Hugh Jackman to star in A musical about Barnum...

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 8/3/09 at 11:19pm

But not Barnum?

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118006842.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

I guess it could be good...I guess. Mika is a competent pop songwriter. The fact that FOX is producing is not good.

I really hope that all these projects he's working on don't mean the Houdini thing isn't happening. I was SO excited about that.

Updated On: 8/3/09 at 11:19 PM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/3/09 at 11:41pm

Didn't he have a 3 musical deal with Disney? Am I just imagining that?

[PastorErnst]

Posted: 8/3/09 at 11:54pm

Uh... Wasn't that deal made back in 2005? I remember reading about it a LONG time ago.

[lull89]

Posted: 8/4/09 at 12:04am

Why are Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway both being rumored for every possible film project that has anything to do with a musical? Not that I don't love them, but with all this stuff that's being announced, it seems both of them will make nothing but musicals for the next decade or so.
Updated On: 8/4/09 at 12:04 AM

[PastorErnst]

Posted: 8/4/09 at 12:08am

Let's just be happy that Zac Efron is no longer being pushed to star in every movie musical being made... as much as I love him =/ I admit it. He's my guilty pleasure.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 8/4/09 at 12:41am

Yeah. Stop talking about all these Movie Musicals
and Make ONE!

Cheno would actually be the perfect Jenny Lind.

[jo]

Posted: 8/4/09 at 12:50am

Oops, sorry - I didn't notice that the news has already been posted. I will delete the other one.

I hope the timetable for this one is not too long into the future. Updated On: 8/4/09 at 12:50 AM

[shh282]

Posted: 8/4/09 at 1:33am

I would really love to see some actual progress made on all the rumors of Jackman/ Hathaway duo. all the anticipation is driving me mad

[JP2]

Posted: 8/4/09 at 1:39am

Agreed.. why is there SO MUCH musical movie talk lately, but none of them are currently being made! I'm tired of the talk.

Back to this info.. sounds promising. Except for the fact that Fox hasn't been capable of making a decent film in almost 10 years.

[Plum]

Posted: 8/4/09 at 2:01am

Fox is perfectly awful - I can't remember a picture of theirs I halfway liked since X2. After which they drove away the director through their sheer assholism and killed the franchise. I have absolutely zero faith that they can handle musicals any better than they have sci-fi or any other genre. Good directors don't want to work with them anymore since they know Tom Rothman is a control freak dickweed, and without a good director you're going to have a hell of a time making a good film.

Anyway, I make it a general policy not to listen much to movie production rumors until, at the very least, there's a director attached, and preferably not until there's been a green light and money has started flowing for pre-production. And even then things aren't definite (see the recent scuttling of Moneyball just a few days before filming was to begin, for example). So I'm pretty sure it'll be a cold day in Development Hell before I start believing this one.
Updated On: 8/4/09 at 02:01 AM

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 8/4/09 at 2:02am

Plum, I completely agree about X2 and where Fox stands now.

Usually I wouldn't find early rumors like this worth talking about, but it comes from Variety, so at least we know it is official. Whether or not it happens is anybody's guess.

[Plum]

Posted: 8/4/09 at 2:06am

It being Variety does give it some weight, but at the very least, the bit about Hathaway is completely unsubstantiated and unsourced. Bad journalism. (Well, typical for entertainment journalism, but still.) Updated On: 8/4/09 at 02:06 AM

[Fan2]

Posted: 8/4/09 at 7:49am

That three-picture movie musical deal Hugh had with Disney seems to have gone by the wayside when Disney had a restructuring (or whatever it was)a few years ago, so I think we can forget about that.

Hugh has a relationship with Fox and his production company is on their lot, so he does a lot of their movies. According to the news, this one is being produced by Hugh's company and also Laurence Mark who was one of the producers of the Oscars (hey, maybe they can get Condon to direct!). And the writer is Jenny Bick, who wrote Sex and the City and Hugh's opening Oscar number. So it sounds like it's a definite "go".

That being said, movies take a heck of a long time from development to being filmed, so who knows when this will happen.

[madbrian]

Posted: 8/4/09 at 9:00am

There have been so many rumors and reports of a Jackman movie musical, and a Jackman/Hathaway screen pairing, that I won't believe any of it until I see something onscreen.

[Katurian2]

Posted: 8/4/09 at 9:17am

So you guys don't like:

Slumdog Millionare
500 Days of Summer
The Wrestler
The Simpsons
STAR WARS????
Ice Age
Die Hard

On the musical end:
Carousel
The King and I
Oklahoma
South Pacific
State Fair
Sound of Music (distributed)

Because.. THEY ARE ALL FOX MOVIES!


Learn a little bit about the motion picture biz before going out and bashing one of its most important studios.

Updated On: 8/4/09 at 09:17 AM

[JP2]

Posted: 8/4/09 at 9:31am

"So you guys don't like:

Slumdog Millionare
500 Days of Summer
The Wrestler
The Simpsons
STAR WARS????
Ice Age
Die Hard

On the musical end:
Carousel
The King and I
Oklahoma
South Pacific
State Fair
Sound of Music (distributed)

Because.. THEY ARE ALL FOX MOVIES!"

I think YOU need to figure out what you're talking about first. The first 3 movies you listed are from Fox Searchlight which has absolutely nothing to do with the money grubbing whore that is Tom Rothman. 20th Century Fox has no control over the Star Wars franchise. That's 100% George Lucas. They're nothing more than a distribution company on that front (which is also why WB has been the one distributing the recent animated series).

Then there are the musicals you listen, all of which were made 30+ years ago. We're talking about 20th Century Fox TODAY. The studio that hasn't put out a good movie in almost 10 years. The studio who just came off one of their worst years in 2008. The studio notorious for micro-managing and giving their directors absolutely no creative freedom. Just look at Rotten Tomatoes and find me a film since X2 that's has a rating over 60%. You wont find many, I'll tell you that.
Updated On: 8/4/09 at 09:31 AM

[Katurian2]

Posted: 8/4/09 at 10:00am

If Searchlight has nothing to do with FOX, then why has the studio been attracting such top talent with/since their production of Slumdog? BEN STLILER for instance- moving his studio- Red Hour to FOX in Feb. mainly because of Slumdog's success??

This year- I'm sure we can look forward to Amelia or Whip It! doing well at the box office and with the critics.

Updated On: 8/4/09 at 10:00 AM

[Soliantu]

Posted: 8/4/09 at 10:14am

wow, that's kinda awesome. haha. I love the two of them and have been wanting to see the two in a musical together..I know Anne Hathaway can sing, but can she sing operatic? Jenny Lind was an opera singer I believe right? And yes Hugh Jackman did have the three musical deal with Disney, one of which was supposed to be "If you Could See Me Now" based on the book of the same name, but has yet to happen.. haha

[madbrian]

Posted: 8/4/09 at 10:22am

It seems like an interesting project. Barnum's career spanned many decades, and Lind was part of his life for a little over a year. If the focus is on Barnum and Lind, I don't see how it can be any sort of biopic of Barnum.

[i am the one]

Posted: 8/4/09 at 10:47am

"This year- I'm sure we can look forward to Amelia or Whip It! doing well at the box office and with the critics."

Katurian - Yes, I eagerly await Whip It!'s critical success and upcoming placement in the Oscar prediction's season.

And JP2 is right, Fox Searchlight is completely different than 20th Century Fox. Independent studios have very little to do with the money-making, sequel-loving mainstream studios. The independents all just want to be the next Focus Features.

Why are you so defensive? Do you work there?

[JP2]

Posted: 8/4/09 at 4:55pm

I think he's Tom Rothman.

[Fan2]

Posted: 8/4/09 at 9:27pm

I think the Disney movie musical deal with Hugh is dead, and he is no longer attached to If You Could See Me Now - it went into turnaround and Gold Circle Films picked it up. Someone associated with them posted on the IMDB message board with that news (confirmed on the author's website) and said that Hugh is no longer involved and it's not a musical anymore.

[jo]

Posted: 8/4/09 at 10:38pm

I would like to see CAROUSEL start filming after his next movie ( THE UNBOUND CAPTIVES, an action/adventure drama with Rachel Weisz and Rob Pattinson) which is due to film after A STEADY RAIN - it has been a long wait but Hugh says that the first script for CAROUSEL is now ready and that it has been put on high priority by FOX 2000. Of course, we don't know if the movie version of A STEADY RAIN will also be waiting in the wings, assuming both leads in the stage version are willing to sign up


Updated On: 8/4/09 at 10:38 PM

[Plum]

Posted: 8/5/09 at 12:38am

I think Jackman's time for playing Billy Bigelow on film has come and gone - he's too old now. But if A Steady Rain turns out to be good, I'm all for a film version. Especially because there are apparently a couple of sequels to the play, and it would tickle me to have a film franchise that's not in the action or humor genres, just for a change.

[Fan2]

Posted: 8/5/09 at 8:39am

According to Hugh recently, Carousel will be filming very soon so it looks like that's happening whether people think he's "too old" or not (I don't).