'Don't tell me not to link, I've simply got to... 🎵 '
Thursday, July 14, 2022 at 2:00PM This Week's Must Read: Everyone has been talking about the cast changes at Funny Girl on Broadway and it's been very messy. Daily Beast has the gorey details in an inside scoop on how things have played out as Beanie Feldstein announced an early departure and Lea Michele prepares for the iconic titular role.
More after the jump including new projects for Jonathan Bailey, Chris Hemsworth, a second season for The Bear, an Amy Winehouse biopic, and appreciations of Nicole Kidman, the Three Colors trilogy, and the year's best action films...
• THR Jonathan Bailey and Matt Bomer to costar as lovers in a new limited series *fans self* called Fellow Travelers. We only request that there be at least one explicit sex scene per episode.
• Pajiba Has Netflix's algorithm finally eaten itself? For example "if most of what you feed the algorithm is true crime, and subscribers watch a lot of true crime because it’s what’s most available, then won’t the algorithm tell you to create more true crime?"
• Out What We Do in The Shadows fourth season, which just premiered, is its gayest yet
• IndieWire David Ehrlich thinks Kieslowski's Three Colors trilogy is as relevant as its ever been right now (and we're always shocked/excited when IndieWire actually discusses independent films instead of blockbusters since they lost that thread so many years ago!)
• / Film The Bear is getting a second season. Some details on Hulu's word of mouth hit
• FSR 40 things we learned from Sam Raimi's Blu-ray commentary on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
• /Film Sam Taylor-Johnson will direct an Amy Winehouse biopic. No word on casting yet but they're thinking of going the unknown route
• Time "Nicole Kidman gives the people what they want"
• Film School Rejects names the 10 best action films of 2022 (thus far) including Bollywood's RRR and (surprisingly) Hulu's The Princess
• Instagram Florence Pugh, looking absolutely gorg' in a see through Valentino gown, has words for those judging her body
• Gawker Have you heard about that Thor Love and Thunder premiere where the cast called the movie 'gay'? Co-sign this headline: "none of this shit is gay"
• MNPP "Everything you ever need to know about life..." Summertime (1955) edition
• / Film A League of Their Own's most memorable line was almost a throwaway
• Daily Mail Chris Hemsworth spotted on set of Furiosa with a red beard and prosthetic nose
Exit Video
Today's video find is a rare behind the scenes into the making of the short Rollercoaster Rabbit (1990). It hasn't been online in ages but recently resurfaced so see it while you can...
Even before we knew anything about the inside-workings of the movie industry, we were puzzled (still are in fact!) that Disney didn't try harder to capitalize on the succcess of the ahead-of-its-time Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which was 1988's biggest global grosser (second only to Rain Man within the US). Nowadays any movie that's even marginally successful gets a sequel or a prequel or a reboot or a tv show spin-off. But in the 34 years since Roger Rabbit made big bucks the only thing that's ever happened is three short films from 1989-1993.
Reader Comments (9)
If you need a little "Fellow Travelers" to tide you over til the TV show, there was an opera a few years back. It swung through my town at the same time as Pride, and seeing Hadleigh Adams croon in his '50s-era undies was a Pride blessing to us all.
https://mnopera.org/season/2017-2018/fellow-travelers/
I doubt Who Framed Roger Rabbit could get made today simply because there no longer seems to be the possibility of Warner Bros. licensing characters out to Disney (or vice versa). Unfortunately if Disney were to make a decades-later sequel (which they shouldn’t do because I honestly couldn’t imagine it working nearly as well without the perfect straight-man performance of Bob Hoskins), they obviously own enough other properties at this point that they’d easily be able to fit in other characters instead, but it would kind of defeat the purpose if the Looney Tunes characters wouldn’t be there even though I fully realize they’re not nearly as popular these days. And beyond that, even if they DID work out a deal with WB, I fear all that would do is open the floodgates of “oooh maybe this means we can get a DC vs. Marvel movie” chatter, and I for one don’t need that.
The Three Colors Trilogy is a masterpiece, so it’s always good to see it still being appreciated as such.
And yeah, the whole thing about the Thor movie being pitched as “gay” is really infuriating, and I hope it doesn’t lead to more big blockbusters trying to co-opt the label when they are, at best, offering merely the most gentrified definition of the word possible.
Not that it’s enough, but there were three Roger Rabbit shorts: Tummy Trouble (released with Honey, I Shrunk The Kids), Roller Coaster Rabbit (with Dick Tracy), and Trail Mix-Up (with A Far Off Place). It looks like they’re all streaming on Disney+ now, but Roller Coaster Rabbit is listed as an “extra” with Who Framed Roger Rabbit (the other two are solo).
I am now awaiting for Criterion to release a 4K Blu-Ray set of everything by Kieslowski. He's just awesome.
People upset over Florence Pugh's dress. Hey, if you've got it. FLAUNT IT!!! Plus, those are nice boobies. I love the fact that she doesn't have the typical model body type and loves to eat.
I hope Lea Michele's opening night ends with walkouts, boos, people throwing shit at her, and the critics destroying her. Beanie Feldstein is an amazing actress and it's a shame she had to pull out. I hope her understudy does an amazing job as I am rooting for Beanie and her understudy. I am still not over what Lea did to a young Hailee Steinfeld more than a decade ago and made her cry in front of Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon.
thevoid99 -- hate to break this to you but Lea Michele has a powerful gorgeous voice which is what this musical needs so she is not going to be trashed by the critics. By nearly all accounts Beanie just didn't have the voice to sing it and shouldn't have been hired in the first place. I love her as an actress but casting musicals is an art and the *very first thing* that whoever you cast needs to be able to do is sing the songs. It is mandatory and yet Holllywood (and now even Broadway) keeps making this mistake.
SHOCKED they didn’t give it to Lea from the beginning. She’s the first actor anyone thinks of when talking about recasting this role. Feel so bad for Beanie, she’s clearly very sensitive about the whole thing. Wouldn’t this whole thing be a very fun A24 film a few decades from now?
I saw the filmed version of the London West End hit revival of “Funny Girl” with Sheridan Smith. Smith is a well known, respected, very talented English actress and musical performer.
They played the show as very dark, and it was a sad story, of a talented character with an unhappy personal life. And that worked.
Have you looked at the Barbra Streisand movie lately? She is wonderful of course, but the movie’s attempts at comedy just make you say, what? The date rapiness and the abuse, etc, not hilarious.
I like Beanie Feldstein, her cheer, enthusiasm, talent, and intelligence. I can see how she would have been great as the ingenue in Hello, Dolly. But you can’t make Funny Girl a happy story today. I’m not actually familiar with Lea Michelle (sorry) but an outsized melodramatic personality might fare better with this piece.
Good for Lea Michele.
Maybe she’s been a terrible person in the past (very likely), but lord knows she’s hungered for this role for a long time.
Yes, there’s joy and fun to be had in collaborative art, but this isn’t community theatre — it’s Broadway. It’s a business.
The productions costs are enormous, and they need to make out w a profit. The behind the scenes sounds way too messy.
Beanie will hopefully grow a thicker skin from this, Lea will perform the role the way it should’ve been from jump as the professional she is (too bad she can’t be nominated for the Tony now), and hopefully the producers learn from their mistake.
You can’t cast a non-singer in a role that needs to really, truly be SUNG. I mean, belted. What were they thinking?
I seem to like THOR: L&T more than general, but also agree on the "not gay" bit. I mean if even Taika can't make this GAY GAY GAY then what's the hope for others? At least his TV property WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS do seem to be going more queer this season and I can't WAIT!
This is the SECOND time today I'm hearing of Hulu's THE PRINCESS. NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast just recommended it as well. I guess I have to check it out.