BuzzSugar

Jesus Christ Superstar May Get a "Hipstery" Big Screen Makeover

BuzzSugar — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 08:30:33 PDT

After Mamma Mia!'s global earnings of $600 million last year, Universal may be looking toward Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber for its next movie musical success. The studio is apparently developing an adaptation of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar with an interesting directorial choice: 500 Days of Summer director Marc Webb. Here's more:

The story . . . is generally is seen as decidedly a product of the '70s, with some characters played as hippies. And Webb, well, he's a product of the modern era, fashioning a career out of stylish but emotionally potent music videos for the likes of Green Day (and then, of course, the musical melancholy of Summer).

But Webb has long had an affinity for the project, a rock opera that (perhaps a little like parts of Summer) mixes spiritual uplift with the pop-music type. And just as [director Norman] Jewison's involvement brought a '70s sensibility to the original, Webb could bring a modern, hipstery take.

Well, 500 Days of Summer does feature some singing and choreographed dance. Could you see a "hipstery" version of Jesus Christ Superstar working on the big screen in this day and age?

Source

Ready For a 3-D Rock 'n' Roll Musical Version of Cleopatra?

BuzzSugar — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:30:56 PDT

Yes, let's review those facts:

Director Steven Soderbergh is planning a movie about Egyptian queen Cleopatra.
It will be a live-action 3-D movie.
It will also be a rock 'n' roll musical.
Soderbergh is hoping to get Catherine Zeta-Jones to play "Cleo" and Hugh Jackman to play her lover, Marc Antony.

After the initial "whaaa?" reaction, I'm warming to this idea, especially because the band Guided by Voices has apparently already written the music for the movie. What do you think? Could you see this working, or does it sound like a big hot mess?

Source

Buzz Brainteaser

BuzzSugar — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 04:30:18 PDT

Welcome to Buzz Brainteaser, the trivia feature on BuzzSugar! Every weekday I'll test your knowledge about TV shows, music, and movies. If you enter in the correct answer, you win points! As Mamma Mia! heads to theaters today, here's a movie musical-related brainteaser:

In regard to U.S. box office earnings, what is the highest-grossing movie musical of the past 30 years?

Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures

Kate Hudson Joins the Amazing Cast of Nine

BuzzSugar — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:33:02 PDT

Not only has Kate Hudson been added to the already-magnificent cast of Nine, a film adaptation of the award-winning musical, but the role and a song were added to the movie specifically for her.

The musical, inspired by Fellini's 8 1/2, is said to be "sultry and enchanting," and the same could be said about most of the cast members. Daniel Day-Lewis plays "world famous film director Guido Contini as he prepares his latest picture and balances the numerous women in his life."

The women playing Contini's women? They include Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard, Judi Dench, Sophia Loren, Penélope Cruz, and now Kate Hudson.

Of his new cast addition, director Rob Marshall (Chicago) remarked, "It's wonderful having Kate join this extraordinary cast! Her revelatory skills as a singer and a dancer lead to the creation of the role of 'Stephanie,' a fashion reporter from Vogue working in Italy. An exciting new song, written by our composer Maury Yeston, has been added for her as well."

What do you think about this? Compared to the other people on this cast list, is Kate Hudson of the same caliber? Do you look forward to her contributions to a Rob Marshall musical movie?

Source

The Results Are In: Recast West Side Story

BuzzSugar — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:10:49 PDT

Every Wednesday on BuzzSugar, I post a Recast challenge, where I ask you to choose new actors for a classic TV show or movie. The reader who submits the best cast wins a BuzzSugar t-shirt!

This week I was very impressed with the thoughtful recast lists submitted for musical movie West Side Story. Some of my favorite ideas were the ones you had for the roles of Maria and Anita. For example, Supergrover's pick of Q'orianka Kilcher for Maria seems downright perfect, and I also thought the popular choice of America Ferrera would be great in that part. alynn suggested Ana Ortiz (Betty's sister on "Ugly Betty") as Anita, which I think is excellent, though I also really like ddene5713's idea of Jamie Lynn Sigler.

Overall, my favorite recast list this week comes from tiatia! This is one carefully planned recast list and every choice is pitch-perfect. To see who tiatia chose, along with a new cast photo,

read more
tiatia's cast: Maria - Emanuelle Chriqui Tony - Adam Garcia Anita - Penelope Cruz Bernardo - Jon Seda Officer Krupke - Steven Seagal

Recast West Side Story and Win a Prize!

BuzzSugar — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 14:29:03 PDT

Every Wednesday on BuzzSugar, I post a Recast challenge, where I ask you to choose new actors for a classic TV show or movie. The reader who submits the best cast wins a BuzzSugar t-shirt!

"Tonight, tonight/ Won't be just any night/ Tonight there will be no morning star." I love the music from West Side Story, and I love the film version (which starred Natalie Wood and Rita Moreno). This tragic love story, based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, pits New York gangs against each other while two star-crossed lovers dream of being together despite all odds. If you could recast the movie version of this musical with new actors, who would you pick for the passionate Tony and Maria? Or Maria's brother Bernardo and Anita? And of course, what about Officer Krupke?

Leave your entry in the comment section below, and I'll pick one winner to feature Tuesday, August 28, complete with a "new" cast photo.

Note: The actors you choose do not have to have excellent singing abilities already. Just select actors you think could be good for the parts regardless of whether or not you know they can sing.
To see a list of characters to recast and a photo of the BuzzSugar t-shirt,

read more Characters to recast: Maria (Natalie Wood) Tony (Richard Beymer) Anita (Rita Moreno) Bernardo (George Chakiris) Officer Krupke (William Bramley) The BuzzSugar t-shirt

Geeky Proposals Caught on Film

Kelly Schwarze — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:05:05 PST

With Valentine's Day creeping around the corner, we're caught up in the season of love. If it's marriage we're talking, these days, to make a serious statement of your heart's intentions it's all about adding some geeky personality for an unforgettable proposal. We've seen dozens of these proposals memorialized on the web to send our hearts aflutter. The latest: the below video combines binary coding aptitude and Futurama fanaticism. Yes, that is a proposal spoken exclusively in binary.

Follow the break to watch our favorite geek-tinted proposals.

Drew Barrymore Talks Skydiving and Loving The Naked and Famous

Molly Goodson — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:51:57 PST

We loved sharing our I'm a Huge Fan Drew Barrymore just in time for the release of her new movie Big Miracle, which is in theaters now. We also promised that there were some fun extras from Drew that we still had left to share - and here they are! Check out what Drew has to say about her experience skydiving, her wishes to be a runner, and what bands she's loving right now. Drew recently directed her first music video and would love to do it again, especially for hot, of-the-moment group The Naked and Famous. Check out Drew's answers and in case you missed it, watch I'm a Huge Fan Drew Barrymore now!

How to Throw a The Artist-Themed Oscar Viewing Party

Shannon Vestal — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:30:00 PST

The Oscars air on Sunday, Feb 26, and any movie lover already has the date penciled in. In case your plans are even grander than simply watching the show and you want to throw a viewing party for friends, then why not pick a theme based around one of the best picture nominees? I'm suggesting The Artist as inspiration, the delightful silent film that's been creating a deafening award season buzz. Here's how to pull it off.

How to decorate: All your decorations should be black and white, with art deco accents. Play The Artist movie soundtrack or big band music while guests are arriving. And if you know anyone who owns a Jack Russell Terrier, borrow him and pretend he's Uggie.
How to dress: In glam 1920s Old Hollywood garb. Think tuxes for men, and flapper dresses or diaphanous gowns and long pearls for women.
What to serve: Lots of champagne, of course, along with Manhattans and Sidecars, cocktails popular in the '20s.
How to act: Ask everyone to be as silent as possible, but expressive with their face and hands. It sounds crazy, but at least you won't have to shush anyone when the show starts.

Photo courtesy of The Weinstein Company

The Muppets' Music Man Bret McKenzie on His Oscar Nod and Taking a Silly Job Seriously

Lindsay Miller — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:50:41 PST

Bret McKenzie is up for an exceedingly rare honor this year, with his ballad "Man or Muppet" earning one of just two nominations in the Oscars' best song category. I caught up with The Muppets' musical supervisor today at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank to chat about the awards attention and the unique experience of penning music for Kermit and company. The New Zealand native talked about fighting the temptation to use the word "motherfrogger" in his songwriting and the roundabout way he came on board The Muppets project in the first place. Bret - who previously was best known as one half of the musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords - also shared his hopes of bringing FOC to the big screen. Check out our conversation below:

PopSugar: It's got to be an honor to be nominated for an Oscar, but also in a year when the Academy only bothered to nominate two songs.
Bret McKenzie: They barely nominated anyone! When I found out, it sounded like there'd been a mistake, and yeah, it's a huge honor. It's great and it's really exciting, and I'm not complaining that there's only two nominees the year I'm nominated. I mean, this is the best chance I'll have of winning an Oscar, ever. It couldn't have been better, unless there was just one nomination, and then it would be a very dull ceremony . . . There's a lot of legendary musicians - tunesmiths - in that list of possible nominations. So it's all very surreal to think that I got in ahead of Elton John.

PS: And Madonna. Those two had a little rivalry going on.
BM: I know. I got nervous about what Elton John's husband was going to say about me. It's crazy, and it's great for The Muppets film, because we're all really proud of the film and it wasn't ever really going to get a best actor. Hey, Jason's good, that's not what I mean, but Kermit, Miss Piggy - they can't win these awards - and comedies don't generally get recognized at these awards ceremonies, so it's kind of cool. It's almost like the film as a whole is being recognized with this category.

For more from our chat with Bret, including what he says about his plans for a Flight of the Conchords film, coaching Jason Segel, and the pressure he felt on the project, just

read more! PS: What was the biggest unexpected challenge for you writing music for the film? I know you talked about one draft of a song where you referred to a Muppet as a piece of felt and were told you couldn't do that. BM: Yeah. Little piece of felt, and you couldn't say things like motherfrogger, even though it's very tempting. There were lots of hard parts to it. The Muppets can't sing certain notes. They can't sing too high or the voice changes and doesn't sound like the right character. There were so many weird things. I spent hours recording penguins and rats, and what's weird is that it's such a silly job, but you have to take it very seriously. So I would be in the studio for days, maybe a whole day recording penguins, and then I'm like, "I'm not happy with how the penguins are sounding! Where's penguin four?" You know, getting demanding. "We lost penguin track four! I can't hear the penguin!" PS: I was watching the movie again last night and watching Jason Segel's performance of "Man or Muppet." Did you coach him on any of his rockstar moves? Because he pretty much nailed it. BM: He nailed it. That's my favorite moment in the film. When he buckles down in the rain, that was one of my favorite shots. I was so proud of what James [Bobin, the director] and those guys achieved, because I wasn't there on set, I just saw them syncing the video, and I was like, "Wow, guys. You nailed it." What we did do in the studio, as Jason and I had a technique where I would sing a line, and he'd watch me through the window, and then he'd sing it back. So we did this thing where, I was really into the drama of it. So, I was like, "Am I a Muppppettt?" [balling his hands into fists] And he'd be like, OK, record. "Am I a Muppppettt!" So we kind of worked together to get that style. PS: Did it shatter some of your childhood illusions to have the guy that does Miss Piggy's voice come work with you [in the recording studio]? BM: Yeah. Well, it wasn't Frank Oz. The guy Eric, who does it now, yeah. That was strange. And the day that we recorded Kermit the Frog doing "Rainbow Connection" - I was sort of pinching myself, because that was probably one of the real moments for me where I realized that my world had really changed. That I'd come from New Zealand, I'd grown up with Kermit the Frog, and now I was in Hollywood in a studio recording Kermit the Frog. It felt like worlds had collided. PS: Was there pressure knowing there was already this great catalog of Muppet songs? To try to add to that or top it in some way? BM: I knew I wouldn't top "Rainbow Connection," but I was very intimidated, but the way I worked on the job was it actually started with me just writing one song, so I didn't feel the pressure of writing the whole movie. I think it would have been different if I'd been hired from the outset to do all the music. So I wrote one, then another, and gradually wrote more and more, so that helped. PS: What song did you write first? BM: The opening song. That's the one they needed, that's the one James asked me to write first. The script was probably on a second draft, and they were in preproduction, so I came in quite late. And the way they were doing it was, they got 100s of demos submitted from all sorts of songwriters, and surprisingly - even though they got some really great people to do demos - people weren't quite hitting the right tone. The Muppet tone. I'd just come off the Conchords tour and I had some time, and James asked if I was interested in doing that opening song, because he had a kind of specific thing he needed from that song. He needed it to be really Muppet-y, that song, and he had a great idea for the whole town joining in, it starting off small and becoming a big musical number, and that came together really well. PS: Is this experience maybe something you want to bring to a Flight of the Conchords movie? BM: Yeah, exactly. Having done this movie now, we're in a much better place to do a Conchords film, because James is more experienced - well, we're all more experienced. Not specifically, but James Bobin - well, we're all very keen to do another studio musical, because I really enjoyed being able to do comedy musical numbers on such a grand scale, and I think next time, I really think it will just get better and better. Because it's such a fun genre, and we've done like 50 songs for TV now, and now The Muppets movie, and I feel like we've accidentally sort of become musical comedy experts. PS: What do you imagine Bret and Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords are up to these days, in their universe? BM: In the Lower East Side? That's a good question. I reckon they probably got a regular gig now. Like, at a Chinese restaurant. Photo courtesy Disney