MovieChat Forums > Sunset Boulevard Discussion > Well... time to bring reality into this.

Well... time to bring reality into this.

posted 5 years ago by MichaelPacino (179)
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So one thing to know about me is i am a HUGE HUGE HUGE musical theatre fan. I adore it! I also love it when movies, and musicals blend together beautifully. Then stuff like this happens.
I know that Glenn Close taking on the film version of the role she won a tony for on stage is a great move, but there are so many problems I see for this movie.
1. ADAPTATION- Even though this is a film version of the stage musical, it doesn't mean this movie still isn't a remake, and a remake of a classic like Sunset Boulevard, is like when the "Nine" came out, and was a remake of "8 1/2". Remaking classics like these rarely go well (yes, i'm specifically looking at you Spielberg...), and often times, this can result in a lot of issues. But hey maybe the director will do something right?
2. DIRECTOR- Yup, Rob Ashford is directing, whose biggest credits in directing are "Sound Of Music LIVE", and "Peter Pan LIVE". Why would you hire someone who's obviously a way better choreographer, in a musical where the only choreography section is the opening?!?!? That makes very little sense. Oh wait... I know...
3. WEBBER IS PRODUCING- This man... this man... a wonderful composer, but is a really bad producer. He refuses for anything of his to be cut from his movies. Why do you think the "Phantom" film couldn't make it out alive? That script doesn't work on film, but works great on stage. The same is true here, this script is better on stage, and on film, it'll just suck. Maybe a good screenplay writer will sort out the kinks?
4. WRITER- Tom MacRae is writing the screenplay, and his biggest credit is work on Doctor Who. I'm not even joking, for this remake, they got the screenplay writer of Doctor Who episodes to make it work. *Bangs head against the wall* This makes absolutely no sense at all!!
As you can see, i'm less than ecstatic for this remake. I only hope i'm proven wrong by the time this comes out, but on stage, where a marvelous performance can save the overall story, a movie won't be able to do that whatsoever. So here we go into a Musical Hell...

[–] Ace_Spade (9366) 5 years ago

For me, the fundamental problem is taking a film noir and trying to make it work as a musical. I'm not saying it's impossible (Les Miserables, as a book, doesn't seem to lend itself well to being a musical, either), but it's a real uphill battle. I definitely agree with with your point about Nine and 8 1/2 and the idea of redoing a classic. A classic is a classic for every inch of its celluloid, so its another big challenge to attempt. Not that it never works (The Magnificent Seven - although I think Seven Samurai is better, TMS is still a great film), but it's really hard to do. For me, these two problems make the notion of a Sunset Blvd. musical a really foolish notion.