From an offhand comment by a Facebook friend (Hi, Michelle!), came my latest 'thing.' Now hear me out on this one.
The incomparable Jessica Lange has already announced her departure from "American Horror Story," the anthology/repertory genre series that won her two Emmy Awards, after this season.
America's Favorite Dirty Old Lady/Sweetheart has just learned that TVLand has cancelled her often quite hilarious sitcom "Hot In Cleveland." Yes, Lange has been the show's 'star,' but other company members (Sarah Paulson; Frances Conroy; Evan Peters; Lily Rabe) have been the backbones of many episodes and seasons. Who better to be the next Grand Dame of whatever nastiness Ryan Murphy and company have cooking for Season Five. It certainly wouldn't be her first foray into genre work. Remember her hilarious turn as a foul-mouthed farm widow in Lake Placid?
She'd fit right in with newer company members Kathy Bates and Angela Bassett. I can see them as some sort malevolent troika of evil... deliciously camp and sickly twisted!
And don't forget, a similar campaign got her a particularly hilarious gig hosting "Saturday Night Live:"
She's even hosted her own (rather lame) hidden camera show, "Off Their Rockers." Think 'Punk'd" meets Cocoon.
Surely Ryan Murphy knows the value of good publicity and ratings. So I am asking you to take to Twitter and Facebook and make the hashtag #BettyWhiteOnAHS trend hard! Let's get Betty another outrageous gig!
Counting backwards, I have directed 10 out of the last 12 shows in which I have been involved. I held auditions today for the 11th... and I hated it.
Charles Busch's Die Mommie Die! should have been an easy show to cast. Indeed, we (The James Tolin Memorial Fund) chose the show in part because we knew we had an actor in our regular talent pool who could play the lead role. I had already cast 5 of the 6 parts in the show and as recently as February, I only needed one actor to complete the cast, Then (as is often the case with a JTMF show), all hell broke loose. My lead dropped out because of work conflicts and the young lady I had cast as Edith informed me that commuting from NYC would be an obstacle. So, as we are often forced to do, we held auditions for the three open roles.
Our first two auditioners filled the most difficult roles to cast quite easily - a surprising development which left my producer and I in good spirits. The only role left was one that would be the easiest to cast: a young woman in early 20's. But the women came to read for me highly were unlikely candidates. Finally, just as we were about to call every actress we knew who would be right for the part, our last appointment of the day showed up - she was perfect. She was the right age, she had the right look and her audition was the best we'd seen all day. I immediately offered her the part, and she accepted. My producer and I were thrilled. The show was cast! Hurrah!
Then I came home to find an email from the actress I originally wanted to play the part, telling me that her circumstances had changed and she would be available after all. AUGH! (as a certain Charles Shulz character is wont to say. Still- the decision has been rendered; the role has been cast and the actress I wanted is SOL... Now I'm left with the unenviable task of telling her that she missed the boat... yuck!
Still, I can't complain. I've found a talented new actress who will be very good in the part and I have what will undoubtedly be an amazing cast for what is sure to be another amazing JTMF show. I just hate the thought of telling my first choice that she is no longer part of the show. So I have to ask my readers, how would you deliver bad news like this?
That's British actor Henry Cavill in a still from the upcoming Tarsem Singh film, Immortals. Cavill plays Theseus, a warrior king from Greek mythology (and A Midsummer Night's Dream). Cavill has been in Tristan & Isolde; Stardust and the Nazi-themed horror movie Blood Creek, as well as the HBO series "The Tudors." He's very good-looking and as you can see from the picture, quite fit. He has also just been announced (via) as the new Superman in director Zack Snyder's upcoming reboot for producer Christopher Nolan. I am a huge fan of both Nolan and Snyder, despite continued claims that Snyder's films are homophobic (personally, I think some people read too much into his movies, particularly Watchmen, but that's just me) but I think Cavill is just a completely bone-headed choice.
I have no problem with Cavill as an actor. I've only actually seen him in Stardust, where he played douche, and he was quite good at doing so. My issue is that Superman is a distinctly American creation. Indeed, he stands for "Truth, Justice and the American Way." So why the hell is he being played by a Brit? Don't get me wrong - I'm all for casting the right actor in a role, but what's wrong with Brandon Routh? Bryan Singer's Superman Returns may not have lived up to everyone's expectations but at least everyone agreed that despite the film's shortcomings, Routh was perfectly cast as Clark Kent and his super-powered alter-ego from Krypton.
Okay, maybe Routh was unavailable or uninterested. What about "Smallville" star Tom Welling? He's been playing Clark Kent longer than any other actor who's taken on the part. Surely he has some insight into the character. And he was born in New York City -- Metropolis, itself. It doesn't get much more American than that. "But he's a terrible actor," you might be saying. Personally, I've never seen "Smallville," so I can't say. But if that's so, then find an unknown American actor, just as Richard Donner did when he cast Christopher Reeve in 1978's Superman: The Movie. Casting Cavill in the role is just as ridiculous as casting a Brit as another distinctly American superhero like Spider-Man. Oh, wait. they did that, too... Skinny, creepy Andrew Garfield will be playing Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the upcoming reboot (as if that needed to happen in the first place) directed, ironically, by Marc Webb (500 Days of Summer).
Now before you label your Uncle P an Anglo-phobe, I happen to love British actors. Patrick Stewart; Colin Firth; Ian McKellan; Helen Mirran; Judy Dench and Cate Blanchett are all geniuses. And while several of them have played Americans with great aplomb, none of them have had the audacity to take on iconic American characters. My guess is that both Garfield and Cavill will be spectacular failures at playing these two oh-so-American characters and while I truly hope I am wrong, I will revel in a bit schadenfreude should these films crash and burn.
And just as a reminder, do you remember when you fell in love with Reeve as The Man of Steel? I do...
Still, I suppose we should at least be glad that this never happened. Your thoughts?
So, here's some news all you movie geeks already know: Anne Hathaway and Tom Hardy have officially been announced as the villains in Christopher Nolan's third and final entry in Warner's Batman franchise, The Dark Knight Rises. Hathaway has been cast as Catwoman (or at least, Selina Kyle) and Hardy as Bane (via).
These are two actors I like a lot. Hathaway is always amazing, even in sappy treacle like The Princess Diaries and Hardy is just a sexy bear who could recite the phone book, as long as he has his clothes off at some point.
Yikes. That sounds awful. Still, Hardy was quite good in Nolan's Inception and I have no doubt he'll be terrific as the hulking Latino villain who actually broke Batman's back in in DC's "Knightfall" series. Not that I am all that familiar with the comics -- I do have Internet access, though and know he's much more important to the storyline than than the idiotic character in Joel Schumaker's reprehensible Batman and Robin.
Now, it seems that lots of folks have problems with this casting, particularly when it comes to Ms Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman. Michelle Pfieffer was quite an amazing Catwoman in her pleather catsuit and smoky eye makeup. But Hathaway is tall and sexy and will bring her own take on the jewel thief who manages to steal Bruce Wayne's heart. .And since Nolan has proven himself to be quite the genius when it comes to this particular franchise, I have total faith his casting choices. If anyone can turn Hathaway into Catwoman, it's Nolan. And I, for one, can't wait to see a bulked-up Hardy flexing and strutting his way through Gotham City.
Of course,Catwoman has been played by more actresses than any other female character in the franchise, starting with Julie Newmar in the campy 1960's TV series, followed by Eartha Kitt; Lee Meriwether; Michelle Pfieffer and (most lamentably) Halle Berry. Bane's only appearance on film was in the aforementioned Batman and Robin, portrayed by the late wrestler Jeep Swenson simply as a grunting minion of Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman). I'm very interested to see how Nolan uses the character in the new movie, especially given his rich history in the DC Universe.
Nolan has yet to disappoint with this franchise, and I have all faith that his 2012 Birthday Present to me will stand up to his previous Batman movies (though finding a performance like the late Heath Ledger's as The Joker may prove a rather daunting task). Still, I am excited to see where Nolan will take the story next.
That's the Playbill cover for the Manhattan Theatre Club's 2008 production of Caryl Churchill's 1982 play Top Girls, which I have just started to direct. The company is Shakespeare '70, for whom I directed The Skin of Our Teeth in the fall of 2008 and for whom I have acted in productions of An Enemy of the People; An Inspector Calls and A View from the Bridge.
Top Girls sort of fell into my lap, as it were. After two potential female directors turned it down (for various reasons), the producer (my dear friend, Q) brought it to me. I'd heard of the play, but had never seen nor read it. But I adore Churchill's earlier play Cloud Nine, so I was intrigued.
Upon first reading it, I must admit to being a bit intimidated by the subject matter (more on that, later), it's non-linear structure and Churchill's carefully constructed (and often complicated) over-lapping dialog. But during a second read, I found myself visualizing the piece on stage and realized I had nothing to be afraid of, especially if I had the right cast.
Q and I immediately started thinking about actresses we thought would not only be appropriate for the piece, but who could also handle the complexities of the characters and the writing. Emails and invitations were sent; entreaties were made and one audition was held. Finally, I had a cast consisting of not only actresses I knew and had worked with previously; actresses I knew, but had not worked with before and actresses with whom I'd had no experience what-so-ever.
So, we just had our first read-through and I must say, I have to be the luckiest director on the East Coast. The women in this show are amazing! Not only do they all "get' the show, but each of them brings her own unique perspective to the characters (each play at least two) that neither Q nor I had had envisioned upon reading it on our own.
Nothing excites an artist more than a challenge. And nothing excites a director more than a cast that is up to that challenge. Top Girls may well be the most challenging play I have ever directed, but the 8 uber-talented women in this production will go a very long way in making my job as a director a delightful challenge, to say the least. I know I often gush about the casts of the shows I direct (and rightfully so), but I really think this one is particularly exceptional. And while I have directed shows with all-male casts (get your minds out of that gutter, right now!), this is the first time I have directed an all-female cast. I've already told them I feel a bit like an onion in a petunia patch, but I'm pretty sure we have ourselves quite a show on our hands.
Top Girls runs September 23rd through October 2nd at the Don Evans Studio Theatre on the campus of The College of New Jersey in Ewing, NJ. I'll be posting more info as it becomes available and will most certainly be posting more about the rehearsal process as we move forward. I just hope it will be as exciting to read about, as it is to be a part of.
Auditions were finally held today, and I was able to fill every open role. And while I had precast three of my four leads (Adam, Steve and Mabel) and one of the multi-character supporting players, I had a pretty good idea that I was going to use three of the folks who had scheduled audition appointments. Thankfully, all three of them showed up and were consequently cast. That left two roles open and perhaps a dozen actors from which to choose. The first four people I saw immediately got "No" written at the bottom of their audition forms. I was almost discouraged. Then the next two were also "No's." I was really starting to worry. Then, suddenly, I had an abundance of riches and after careful consideration, was finally able to assemble a complete cast.
I'm very excited. For the first time in a long time, returning actors are out-numbered by actors who are completely new to the JTMF, two of whom are completely new to me. Only Adam (my dear D) and Jane have done a JTMF show before (this is D's 4th), though I have worked with three new members in other companies and seen two others in enough other shows to know I wanted them to be a part of this one. One is one of my best friends in the whole world (my rock, K) and I am so glad to be able to finally include her in a JTMF cast. The full cast list will soon be available at http://www.jtmf/.
I'll soon be posting rehearsal photos and rehearsal updates. Our first read-through is a week from Monday! The start of a new show (as I am sure you can tell) is always so invigorating for me. I can't wait to dive in and get going!
