Film Adaptations

[jo]

The other day, Glenn Close was interviewed and she was optimistic that a film adaptation of SUNSET BOULEVARD may be in the works. She said she is in talks for the role of Norma Desmond.


www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03my2hy


Another popular British megamusical, MISS SAIGON (albeit it is the story of the American involvement in the Vietnam war, with the musical focusing on the relationships which formed at that time) seems to be more definite now about its film adaptation plans.

Earlier this month, director Danny Boyle was mentioned as being in talks to helm the movie version.

This week, two production information sites ( Production Weekly and My Entertainment World) have reported definitive activity ( maybe a greenlight and maybe the start of pre-production?) re MISS SAIGON, with not much specific details yet.


From My Entertainment World --

Posted: March 23, 2016 at 1:11 pm EST

Title: Miss Saigon
Category: Feature Film - Date to be Announced
Genre: Drama / Romance
Shoot Date:
Location:
Story:
The film is about a Vietnamese bar girl and an American soldier before the fall of Saigon in 1975.

And from Production Weekly ==

www.productionweekly.com/?s=miss+saigon




Did you see it while it was on Broadway or when it originated in London?

I do remember seeing it in London very early on, with Lea Salonga , Jonathan Pryce, and Simon Bowman ( who are in the original London cast recording)

The musical score was written by the Les Miserables team of Claude Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil. It does have some gorgeous, spectacular, and very poignant songs.


Personally, I am a bit excited because there might be a possibility that someone from here in the Philippines might be considered for the female lead  and for other secondary roles ( especially that of Mimi who sings Movie in My Mind)...and even for the role of The Engineer ( Filipino Leo Valdez who is based outside our country was nominated for an Olivier for the recent revival of Miss Saigon in London). Fil-American Eva Noblezada portrayed the role of Kim (not technically Miss Saigon, but people give Kim the title ID) in the London revival. In London revival, Filipino Rachel Ann Go sang the role of Mimi and then she was eventually cast as Fantine in the Les Miserables production, which she repeated on Broadway recently.

From what I hear, they are auditioning people here in Manila ( performers from Asia in general) for the Broadway revival of Miss Saigon.

Seventeen years ago, Lea Salonga originated the role in London...and followed it to Broadway for the transfer. She is a rare winner of both an Olivier and a Tony for the same lead role. Her voice is still crystal-clear, angelic, and beautifully-haunting -- but she is too mature for the role now.

However it is cast, I am looking forward to watching another dramatic musical from the piano and pen of Boublil and Schonberg!


Jo

[jo]

Fun fact --

Did you know that after the success of the film adaptation of Les Miserables and there was talk that it would be followed by a film adaptation of Miss Saigon, that Cameron Mackintosh was supposedly trying to talk Hugh Jackman into taking on the the role of the Eurasian "The Engineer"

Hugh was not having any of that


Jo

[mamaleh]

I remember all the controversy when Jonathan Pryce was cast as the Eurasian "Engineer." It's a great role, but HJ was wise to take himself out of the rumored mix. We've gone way past the days of, say, Mickey Rooney cast as a Japanese national, thank goodness.

Interestingly, the MISS SAIGON movie is billed as a "drama/romance." I don't see the word "musical" anywhere. Either they're playing that aspect down, or maybe they're doing away with most of the score and making a straight drama. I wonder.

Ellen

[jo]

MISS SAIGON, interestingly enough, was supposed to have been inspired by a photo of a Vietnamese woman handing over her child to American authorities during the fall of Saigon ( now Ho Chi Minh). Also, some say that the opera Madame Butterfly ( the ill-fated romance between Japanese Chocho San and an American lieutenant) also inspired the story of Kim. But what may make it appealing to American movie audiences was the setting where it took place, the Vietnam War and American involvement. The story does extend to the time after the war when John found out about the boy and his return to Vietnam with his American wife Ellen.

Very dramatic stuff - maybe that was why it is described as a drama/romance. However, I think people might be in revolt if they leave out the entire musical score ... Maybe it will not be sung-through like Les Miserables but they will likely include some of that gorgeous music?

If they film this later this year -- could it happen that three movie musicals might get released in 2017? Beauty and the Beast, Greatest Showman on Earth and maybe Miss Saigon.

And that is not to count the possibility that SUNSET BOULEVARD could also be in the running ( Glenn Close, if she gets the role, will be 70 next year) for a 2017 release?


Hmm...Hugh was in the stage productions of Beauty and the Beast and Sunset Boulevard and he will be starring in the new movie musical Greatest Showman...and even had a tenuous link to the original casting ideas for a Miss Saigon film adaptation. That would be quite a coincidence


Jo