re: latest word on a follies film?
Posted by: AlanScott 05:48 am EST 11/07/24
In reply to: re: latest word on a follies film? - portenopete 11:55 am EST 11/05/24

I seem to think George Clooney has stated that he is a terrible singer, that he inherited none of his aunt's musical talent. At least your suggestions are reasonably in the right age ranges. Some of the suggestions in some (though not all) of the other responses are way too old, even if we accept that 60 or even 65 is the new 50. But viewers would be seeing the movie through present-day eyes.

I gotta say, though, that I think Buddy should be an attractive man for his age (he's having an affair with a pretty 29-year-old woman who it seems is quite in love with him) and we should be able to see that he was once very attractive. I mean, really, wasn't Gene Nelson pretty sexy? At least attractive? And I think Buddy should seem Midwestern, not East Coast urban. Maybe Ben is better-looking but Buddy should also be good-looking.

As I've said here before in a few of the many previous discussions we've had about a film version of Follies, I think it would prove highly resistant to making a good film. I'd say the same about most shows with Sondheim scores. The two directors whom I would have been interested in seeing try it were Alain Resnais and Terence Davies. Davies said that he very much wanted to make a film version of Follies. And Resnais was, of course, a great admirer of Sondheim and of Follies.

I have no interest in seeing Rob Marshall, Dominic Cooke or Bill Condon direct a film of Follies. In fact, I would rather dread the prospect. But as Sondheim would have said, even if the film were bad, the show would still exist. Of course, very sadly, it is not allowed to be seen with the full original book nowadays, and Sondheim made what I think was a very destructive lyric change in "Live, Laugh, Love" starting with Follies in Concert, and that's the way it's always done now.
reply

Previous: re: latest word on a follies film? - portenopete 11:55 am EST 11/05/24
Next: re: latest word on a follies film? - Chazwaza 03:09 pm EST 11/07/24
Thread:


Time to render: 0.091934 seconds.