Kendrick Sings and Sings Some More
Tuesday, December 16, 2014 at 10:18AM Manuel here to give you two new-ish videos with which to feast on if you’re famished for some Anna Kendrick. It’s probably unnecessary to remind you that Anna Kendrick has become the poster gal for movie musicals. In a stretch of 8 months she’ll have premiered The Last Five Years, Into the Woods and Pitch Perfect 2. We’ve already done a YES/NO/MAYBE SO for Into the Woods and for Pitch Perfect 2 and while I’d love to write one up for The Last Five Years, I’m afraid I’m too much of a YES to nitpick about this beautiful trailer. Plus, snap/blind judgements that come from trailers don’t work as well when the film’s already been seen and reviewed. Case in point: Nathaniel already reviewed it back at Toronto. back in Toronto.
Anna sings twice after the jump...
So, while offering up this new trailer below (feel free to YES/NO/MAYBE SO it yourselves and/or wonder aloud with me whether Jordan’s singing is sidelined because the trailer openly acknowledges the fact that the score’s strongest songs belong to Cathy), I also wanted to share Kendrick’s rendition of “On the Steps of the Palace” which Disney has been sneak peeking for a while. They finally went ahead and released the full song surely hoping to drum up further business for the film’s soundtrack which is out tomorrow now over at iTunes!
Will you be listening to this recording nonstop until the film arrives, or are you of the mind that recordings are what one listens to after one has seen a film/production?
If Kendrick were to be cast in another full-length musical adaptation, what would you like to see her tackle? After that Kennedy Center Honors performance, I can’t quite shake the idea of casting her as Charity Hope Valentine.
Reader Comments (27)
can i buy the iTunes album WITHOUT the Johnny Depp song. asking for a friend.
but yes. ON THE STEPS OF THE PALACE revamp. all kinds of yes.
Listening since yesterday to the ITW soundtrack for free on Spotify. So glad they didn't eff it up (except for Depp--ugh!) Kendrick is a delight, but some parts are a little high-pitched for my taste. VERY happily surprised with singing by Emily Blunt and Chris Pine. As Streep and Sondheim have said in the press lately, this ensemble is a talented group of actors who can sing, rather than a bunch of great singers who can act, and you can hear their "acting" in this soundtrack--makes me more excited for the film. But what happened to Agony Part 2??? More Chris and Billy please.
Looking forward to The Last Five Years. Not so much on Jordan, but yes on Kendrick. However, I want Lea Michele to get a musical. I'm still a big fan of her voice.
Pam -- i think Lea really killed that opportunity by staying on GLEE. i don't know what she was thinking (besides money). Leave while the show is still vaguely good and narratively speaking you have such a clear exit and at the time she decided to stay she WAS geting movie offers so i guess ... wow. self sabotage if you ask me.
I haven't listened to any of the Into the Woods stuff yet because I want everything to be new to me when I see it.
HOWEVER, I am LIVING for Kendrick in that Last Five Years trailer (and although it makes some sort of sense to release it on Valentine's Day, people who take their significant other to see it then are some sadistic people). Since seeing it, I keep longing to see her in Jason Robert Brown's breakthrough show, Songs for a New World, which has a few songs she would sound great on. Otherwise, I'd LOVE to see her as Mary in Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along or (Gypsy) Rose in Gypsy, or any of the girlfriends in Company (which, like Follies, is another Sondheim show BEGGING for a creative cinematic treatment).
denny - I love Follies dearly, but how on EARTH do you adapt that second act for film? Sondheim has a history of tough-to-crack second acts, with Follies and Sunday in the Park with George possibly being the toughest. I'd be worried that the highly theatrical fantasy would be hacked to bits (like Into the Woods) or just spin off into confused nothingness (like Nine). If you can see a way out of that, take my money now, because I would love another Sondheim adaptation on the screen as soon as possible.
I love Sondheim. I can't help but feel they could have found a better voice for the role. The break between head and chest voice is distracting (this is why it feels as if it is pitched too high as someone else mentioned) and she sounds to me as if she is struggling with the song, especially the end where she tries to take chest voice up and they had to auto tune her last note (I suspect a lot of it was auto tuned).
I think she is better suited for the other show. The character isn't supposed to be successful, just good. She has obviously had training, most of it seems to have been good. I just don't think the instrument is that special (strident is the quality I get from her).
Streep, on the other hand does have a special voice. She, at one time, was considering opera as her career and was accepted by one of the best voice teachers in the world (Beverly Sills' teacher no less). I'm not the least surprised that she is nailing these songs.
There are a lot of roles Kendrick could play in musical theater (Charity is a great suggestion), but not the sweet voiced ingenue.
Anne Marie - it seems to me that film is, generally speaking, much more adaptable to flights of fantasy like what happens in the second act of Follies than the stage is. It's reductive at this point, but you could probably do it as simply as what Rob Marshall did with going into the characters' headspace in Chicago. But that's where you would need a CREATIVE director to come up with something (I almost hate to say it because he's very nearly become a cliche of himself already, but wouldn't you just KILL to see Baz direct a film of Follies?!?), because there are probably numerous options. Granted, you probably couldn't do what they did in the most recent (and totally brilliant) Broadway revival with having the showgirl "ghosts" walking around, but the material offers up a wealth of possibilities for a visually creative director what with the past and present co-existing and the extended "Loveland" fantasy sequence. But, if anything, I see that part working BETTER on film than on stage, where it often comes off as a clunky transition.
Anne Marie, Denny: Follies totally lends itself to a screen adaptation. I can see the younger selves and their locations being a lot more prominent, although it's true the ghost showgirls would have to go, or possibly become incorporated into the "Loveland" sequences. It would be a gorgeous movie, with great roles for actresses in their 20s and mid-40s to late 60s...
The problem I see with filming stage musicals is the lack of imagination with directors. Fosse spoiled us. Marshall had one good idea, but hasn't really been able to come up with another. Follies is such a great show, but it needs a director with vision......Taymor or the like and producers who will go with the plan rather than fret over trivialities. It needs to be approached from a love project point of view where winning awards or making money aren't the goal.
( I hate this time of the year in some ways because the films we are getting seem to have awards as the only reason for their existence. I think this is one of the reasons Grand B is dong to well. It was just made to make a good film and the awards found it, not the other way round. I mean, does anyone believe Into the Wood was made for any reason other than to get Disney back in the Oscar conversation and that seems to be more and more of an epic fail.)
I love that Kendrick's Tony nomination (when she was a kid) trumps her Oscar nomination. It's like someone in the marketing department was like, "These people can sang!" Totally a YES on both accounts. I hope they keep making small and large scale musicals for the screen, so my hard earned dough will go to support them!
as much as i admire most of the into the woods cast, there's no way they're bumping the original broadway cast recording off my ipod #bernadetteforever
I have a suspicion that Marshall and Streep want to do Follies next...
Every actress who sings wants to do Follies next........as well as a great many who don't sing. Those are some of the greatest songs ever written for women.
My gut says they will make an announcement after Into the Woods is successful... In interviews, Marshall has said he would love for Follies to be his next project and Streep has been hinting at doing Sondheim again but in a show with a older woman character....
N--I didn't know that about Lea Michele. Too bad.
My hope is that musicals are making their way back to us in any form. Even if I didn't love the recent NBC events, I give them props for trying! Some of my favorite TV shows have had a "musical episode" (Bufffy, Scrubs, How I Met Your Mother, Simpsons, Community). And I'm for filming a live version for airing later on, like Live from Lincoln Center's Sweeney Todd.
It's why I still watch Nashville, just to catch a glimpse of Laura Benanti doing what she does best.
Follies would make an awesome film. Christine Baranski better get Carlotta.
I wouldn't hold my breath for Marshall and Follies. ITW needs Les Miz type success before they give Marshall another shot at a musical (Geisha was one of the biggest book hits of the decade and he failed with that--It was almost as big a fuck up as Bonfire of the Vanities) and ITW isn't getting the props from the awards groups that Les Miz got or the advance word. If it doesn't land a BP nod from AMPAS, at this point it won't happen. This is one case where a Streep nomination won't mean anything for success (that "she always gets nominated" thing we bitch about) without something other than craft to go with it. Marshall has dropped out of serious running for Dir., none of the other actors are in the convo any more......even hair and makeup didn't happen which really hurts because there is a lot of hair and makeup going on in that film. Its very iffy. Box office will determine a lot, but Les Miz had a bigger fan base (and much bigger star drawing names in the cast) with general audiences than ITW and, at the risk of sounding sexist........a woman can drag the boyfriend to see Wolverine and Gladiator in a musical a lot easier than she can drag him to see Streep and Depp or anyone else in the ITW cast.
The biggest problem for ITW is the late opening. Its been talked to death for months, everyone has heard the awards bodies and pundits talk about it and then stop talking about it and audiences, especially the specialty audiences who are the main draw and are needed to spread the word are going to head for Birdman, Theory and Imitation first because they are hot. And if they re-release Grand B or Boyhood, they will go there next. It also isn't really for children which comes through loud and clear in the promos. ITW is in trouble regardless of the reviews.
American Sniper has a built in audience and will do fine and Unbroken will also survive. Not sure about awards mileage for those however.
Henry- I was not simply talking Oscar success but financial success.... Into the Woods will make a profit regardless since it was relatively cheap to make... If Disney can make Alice in Wonderland or Malificent successful... ITW will be too. The soundtrack was just released yesterday and is already making money....
And if I were to use your logic about Geisha or even Nine.. There would have been no way Marshall would have been given ITW
Marshall got ITW because of the last Pirates of the C. which made a mint. Another perceived failure at a musical and it will be harder and harder for him to get green lit. (And making money (meaning breaking even or a modest profit) is not considered a hit.)
Henry- I think anticipation is building for Into the Woods... Marshall has made a strong adaptation- Sondheim and Disney and critics seem pleased...
Guess we will see how it goes?
Les Miz also made money. Estimated cost of 61 mil, gross as of almost 2 years ago (March 13) was north of 148 mil. with a 27mil opening weekend (it opened in the same year end time frame as ITW).
ITW has a 50mil budget which means it needs a similar opening weekend (23-25mil) and needs the momentum to pull 125mil by March to match Les Miz. The market place is far more crowded with potential money pulls (particularly Sniper). Its not going to be easy without the awards buzz Les Miz had.
Les Miz did not have Streep....what were Mamma Mia's numbers worldwide?
Meryl is a big star, but her box office mojo isn't significantly impressive to automatically think she will pull the film. Mamma Mia is her biggest hit (since 1985!) with a domestic take of only 144mi. Its also her biggest hit world wide (609 mil). (Since 2000 only 5 of her 22 films in that period have topped 100mil domestically (and those are adjusted figures).) Mamma Mia was a summer release and a far less crowded marketplace to make its mark.
Contrast that with Jackman and Les Miz which took 148. domestic and 441mil worldwide, but his biggest hit was one of the x-men with 746mil worldwide. Jackman also has 22 films listed since 2000 but 11 have topped 100mil, and 5 have topped 200 mil (and Jennifer Lawrence, who only has 13 films listed on Mojo, 7 of which have topped 100mil, 4 over 200mi (and growing) and 2 over 400mil-----that's mojo.)
Streep was also the star of Mamma Mia which is one of the most popular stage shows ever. ITW is a better show, but it pales in the number of fans waiting to pay money. (There are also different expectations of quality here. Mamma Mia just had to be fun. ITW has to be art.) If Jersey Boys couldn't pull an audience with its fanbase, ITW has to have stellar reviews to gain an audience. Opening in the middle of awards season, it needs more awards traction (and it isn't winning any critics prizes either, Hathaway won nearly half the critic prizes or was at least mentioned--I don't think ITW has won anything (AFI and a Satellite)). Even Chicago, which was top dog for most of the fight only took 170mil and 306mil world wide and that after winning 6 oscars including the big prize.
I don't think it will fail, per se, but failure in the eye of Hollywood is a strange thing. The expectations Disney had for this were HUGE (see the big press releases and stories in Variety and THR in Nov) and it isn't performing. Similar to Mr. Banks in that regard.
The problem with movie musicals, I would think, is that they cost a lot of money. There are big casts and sets and costumes and heavy post-production for sound, among other things. The idea that producers would "get out of the way" of important creative decisions for a movie that costs so much is probably not going to happen, unfortunately.
Evan: I unhappily agree with you on this.
I think comparing ITW with Saving Mr Banks is misguided. I stand by the movie being successful despite whatever numbers you have. And how is is not performing- has not even opened yet?
Jamie -- i'm with you on this. We have no idea yet how Into the Woods will perform with audiences since it isnt playing in theaters. like all things movie the actual results are months behind the presumed results -- can't they fix distribution so that it doesnt lag *so* many months behind movie discussions? seems to ruin so many movies with pop culture nowadays.
henry - not sure it's wise to compare Jackman and Streep. Superhero films are their own bankability. Unfair playing field! I think Mamma Mia! is a truly embarrassing film on Streep's resume BUT it was a giant giant success financially much of which can be attributed to her starpower. I'd argue moreso than Les Miz can be attributed to Jackman's.
Hollywood Reporter and Variety reviews for ITW are out!