Richard Linklater - Merrily We Roll Along- Page 5

[BJR]

Posted: 7/8/20 at 9:44am

I still hope it happens, as Platt and Feldstein are brilliantly cast. But it's always been such a huge gamble, since that's a long time to bet on people.

Also, he brings up the matter of scheduling(!). It's a big task to keep needing more time every couple years!

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 7/8/20 at 11:38am

It's a passion project. The key to the new Frank is that person will need to have as much passion as Platt and Feldstein for MERRILY and what this experiment could yield in 20+ years. But remember also, in terms of scheduling, they'll probably shoot for 1-2 weeks every few years. Finding a few days when 4-8 people's schedules align isn't all that difficult, as long as everyone lives and remains reasonably vocally talented.

I'm not getting my hopes up to ever see it, but it's far more interesting than other passion projects. It may not work, but it's a really interesting experiment. And considering the involvement of Blumhouse, Linklater, and the Platt family, money and clout isn't an issue.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 7/8/20 at 12:05pm

I suspect that Linklater is driven by the fact that Boyhood was arguably his most critically acclaimed movie.  The movies he has done since then have been failures, the one with Cate Blanchette a disaster critically and financially.  

Add to that that there has almost always been an issue on stage (the kids playing adults look stupid, the adults playing kids can look stupid).  

I suspect that he is falling back to the technique that gave him his biggest success, and 'solving' the age issue, with a sledgehammer.  This is not Boyhood, where the central role ages from a young boy to a young adult.  With Merrily, since the leads are not old men / women at the beginning of the show, however, i can't imagine that brilliant make-up people could not have solved that issue. 

My issue: what happens if a key player dies, loses his /  her voice, etc.?  Seems like that is an unnecessary risk, but the odds are admittedly very low, so a manageable one.  

In the final analysis, it is probably a little bit of a Linklater vanity project, one that will probably keep me from seeing the finished product, as I am 70. 

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 7/8/20 at 2:35pm

I just don't see this happening due to so many variables and things potentially happening in the next 20  years. It's very ambitious and exciting to think about at first. But, in reality I don't think it will work. 

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 7/8/20 at 2:41pm

“Starting over” sounds a bit like “cancelled.”

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 7/8/20 at 2:59pm

Did they have the initial shoot before or after the news about Blake Jenner came out? Anyone know?

[Ledaero]

Posted: 7/8/20 at 7:04pm

Jarethan said: "I suspect that Linklater is driven by the fact that Boyhood was arguably his most critically acclaimed movie. The movies he has done since then have been failures, the one with Cate Blanchette a disaster critically and financially.

Add to that that there has almost always been an issue on stage (the kids playing adults look stupid, the adults playing kids can look stupid).

I suspect that he is falling back to the technique that gave him his biggest success, and 'solving' the age issue, with a sledgehammer. This is not Boyhood, where the central role ages from a young boy to a young adult. With Merrily, since the leads are not old men / women at the beginning of the show, however, i can't imagine that brilliant make-up people could not have solved that issue.

My issue: what happens if a key player dies, loses his / her voice, etc.? Seems like that is an unnecessary risk, but the odds are admittedly very low, so a manageable one.

In the final analysis, it is probably a little bitof a Linklater vanity project, one that will probably keep me from seeing the finished product, as I am 70."

You're ignoring the rest of Linklater's body of work. He has always been interested in the concept of time, and how it can be expressed through the medium of film. It's not only Boyhood. Arguably his even bigger critical success is the Before Trilogy, which has been doing real-time shooting for 18 years (so far). So it isn't a gimmick that he's doing this project. Merrily aligns perfectly with his thematic interests.

I'm also not optimistic about the likelihood of its completion. It's a lot of years (20 years, not counting the graduation sequences if he uses them) for everything to go right. Linklater is almost 60 years-old, so I think the biggest risk would be his death before the project can wrap up. But I sure hope the passion behind the project drives everything to work out!!! It would be one of the most monumental achievements in cinematic history if they can all pull it off, and it'd be the ultimate capstone to Linklater's incredible canon.

Updated On: 7/8/20 at 07:04 PM

[CT2NYC]

Posted: 7/8/20 at 8:25pm

Call_me_jorge said: "Did they have the initial shoot before or after the news about Blake Jenner came out? Anyone know?"

Before. When the film was announced last August, they had already filmed the first sequence. The Melissa Benoist story came out in November.

[Valyitz]

Posted: 7/13/20 at 7:34pm

I'll be quite relieved if they're recasting Frank! I really like Merrily and think it will be really cool if this movie comes to fruition one day, but his involvement was very much putting me off the whole thing.

[bear88]

Posted: 7/17/20 at 3:27am

Ledaero said: "You're ignoring the rest of Linklater's body of work. He has always been interested in the concept of time, and how it can be expressed through the medium of film. It's not onlyBoyhood. Arguably his even bigger critical success is theBefore Trilogy, which has been doing real-time shooting for 18years (so far). So it isn't a gimmick that he's doing this project.Merrily aligns perfectly with his thematic interests.

I'm also not optimistic about the likelihood of its completion. It's a lot of years (20 years, not counting the graduation sequences if he uses them) for everything to go right. Linklater is almost 60 years-old, so I think the biggest risk would be his death before the project can wrap up. But I sure hope the passion behind the project drives everything to work out!!! It would be one of the most monumental achievements in cinematic history if they can all pull it off, and it'd be the ultimate capstone to Linklater's incredible canon."

I agree that Linklater's biggest critical successes, and films I really like, have involved the passage of time, and how people change. The Before Series is a perfect example (though it's three different films shot at different times, unlike Boyhood). This made me more optimistic than some about him taking on Merrily. It's obviously a passion project for him, and for the people involved. Would it take extraordinary good fortune for it to work, given its famously problematic book? Yes, and it sounds like they already aren't having extraordinary good fortune.

But if this film ever happens, I do think it's more possible to make Merrily work on film. It's trickier than Boyhood because you've got a larger cast, and it's a musical set decades in the past. There are a lot of moving parts, with the potential for things to go wrong. And it sounds like one thing already has gone wrong, even if we can only speculate. 

My strong suspicion is that Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened, Lonny Price's wonderful documentary, will be the best Merrily film we get - if not the only one. I still hope they're able to give it a shot.

[bear88]

Posted: 6/23/21 at 5:22am

I'm putting my question about this project in the right thread.

A story listing a bunch of upcoming musicals mentioned Merrily We Roll Along, and the last I heard of it they had scrapped whatever had been filmed before the pandemic and there was a question about one of the cast members. 

I know, this project seemed like quite the longshot even when it was announced in 2019 and it apparently won't appear for another 20 years - if ever. But I was curious if anyone knew if they were quietly dropping it or if was just quietly moving along.

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 6/23/21 at 12:34pm

bear88 said: "I'm putting my question about this project in the right thread.

A story listing a bunch of upcoming musicals mentioned Merrily We Roll Along, and the last I heard of it they had scrapped whatever had been filmed before the pandemic and there wasa question about one of the cast members.

I know, this project seemed like quite the longshot even when it was announced in 2019 and it apparently won't appear for another 20 years - if ever. But I was curious if anyone knew if they were quietly dropping it or if was just quietly moving along."

Where was this update? Hadn't heard anything about it in forever. As for Blake Jenner, he's still getting work, so I doubt this will be an issue when/if this thing ever comes out. 

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 6/23/21 at 12:39pm

Fantastic news 

Linklater is the best choice for this.  A director who understands time and what it does. 

[bear88]

Posted: 6/28/21 at 3:32am

Linklater has a good history with stories covering long stretches of time with the same main actors (the Before series, Boyhood). I agree with that. 

There's not really an "update," other than what Ben Platt mentioned a while ago, that they were scrapping whatever was shot back in 2019 for whatever reason. 

I was just wondering if this project was still happening. I guess so, but I haven't seen anything.

[joevitus]

Posted: 6/28/21 at 10:18am

It's such a hugely terrible idea to film the movie in this way, but meh. Great score, bad book, it probably isn't going to be well served by any film adaptation, except it gives people another chance to hear those wonderful songs. I guess I'm saying, it really doesn't matter much, one way or another.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 6/28/21 at 10:29am

^A terrible idea because of the many obstacles, and massive margin for disaster? If so, I'd say: it's a terrible idea if he can't actually pull it off. If he CAN pull it off, it's a pretty magnificent idea, and will be all the more impressive for having beat the odds. 

And the nice thing about movie adaptations is that there's more room to mess around with the script. 

But yeah, I agree with those saying "I'll believe it when I see it." 

[joevitus]

Posted: 6/28/21 at 10:57am

Full confession: I thought Boyhood was a disaster whose reputation rests totally on the stunt of the filmmaking process. But, indeed, if the movie of Merrily actually works, what an extraordinary coup!

[JBroadway]

Posted: 6/28/21 at 11:09am

joevitus said: "Full confession: I thought Boyhood was a disaster whose reputation rests totally on the stunt of the filmmaking process."

 

I actually agree. I think the dialogue in Boyhood is cheesy garbage, the story is bloated, and the acting is pretty bad all around, with the exception of Arquette and Hawke. But as far as the logistics of it, he definitely pulled it off, and the movie is better for it. This time he's working with existing material, and fully-grown, professional actors. Now, you could say that the material has its issues (and so do the actors, for that matter). But I don't think we'll see the same kinds of problems as with Boyhood. Linklater will have much more cohesive storytelling framework within which he'll be forced to operate. 

[joevitus]

Posted: 6/28/21 at 12:39pm

I agree with that. He will actually have a plot and a structure this time, and likely talented performers in the lead.

[Plannietink08]

Posted: 10/6/21 at 6:55pm

Seems like the film is still being shot and hasn’t been abandoned as someone suggested in an earlier post. Beanie Feldstein’s bio on the new Funny Girl website says “ She is currently filming Richard Linklater’s screen adaptation of the beloved George Furth-Stephen Sondheim 1981 musical Merrily We Roll Along, which will continue filming over the course of the next 20 years.”

[RippedMan]

Posted: 10/6/21 at 11:53pm

How does that contract even work? Are they paid for 2 weeks over 20 years? 

[Owen22]

Posted: 10/7/21 at 4:57am

...and who is playing Frank? Or do they think it's 20 years we will have forgotten about the wife beating?

[rattleNwoolypenguin]

Posted: 10/7/21 at 11:51am

Honestly- couldn't he get away with this gimmick by making it just a 10 year filming?

Boyhood made sense cause children actively visually change rapidly.

Adults though it's like "eh, so he's supposed to be 40 and he's actually 31"

I say this cause- why not do it so Sondheim can actually see it? It's a show with such an unfortunate history, let him be alive to see some redemptive arc to it existing.

What a treat to be 100 years old, and then see your biggest flop and severed tie with Harold Prince be a hollywood film. Like-I just would think about that.

Updated On: 10/7/21 at 11:51 AM

[BJR]

Posted: 10/7/21 at 12:51pm

Plannietink08 said: "Seems like the film is still being shot and hasn’t been abandoned as someone suggested in an earlier post. Beanie Feldstein’s bio on the new Funny Girl website says “ She is currently filming Richard Linklater’s screen adaptation of the beloved George Furth-Stephen Sondheim 1981 musical Merrily We Roll Along, which will continue filming over the course of the next 20 years.”
"

Ben Platt also talked extensively about it on Fresh Air a couple weeks ago.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 10/8/21 at 12:21pm

Much of Linklater's work is devoted to the passage of time.  And very successfully.  
Of course, Merrily is about how people change with the passage of time.
It's a brilliant idea.  If it works, it will be worth waiting for.   Could be deeply moving.  I'm 61 and look forward to seeing it when I'm 81.  

How wonderful to film the last scene first et al.   But imagine the insurance negotiations.. 

Updated On: 10/8/21 at 12:21 PM