upon reading this post. As a musical theatre performer myself, I would hate to see a cast populated by people who are famous but can't sing a note.
Amy Adams is too old, and please, not another "innocent". No Adams please!
I think Hathaway would be a better Glinda actually....but, she obviously has the chops to do either.
James Marsden for anything.
umm Wicked the Book >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Wicked the Musical. I hope if they do a movie version it BETTER be the book.
Elphaba= Kerry Washington
umm Elphaba is green so she doesn't have to be White people "roll eyes"
Unfortunately I'm still a Wicked virgin. This will change soon though, it has FINALLY come to Australia. At the moment its teasing me playing in Melbourne, so I'll either have to fly down and see it or wait even longer for it to come to Sydney.
Amanda Seyfried & Emmy Rossum.
i could definitely see Amanda Seyfried as Glinda. Just think of her ease with comedic timing in Mean Girls and she can sing too.
and Anne Hathaway in any musical actually
will and Kevid D angela lansbury would be a good Morrible!
I actually prefer the book as well. The Musical is fine, but the book was better.
I think Kerry is a great actress. Hollywood should cast her in more roles and she would be good as Elphaba.
Amanda Seyfried as Glinda
No to Anne Hathaway and I'm sick of Amy Adams playing the same character in EVERY movie.
Melissa
Off-Topic:
Browsing through the old FB pages, I noticed that Meryl Streep got a Best Actress citation for her performance in Prime. (?!)
Seriously? To me that represents everything that's wrong with Meryl Streep as an actress, probably her biggest misstep of the past 20 years. To me, that's the definition of "mannered Meryl."
I saw Carol Kane play Madame Morrible in the road show. She was terrific and I would love to see her in another strong movie role.
Hayden. I don't remember Prime that well but I didn't nominate her or anything. I must have just had her in the top 12.
Yeah, but putting her in over Claire Danes for Shopgirl (my personal win) is the deepest cut, nevermind before above average work from Nicole Kidman (The Interpreter), Radha Mitchell (Melinda and Melinda), Cameron Diaz (In Her Shoes), Glenn Close (Heights), Penelope Cruz (Don't Move) or, hell, even Jodie Foster doing her "lockdown mode" in Flightplan.
I mean, I'm just saying that I thought Streep was downright BAD, and any other lead actress from 2005 could have easily taken her place. And I know she was only a semifinalist.
I thought Thurman was pretty mediocre in Prime but I'd even be able to overlook a mention of her because she did her job and you really like her. I don't care how big your Meryl fetish is, Prime was the biggest stinking turd Meryl's given us since when? Music of the Heart? Marvin's room? *tick, tick, tick, tick* indeed. Meryl's clockwork has never creaked louder.
@joeblow: "glinda - kristen bell (watch "Reefer Madness" and you'll understand)"
Kristen Bell would probably be my first choice for Glinda too -- except while she is amazing in Reefer Madness, her upper register isn't strong enough to pull off Glinda's operatic sections, particularly in No One Mourns the Wicked.
@seasondays: it's funny you should say James McAvoy for Fiyero... he's more of a Boq don't you think?
And the Wizard is obviously... Christopher Walken. Because that would be too funny.
I'd really much rather see an adaptation of the novel than the musical. It would make a far better film. In fact, even the novel's sequels would make good films. I just finished "A Lion Among Men" and couldn't stop picturing Judi Dench as Yackle and a stuffy John Hurt/Rupert Everett type as the Cowardly Lion.
Keep the original cast. And what's so fucking smart about thinking about Anna Hathaway? She's pretty much everywhere. But news: Elphaba is one of the toughest singing role on broadway, no way she can pull it off.
I've seen Wicked 4 times now... Enjoy!
un francais admittedly we don't know a lot of what singing talent lurks in young hollywood but I'd hesitate to say that Anne Hathaway couldn't pull it off. I'd say she'd be your best bet pre-auditions in that we already know she sounded A LOT better in her Oscar number than many recent stars of movie musicals. She sounded exactly like a trained singer, in fact.
but anyway. I'm hardline about musicals. I get any when they cast based on stardom rather than singing talent. But this is a long way of saying I think Anne has the singing talent.
Anne Hathaway can obviously sing outside of a recording studio. Hathaway doesn't need to be created by a technician.
Sound engineers can put together a decent performance from almost anyone. I mean...look at Hilary Duff for God's sake.
I get irked when I hear things like, Keira Knightly may play Eliza Dolittle in My Fair Lady. That makes me wonder, didn't they learn anything the last time? People like Knightly and Kirsten Dunst in Spiderman 3 are very engineered and it shows...hears. It may be passable, but why not get a real singer and let her really kick ass?
Speaking of Mean Girls...Lacey Chabert can sing better then Seyfried. Lacey was a New York kid, who came up through the Cosette/Eponine ranks.
This is also a long way of saying I think Hathaway has the singing talent as well.
For some reason my mind went straight to Anne Hathaway... for Glinda. Could Hathaway, if she was cast as Elphaba, sing "Defying Gravity". The entire performance - the entire MOVIE - would revolve around that moment much like Dreamgirls revolved around "And I Am Telling You" and so on. I'm not sure she could.
Amanda Seyfriend is another good choice for Glinda though.
I love the idea of Angela Lansbury as Morrible. The James McAvoy for Fiyero is a great one too. He can do cocky for sure, but also adorable and sweet.
What about Nicole Kidman? Where would Baz, should he choose to direct it, put her?
I never saw Wicked during its initial run because of my Kristin C. aversion. And now its seems too late to see it.
How is the current cast? Are they oversinging?
I hope they never cast Vanessa Redgrave in the movie (see Camelot).
If Hathaway is cast, they are sure to ask Streep to do something.
And please no Baz or Rob Marshall for the movie version of Wicked.
gabrieloak -- there's no part good enough for Streep (Morrible is slightly fun but in a really low key former star way --not enough of a role for a headliner unless Streep is willing to go back to her cameo/Lemony Snicket thing ;)
and as for oversinging in Wicked. It was ALWAYS oversung. I'm in the minority but I thought Kristin C was the best thing in the show period (I was never totally sold on Idinia who can sing but was screaming her way through the songs alot. Talk about tearing up your vocal chords!)
but i thought the current cast was pretty good. They did not seem tired or bored as some long running show casts do.
and by Idinia I obviously meant Idina
If they make a movie version, I would like it resemble the book a bit more. But I loved the musical.
And btw, the profile picture creeps the shit out of me.
.....morrible - lansbury would be great....or what about a comeback for carol burnett?
Please - no to kate hudson.
what about reese witherspoon???
I was also thinking Reese Witherspoon for Glinda.
As for Elphaba, I'm sure Anne would do fine, but for some reason Rachel McAdams popped into my head. No idea if she can sing, but if she can I feel like she'd be a great fit.
Is it weird that I think I'd want Rob Marshall to direct it?
Mila Kunis. I can't believe no one has offered that option! She could do either part. And she can sing.
I'll throw in Amanda Bynes as a young option.
Elijah Kelley for Fiyero. His charisma in Hairspray made Zac Efron look like the sad little boy he is.
Amanda Bynes?!?! Hahahahahahaha!
Oh...that was funny.
well, regardless - i can't wait. i loved "Wicked". also LOVED "Jersy Boys" - which i think could be a great movie....no stars / names are necessary, just talent.
Rachel McAdams or Kristen Bell as Glinda?
If they were a few years younger I'd cast Reese Witherspoon for Glinda and Sarah Jessica Parker for Elphaba.
Angela Lansbury as Madame Morrible. Anne Hathaway as Elphaba would be cool. I think Brittany Snow and Elijah Kelley as Galinda and Fiyero, respectively, could sit well. And dammit, let's just get Joel Grey back as the Wizard. He's from the Original Cast, he's an Oscar Winner, and holy crap he was awesome in Choke.
Anika Noni Rose for Glinda and Emily Blunt for Elphaba.
I'm glad I'm not the only one on here that thinks outside of the "White Box"
`Keysh
I actually think Anne Hathaway would be perfect for Elphaba. She has the chops, and it fits her star persona perfectly - the role is like Disney musical meets Kym in Rachel Getting Married. It's also very mainstream while still vaguely awardable - it could net her a GG at least - and would be an ace career move for her. If she pulled it off and the movie made tons of tough, she'd be an even bigger and more respected star when it was all over.
I'm not sure I see Amanda Seyfried as Glinda. She doesn't seem squeaky clean enough. I don't think she has the right kind of voice for it. She has a sexy pop voice. Whereas Amy Adams has the perfect overly high, overly-Disnified, squeakily Chenowethesque voice. And I think it's a fun role for Adams because it gives her shades of obnoxiousness to overlay onto the sweetness for which she's so well known. And I think Adams' obnoxious sweetness would just make Hathaway seem that much more Elphabaesque.
Honestly, if it's being made in the next few years and I had to place bets, I'd say those two easily. And it would make bank.
Sarah Jessica Parker for Elphaba, though, could've been BRILLIANT.
I saw Sarah Jessica Parker in How To Succeed In Business some years ago, and trust me...she can not sing Elphaba.
She could barely get through Rosemary's songs.
walter while i was watching this on saturday I totally missed Joel Grey (the new guy was good but Joel Grey is Joel Grey)
it's so strange/magical that just a few random scattered dance moves (The Wizard doesn't have much to do in that play) can be so thrilling if you have a legend doing them.
Adam K... you make a good point about Anne Hathaway and Amy Adams, if only because they are the two biggest rising stars of today. You know, they're the two young women that you would say are pretty much guaranteed an oscar within the next few years.
Nathaniel... I agree with you on Kristen Chenoweth being the strongest part of the opening cast... I don't find Idina Menzel to be a very convincing actress and some of her vocal choices bug me when compared to Kerry Ellis, her west end counterpart. But then, the Elphaba of the musical is not a particularly good character. Having a knockout belting song every second scene doesn't mean strong or interesting characterisation, so Glinda is the best role in the musical anyway.
By the way, is there any chance for Ms. Lansbury to win her fifth Tony this year for "Blithe Spirit"?
Glinda - Carrie Underwood
Elphaba - Katharine McPhee ("The House Bunny", "You May Not Kiss The Bride")
Anne Hathaway- Elphaba
Reese Witherspoon- Galinda
James Marsden- Fiyero
Kristin Chenoweth- Madame Morrible
Do also like the ideas of Amy Adams and Amanda Seyfried...how about Dominic Cooper as Fiyero.
I love the combo idea of Anne Hathaway and Emmy Rossum. Not sure who'd be better for which part...I see Emmy as Glinda moreso...and if Anne can sing as well as it seems, she's perfect for Elphaba. I adore Angela Lansbury so I'm on board with that, but I enjoyed the Carol Burnett or Julie Andrews or Rue McClanahan options too. I think Joel Grey can def repeat on the Wizard. Fiyero is tricky. Can James McAvoy sing? If so, I'm sold. Otherwise, not sure.
And I'm also very much of the opinion that they should film the BOOK. I adore the show, but the book is shatteringly good.
Elphaba: Anne Hathaway (if she wants the role its hers, thats how powerful she is right now).
G(a)linda: Amy Adams (having this two opposite eachother in this movie its called 'brilliant casting'. Plus, She pretty much auditioned during her SNL hosting).
Nessa: Emmy Rossum.
Madame Morrible: Meryl Streep (she has to be in the movie if Hathaway is... Pulling a cameo a-la lemony snicket will be fantastic).
I think Kristen Bell sounds good as G(a)linda, Amanda Seyfried I dunno.
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