Advice for directors of new musicals in a wicked little town
So, earlier tonight I went off on a bit of rant inspired by a really strange sounding remark made by show-biz reporter-pundit Nikki Finke to the effect that she thinks “Nine” failed at the box office not because it’s a fairly poorly received film with a vague premise, but because it wasn’t gay friendly enough. No need to repeat my snark-laden commentary, but I thought I’d present the piece below as a bit of food for movie thought.
I debated whether or not to include this sequence in my recent look at musical films of the 2000s, but opted to include another scene from John Cameron Mitchell’s amazing “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” easily my choice for one of the two or three best musicals made over the last decade or so. Now it seems apt.
Given the storyline, this movie — and this scene — certainly does not lack for the LGBT awarness Finke seems to demand of a modern musical. However, the reason I’m including it here is that, despite my personal opinion that Kate Hudson is way cuter than anyone you’re about to look at (sorry, Kwahng-Yi, et al), I think Mitchell’s approach to filming a musical sequence is pretty vastly superior to Marshall’s — though they are both disciples of Bob Fosse.
Sometimes all you need to do is to keep things simple. So far, I’ve never seen Marshall try that approach. Maybe he’ll give it a shot sometime.
Posted in: Actors, Actresses, Movies, News
Tags: Hedwig and the Angry Inch, John Cameron Mitchell, Kate Hudson, Kwahng-Yi, Nikki Finke, Nine, Rob Marshall
Not gay friendly enough? She should talk to the Scissor Sisters, who are all but banned from American radio for the same reason. “Nine” tanked because it simply isn’t very good. There is a movie whose lack of success is worth discussing, though, and it’s “The Princess and the Frog.”
Well, at about $63 million so far, “The Princess and the Frog” is no box office bomb, though considering it’s budget of $105 million, it’s not a gigantic win for Disney…except that it probably is through all the ancillary marketing that made that company what it is.
My impression was that the film is considered an okay success because it hit all its bench-marks and will no doubt be a reliable seller for years to come like most Disney films. And, while I now you liked it a lot, my impression is that while most people thought it was a decent movie, they weren’t hugely into it and many had fairly big quibbles. (I’m still looking forward to checking it out at some point — if only to hear Randy Newman’s first full movie musical song score, because I’m a huge fan of his, though I know it’s one of the aspects that disappointed people. I think Ebert made a funny remark about Randy Newman sounding all Randy Newmaned out, which I noticed on a lot of his Disney songs over the years.)
Also, I still think there’s an idea out there at the studios that 2-D is inherently commercially inferior to 3-D, which after awhile tends to become a self-fulfilling prophecy.