Osage County will be adapted to the screen
Osage County will be adapted to the screen
Joined: 12/31/69
#1Osage County will be adapted to the screen
Posted: 5/15/08 at 11:45am
From Hollywood-elsewhere:
http://www.hollywood-elsewhere.com/2008/03/osage_county.php
I've been told that producer Jean Doumanian is partnering with the Weinstein Co. to produce a film version of Tracy Letts' masterful August: Osage County, which N.Y. Times critic Charles Isherwood called "the most exciting new American play Broadway has seen in years" in his 12.5.07 review.
As always, a Broadway hit (Osage County is certain to triumph at the '08 Tony Awards in June) is one equation and a satisfying hit movie is another. The stage-to-cinema process is always about rethinking, reshuffling, compressing, diluting and, in one way or another, downgrading to some extent. A broader audience = the need to make a play more accessible to Average Joes = problems from the viewpoint of Broadway purists.
The big questions are (a) will the movie version hold to the play's three-hour length (there will certainly be pressure to trim it down at least somewhat, perhaps as much as a third), (b) will they try to movie-ize it (visually "open it up, etc.) or stick to the pure theatrical scheme of everything happening in the Weston family's two-story home, (c) who will Doumanian-Weinstein get to direct...Mike Nichols?, and (d) which middle-aged screen actress will play the key role of Violet Weston (i.e., "an evil mom to end them all"), presuming that Deanna Dunagan, whose on-stage performance is said to be legendary, will be shunted aside in favor of a Meryl Streep-level actress with a bit more in the way of marquee power.
Updated On: 5/15/08 at 11:45 AM
#2re: Osage County will be adapted to the screen
Posted: 5/15/08 at 11:55amThe movie will of course be shorter and of course there will be scnees outside the household. As for actress, I'm sure Meryl Streep will want to play the part of Violet and she should be very good- she has played plenty of mentally ill characters in her career (and won oscars for those portrayals). As for director, Mike Nichols would be an ideal choice- this is the man, after all, who directed "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf".
"It does what a musical is supposed to do; it takes you to another world. And it gives you a little tune to carry in your head. Something to take you away from the dreary horrors of the real world. A little something for when you're feeling blue. You know?"
#2re: Osage County will be adapted to the screen
Posted: 5/15/08 at 12:02pmI can see Sissy Spacek playing Violet.
"Winning a Tony this year is like winning Best Attendance in third grade: no one will care but the winner and their mom."
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
#3re: Osage County will be adapted to the screen
Posted: 5/15/08 at 12:11pmSweeeeet.
"Y'know, I think Bertolt Brecht was rolling in his grave."
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
CurtainPullDowner
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/4/04
#4re: Osage County will be adapted to the screen
Posted: 5/15/08 at 12:11pm
I know it's asking a lot and the movie wasn't really a hit, but I wish they would take the whole original cast like THE HISTORY BOYS did.
This cast is beyond belief.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#5re: Osage County will be adapted to the screen
Posted: 5/15/08 at 12:12pmJean Doumanian- the woman who almost killed Saturday Night Live. Wonderful. Maybe she'll get Woody to direct. Or Lorne- with an all SNL cast.
#6re: Osage County will be adapted to the screen
Posted: 5/15/08 at 12:13pm
Ha! I am soooo suprised!
Not! lol!
They always do this~adapt it on screen!
J*
Updated On: 5/15/08 at 12:13 PM
#7re: Osage County will be adapted to the screen
Posted: 5/15/08 at 12:16pmI don't see Jean and Woody having a chat anytime soon.
#8re: Osage County will be adapted to the screen
Posted: 5/15/08 at 12:20pmThis might work better as a movie... I'm interested in this.
bwayguy22089
Broadway Star Joined: 12/16/06
#9re: Osage County will be adapted to the screen
Posted: 5/15/08 at 12:29pm
I agree with Sissy. She'd be great 
iluvtheatertrash
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/9/04
#10re: Osage County will be adapted to the screen
Posted: 5/15/08 at 12:34pmWould love to see Frances McDormand take Amy Morton's role.
"I know now that theatre saved my life." - Susan Stroman
DrewBill
Stand-by Joined: 4/22/08
#11re: Osage County will be adapted to the screen
Posted: 5/15/08 at 12:42pm
I'm sure lots of great film actresses would want the Violet role -- Meryl Streep, Jessica Lange, Sissy Spacek, Glenn Close, etc.
But I think it would be interesting to see Jane Fonda in the role -- finally, a part worthy of her return to films.
And I kind of picture Laura Linney in Amy Morton's role.
#12re: Osage County will be adapted to the screen
Posted: 5/15/08 at 12:43pmMan, Laura Linney would be fantastic in Morton's role.
"Winning a Tony this year is like winning Best Attendance in third grade: no one will care but the winner and their mom."
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
#13re: Osage County will be adapted to the screen
Posted: 5/15/08 at 12:44pmWhat on earth do you mean 'this may work better as a movie' ????
A young actress with Noel coward after a dreadful opening night performance said to him 'Well, i knew my lines backwards this morning!''
Noels fast reply was ''Yes dear, and thats exactly how you said them tonight'!'
#14re: Osage County will be adapted to the screen
Posted: 5/15/08 at 12:48pmAlison Janney and Glenn Close.
"When you're a gay man, you have to feel good about yourself when a urologist says, "Yeah. I pick you". - Happy Endings
bwayconductor
Swing Joined: 5/14/04
#15re: Osage County will be adapted to the screen
Posted: 5/15/08 at 12:59pmThe Violet Weston role should be optioned to Annette Benning or Judy Davis in my opinion.
#16re: Osage County will be adapted to the screen
Posted: 5/15/08 at 1:28pmI first thought of Toni Colette as Barbara.
Theatre is a safe place to do the unsafe things that need to be done.
-John Patrick Shanley
#17re: Osage County will be adapted to the screen
Posted: 5/15/08 at 1:30pmToni is too young looking and glamorous.
"Winning a Tony this year is like winning Best Attendance in third grade: no one will care but the winner and their mom."
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
#18re: Osage County will be adapted to the screen
Posted: 5/15/08 at 1:34pm
Girl can certainly look homely, and I although she's 35, she always looks (to me) to be in her mid-40s on screen.
If not, I'd love her as one of the sisters.
Theatre is a safe place to do the unsafe things that need to be done.
-John Patrick Shanley
#19re: Osage County will be adapted to the screen
Posted: 5/15/08 at 1:34pm
You know, I was hoping they wouldnt do this. Its just a play that isn't adaptable Gor the screen. I can't even describe how much I hate this idea, but whatever. They better take care of this property, I don't want it to be the next "Proof."
And I'll put twenty bucks down on them changing the name, unfortunately.
#20re: Osage County will be adapted to the screen
Posted: 5/15/08 at 1:38pm
I used to be a fan of Toni Collete (from Muriel's Wedding) until I met her at Virginia Theater's stage door for THE WILD PARTY! I am not going to say any nasty things, but she's not really a nice person.....specially she's not really that popular back in 2000. I just dont like her after I met her...She made comments to the fans...that I will not say here...I will in person, if you see me next time! You guys will be shocked!
Eartha Kitt was very nice! so with Mandy Patinkin!
and I will say it again.. I do not like that starlet! 
J*
Updated On: 5/15/08 at 01:38 PM
#21re: Osage County will be adapted to the screen
Posted: 5/15/08 at 1:46pmI'd love to see them keep the film small and use the original cast.
#22re: Osage County will be adapted to the screen
Posted: 5/15/08 at 1:56pm
Whatever off-screen Toni Collette's personality might be, she is probably one of the best screen actresses working today. I haven't seen AUGUST: OC so I have no idea whether she is right for Barbara or not, but I disagree that she is too glamorous, WannaBe. She definitely dressed down in LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, IN HER SHOES, and MURIEL'S WEDDING.
Laura Linney is great in just about anything she does, so I'm all for her starring in this film.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
#23re: Osage County will be adapted to the screen
Posted: 5/15/08 at 1:57pmJudy Davis makes Toni Collette look like Santa Claus.
#24re: Osage County will be adapted to the screen
Posted: 5/15/08 at 1:59pmBobby, that made me laugh out loud, literally.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
