Abandoned film adaptations of Broadway shows?

[MarkZoetrope]

Posted: 5/22/15 at 7:33pm

Hello there - I'm currently doing some research on Broadway shows that were, at one point, mooted for a film transfer - but which ultimately never materialised. Here are some I can think of:

FOLLIES (mid-70s with the MGM cohort, late 2000s with Sam Mendes, presently with Rob Marshall)

SUNSET BOULEVARD (at one point, William Friedkin was rumoured to helm a Streisand starrer. Speculation has always followed Close, Streep, Minnelli et al.)

GYPSY with Streisand (late 80s, 2011-present))

A television MAME (also with Streisand and variously Cher and Goldie Hawn), circa 2000

SOUTH PACIFIC (to be produced by Bob Balaban and Ileen Maisell) - speculation focused on Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams and Justin Timberlake for the leads.

DAMN YANKEES - with Jim Carrey and Jake Gyllenhaal

An Emma Thompson-scripted MY FAIR LADY

PIPPIN for the Weinstein Company

Not to mention abandoned takes on musicals that were eventually filmed with other directors (ie Beresford's LES MIZ, Ken Russell's EVITA, Jim Henson's INTO THE WOODS, or A CHORUS LINE with Mike Nichols, Sidney Lumet or Joel Schumacher).

If you could help a movie fan out, it would be much appreciated!

Updated On: 8/9/15 at 07:33 PM

[Bilbo3]

Posted: 5/22/15 at 7:39pm

Spring Awakening is in development hell i think. It was supposed to come out in 2016 but that's definitely not happening.

 

[ggersten]

Posted: 5/22/15 at 7:48pm

In The Heights had a director - and then got cancelled.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 5/22/15 at 7:55pm

Tina Fey wrote a draft of Bye Bye Birdie, around 2004 I believe, that Adam Shankman was attached to after Hairspray became a huge success.  Last news I remember hearing about that was about five years ago or so.

[Fantod]

Posted: 5/22/15 at 9:05pm

Promises, Promises

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 5/22/15 at 9:12pm

SHE LOVES ME was talked about as a film reuniting Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke in the late '60s. It never happened sadly. 

[darquegk]

Posted: 5/22/15 at 9:13pm

Fey recycled large amounts of Birdie into 30 Rock and Unreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Tracy Jordan and Liz Lemon are eccentric loose-cannon rapper Birdie and female Albert analogue manager. And Jane Krakowski's dysfunctional family on Kimmy was the modern Peterson family.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 5/22/15 at 9:55pm

Bloomer Girl with Shirley Maclaine

The subject of the law case and famous contract decision, Parker v. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp

[CapnHook]

Posted: 5/22/15 at 9:56pm

John Landis was going to direct BAT BOY. Never happened.

URINETOWN had a studio acquire the rights. Never happened.

Marilyn Manson was going to do a TV version of Rocky Horror. Never happened.

Miramax was going to do a remake of CAROUSEL with Hugh Jackman. Never happened.

BARNUM with Hugh Jackman. Never happened.

A hip hop remake of BYE BYE BIRDIE had a screenplay get bought by a studio but it was never greenlit.

 

[darquegk]

Posted: 5/22/15 at 9:58pm

The hip-hop Birdie was Fey, and it was to be a non-musical adaptation.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 5/22/15 at 10:11pm

Wrong, at least not what I refer to. Stuart Blumberg did the screenplay and Jon Chu was to direct.

Other abandoned projects include BOMBAY DREAMS, GUYS AND DOLLS (with Hugh Jackman), THE FULL MONTY, SUNSET BLVD, PIPPIN, JEKYLL AND HYDE, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (a TV Musical with Victor Garber as Tevye), DAMN YANKEES (with Hugh Jackman), and countless others. I could go on.

the short answer as to why many of these projects did not move forward is because in 2003 with the unexpected success of CHICAGO, movie studios wanted the next hit movie musical. They optioned the rights to shows left and right. Only a few actually made it (RENT, THE PRODUCERS, ACROSS THE UNIVERSE). Because those were bombs, studios were nervous to commit and let CHICAGO be the one hit wonder that it was. There were other successful musicals. DREAMGIRLS hit, NINE flopped, SWEENEY TODD didn't do too badly. In the end, major movie musical plans hit dead ends. Miramax was the only studio that intended to proceed before the studio shattered.

Updated On: 5/22/15 at 10:11 PM

[AHLiebross]

Posted: 5/23/15 at 12:13am

The Phantom of the Opera was mentioned as a possible movie musical as early as the 1990's, if not sooner. The plan was to use the original cast members in the leads -- at least Crawford and Brightman. The film never got made, in part because ALW had some problems going on, not the least of which was his divorce from Sarah Brightman.

I think there was another attempt to set up a film version before the 2004 version came to fruition. I remember a Web site dedicated to seeing the original cast reunite for the film -- of course, by the time POTO was actually filmed, Sarah Brightman was too old, and Michael Crawford was considered too old. Among the folks mentioned to play the Phantom were Richard Gere and Antonio Banderas.

Audrey

 

[Bilbo3]

Posted: 5/23/15 at 12:29am

Whatever happened to that Guys and Dolls film with Joseph Gordon Levit and Channing Tatum? 

 

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 5/23/15 at 12:42am

The TV version of Superman should have been abandoned. It was horrible.

[twotrey]

Posted: 5/23/15 at 1:02am

Jon Favreau was set to direct JERSEY BOYS and was in the middle of casting in 2012 when it was abruptly put into turnaround.  Then a year later it was revived with Clint Eastwood.

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 5/23/15 at 1:09am

I'd forgotten about those horrors 

[Elfuhbuh]

Posted: 5/23/15 at 1:17am

Not Broadway, but I remember reading somewhere that they wanted to make a movie version of Tanz der Vampire over in Europe, possibly starring Roman Polanski as the bumbling Professor Abronsius (a kind of turn-around from his role as Alfred in the original "The Fearless Vampire Killers" film).


A film adaptation of the Beauty and the Beast stage musical was also in the works at some point before being shelved, although one could argue that with the new film possibly using songs from the stage show this project (or at least some variation of it) is back in action.

[seahag2]

Posted: 5/23/15 at 1:33am

Isn't 13 getting a film? And I've heard of In the Heights, Wicked, Spring Awakening, and Next to Normal possibly getting a film about a thousand times in the last 7 years

[Tag]

Posted: 5/23/15 at 1:50am

In '99/'00 there were plans for a Grease 3, staring Britney Spears & Justin Timberlake, and other pop stars of the time in supporting roles.  The project was apparently transitioned into what High School Musical became.

[LittleEdieFan]

Posted: 5/23/15 at 2:03am

The Drowsy Chaperone with Geoffrey Rush as Man in Chair.

Updated On: 5/23/15 at 02:03 AM

[Fantod]

Posted: 5/23/15 at 3:05am

Wrong thread

Updated On: 5/23/15 at 03:05 AM

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 5/23/15 at 3:53am

Since about 2001, a remake of Jesus Christ Superstar has been in and out of development hell several times. (Be warned; this is a long post, not only because I'm thorough but because, in the Internet age, this may just be one of the most documented undeveloped projects of this kind out there owing to the names involved.)

In the wake of the success of Moulin Rouge, Craig Pearce (Baz Luhrmann's longtime collaborator, in particular on the so-called "Velvet Curtain" trilogy) was offered a solo development deal at Universal that focused on two projects, namely a remake of Carmen for Jennifer Lopez and the JCS reboot. An article at the time described the project as "a Hollywood film [...] that, in the style of Romeo + Juliet, combines both traditional Middle Eastern and hard-edged contemporary images evoking both Desert Storm and the British in Ireland." Pearce was further quoted as saying: "Jesus Christ Superstar was originally written as a concert piece. They were going to get a playwright to write a book but they never did, so it's kind of like edited highlights of the last stage of Jesus' life. This is an attempt to expand the narrative so you have more insight into the characters and a more satisfying narrative journey using the fabulous Rice/Lloyd Webber music." A later EW blurb revealed, from Pearce: "It's taking the original music and setting it in a created world, based on a 21st-century world." Whatever he did must have worked, because the initial draft was described as "superlative" in Variety, or at least good enough for Universal to okay his pitch on the (currently equally un-produced) JLo Carmen.

A further article at the time on screenwriters communicating with their studios by email, then a relatively new phenomenon worthy of writing about, reveals: "...the first draft of Superstar led to 10 pages of script notes from the studio, including many suggestions that were 'quite frankly, ridiculous'. [...] Pearce wrote 10 pages of his own notes back to argue passionately 'either for or against' every concern that had been raised. That debate led to an improved second draft."

A later interview with the Australian Writers' Guild (equivalent of our WGA) yielded further interesting info:

"In 2001 I wrote Jesus Christ Superstar, but now it's a bit controversial because of the war. Just the songs of Superstar together give a broad arc of the story. It was a matter of taking the songs and looking at what they meant and trying to create that world. The screenplay that I wrote has a much stronger sense of narrative than the '70s film. It is not as open-ended as that film which does not take a position on whether Jesus was an extraordinary man or supernatural. I took the position that he was an extraordinary man but mortal. A cross between Martin Luther King, Gandhi and Eminem. If I'm working alone, the first thing I do is ask myself 'What's the idea? What's the heart of the idea? How do you express that cinematically?' For Jesus Christ Superstar, I started with the songs. I listened to them, as if each song was a mini-movie and asked all those basic Stanislavskian questions: Who? What? Where? Why?

[...]

I set the film in the modern world as if Christianity never existed. The world is ruled by a fascist, technologically superior force. Visually the members of this force look like NATO with a fascistic edge.

[...]

After I did my initial thinking about the world I went to Israel and Jordan for two weeks. I ran around with a video camera and looked at all of the religious sites. I did a lot of reading into religion and spirituality. A big part of it was trying to get to the heart of who Jesus was for me. I got inspired by the imagery of that land. I saw Arabs riding on camels with turbans on their heads talking on mobile phones; houses standing alone in the middles of olive groves with satellite dishes beside them.

[...]

At the reading I read all the characters and every stage direction. Initially I read to trusted friends and colleagues - people I know who are basically on my side and will give me honest feedback. I knew when I was delivering the first draft of Jesus Christ Superstar that they wouldn't get it reading it off the page. So I rang the producer and said 'The first time I want you to see the script is when I read it to you.' The executives from Universal very politely rang back and said, 'How many actors do we need at this reading?' 'None, just me,' I said. 'Okay okay,' they replied. Then they rang back again. 'I just want to check Craig, how many actors?' 'No Mar[c], just me.' The next day. 'Hey Craig, how about we get some actors for this reading?' The reason I do this is I know the rhythm. At the beginning of that reading it was like when a really good friend is about to make a fool of himself. But they loved it."

(Spelling corrected above for reasons that will become apparent below.)

In 2009, when giving a talk in Australia at the National Screenwriters' Conference, Pearce elaborated further on his JCS involvement (subscription only, but I repost the relevant paragraph here): "Craig was subsequently given the task by Universal Studios of writing scenes to put in between songs for the film version of Jesus Christ Superstar. Craig observed that JCS is a musical, that all dialogue is sung and that the story is also the music. This led him to propose that there was material in the pre-JCS days to explore. After finishing his 1st draft Craig rang the producers to say he would deliver the draft himself, that he would present a complete read-thru of his musical. The producers wanted actors for the read-thru. As a cost saving measure in rehearsals alone, it was worth Craig presenting it himself, and he convinced the studio he could sing all the characters and the full story to them. Since that first illustrious read-sing-thru, Craig has had to submit numerous drafts and each time he is flown across to sing it solo to the producers."

Additionally, though he was initially developing the project without frequent collaborator Luhrmann's help, it's worth noting that, at the time of Andrew Lloyd Webber's prostate surgery in 2010, ALW and Tim Rice met with Luhrmann (Ctrl+F is your friend) to discuss the possible remake, which strongly suggests to me that the Pearce screenplay was still in play.

At any rate, aside from the Luhrmann story in 2010, all of this was the last anyone heard of it until 2008, when it was announced that Marc Platt entered a new development deal with Universal, and JCS was among the projects on his slate. According to the rumor mill, in the slipstream of the success of (500) Days of Summer, Platt wanted Marc Webb for director, though the studio was not especially interested and did not enter negotiations. As always, casting rumors swept the industry right after this announcement, suggesting that Russell Brand (!) was in the running for Jesus (some sources here -- click each word for a different one), and that Nicole Scherzinger, current ALW favorite, was a front-runner for Mary Magdalene, but no casting ever firmed up.

Interesting, no doubt, but I really feel, after everything I've heard, like Pearce's idea was an attempt at a better execution of what the 2000 revival and 2012 arena tour tried to do. Can't say I'm impressed, or particularly upset that it doesn't seem to be happening.

Updated On: 5/23/15 at 03:53 AM

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 5/23/15 at 8:33am

Briefly in the 70s I recall talk of a remake of The Merry Widow (which had a 416 perf. Bdwy run in 1906-1907).

To star Barbra Streisand and be directed by Ingmar Bergman.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 5/23/15 at 9:46am

^ It was supposed to have new lyrics by Sondheim as well. He discusses it at length in the chapter on A Little Night Music in "Finishing the Hat."

[broadwayboy223]

Posted: 5/23/15 at 2:53pm

Babs in the Merry Widow would have  been so interesting. Wasn't there also an original Sondheim movie musical that was written for her? Barbra was approached for Evita but she declined because she was jewish. Liza was screen-tested and apparently was fantastic. Instead of a great movie like this we got the trashy Evita lowered keys version. Madonna did look beautiful though.

Updated On: 5/23/15 at 02:53 PM