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Thursday, January 12, 2012

Sondheim + Disney = A Film Adaptation of "Into the Woods"

Posted by on Thu, Jan 12, 2012 at 1:49 PM

It's true. And Rob Marshall (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Chicago, others) will direct. Sondheim says he's writing new lyrics for the film.

Marshall is also working on a new version of The Thin Man, starring Johnny Depp as Nick Charles—which gives me an excuse to post my favorite moment from the original film. Some boys want to be astronauts when they grow up. Some want to be construction workers. Some want to be stars of stage and/or screen. When I saw this scene as a boy, I decided I wanted to be Nick Charles:

I'm still trying to talk my wife into the idea of an indoor shooting range.

 

Comments (19) RSS

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Roscoe 1
Very bad news indeed, if either of these projects comes to fruition. Rob Marshall is the worst director in film history. May whatever God is actually out there put a stop to his career before Sondheim and Hammett are defiled.
Posted by Roscoe on January 12, 2012 at 1:57 PM
nightscrawl 2
No... I like Johnny Depp but I do NOT want to see him as Nick Charles *sigh*. Why can't these people leave well enough alone? If it ain't broke, etc.
Posted by nightscrawl on January 12, 2012 at 2:00 PM
3
Indoor shooting is derivative of Sherlock Holmes as is Nick's drug problem (yes, alcohol is a drug). I loved "The Thin Man" series as a teenager but after awhile the drinking just wasn't funny anymore, especially with a kid in the mix. That said, I'd love to see Johnny Depp's version of this.

Special to Hollywood: Did you know that there are many fine writers living today who write original stuff? Weird but true!
Posted by Mr. J on January 12, 2012 at 2:03 PM
4
"He didn't come anywhere near my tabloids."
Posted by Eric from Boulder on January 12, 2012 at 2:11 PM
undead ayn rand 5
Into the Woods doesn't need a remake, damnit.
Posted by undead ayn rand on January 12, 2012 at 2:15 PM
6
My favorite scene in a fantastic movie.
Posted by keshmeshi on January 12, 2012 at 2:19 PM
gloomy gus 7
I say Sondheim is welcome to defile himself however he likes. He could spend the rest of his time on earth purposely embarrassing himself, speaking only in fart noises and writing only Danny Kaye-style patter songs, and that would be fine with me. That motherfucker has earned it.
Posted by gloomy gus on January 12, 2012 at 2:40 PM
COMTE 8
@2:

The short answer to your presumably rhetorical question is that studios own dozens of these properties that sit languishing, sometimes literally for decades. Execs periodically comb through their holdings and occasionally decide it's a good time to trot one out and see if it can once again generate some revenue.

Reinvigorating a property the studio already owns the rights to is infinitely less expensive on the front end than going through the process of acquiring the rights to some other property, and has the added benefit of involving fewer "partners" (i.e. other rights holders) with which the studio may have to share potential profits.
Posted by COMTE http://www.chriscomte.com on January 12, 2012 at 2:41 PM
9
I'm listening to Black Flag Rise Above and that opening shot of Nora...perfection. I wonder if I started Thin Man and Damaged at the same time there would be some sort of Pink Floyd/Wizard of Oz synergy.
Posted by sisyphusgal on January 12, 2012 at 3:05 PM
Keister Button 10
Spouse-subsidized urbane inebriation and Veblenesque consumption, just the escapist thing for a Depression-Era America freshly freed from the failed social experiment of Prohibition. No wonder William Powell and Myrna Loy on the Box Office heap for most of the 1930s...
Posted by Keister Button on January 12, 2012 at 3:11 PM
11
There's already a perfectly good screen version available on DVD, and with the original cast, no less.
Posted by Joe Glibmoron on January 12, 2012 at 3:17 PM
Free Lunch 12
George Clooney would make a far better Nick Charles than Depp. (Plus, I'd rather see the Coen brothers take on The Thin Man instead of Marshall.) I wonder who gets Myrna Loy's part.

I hope that they at least create an original plot with these characters, rather than just revisiting the original Thin Man plot.
Posted by Free Lunch on January 12, 2012 at 4:02 PM
merry 13
Ye Gods how I love those old Thin Man movies!

Although my liver barely survives the experience when I watch the first one... Drinky Drank Drunk they were, Drinky Drank Drunk!!
Posted by merry on January 12, 2012 at 4:21 PM
Will in Seattle 14
Over the years, I've learned to trust Johnny Depp, even when at first I thought it would be awful.

This is one of those times.

That said, the movie I'm waiting for right now is the one about the black flying aces in WW II.
Posted by Will in Seattle http://www.facebook.com/WillSeattle on January 12, 2012 at 5:20 PM
15
It doesn't matter how many times a film is remade or a song is covered. If it isn't any good people will just stick with the original.

I absolutely adore the Thin Man movies with William Powell and Myrna Loy, but people are free to try to improve on the original. If they succeed, great. If not, we still have the originals.
Posted by Charlie Mas on January 12, 2012 at 5:55 PM
16
Reading that Johnny Depp is going to play Nick Charles just ruined my week. I knew they would eventually remake this already perfect film, but pretentious, played-out, tired Johnny Depp? Ugh. Let me guess: Keira Knightley (or someone named Kate/Cate) will play Nora.
Posted by mitten on January 12, 2012 at 6:15 PM
sloegin 17
The abomination that was _The Front Page_, with Matthau and Lemon trying to remake _His Girl Friday_ is one of those memories I'd gladly burn out of my brain.

That being said, not all remakes suck, the latest reincarnation of Sherlock Holmes (the BBC production, not the other one) is quite tasty.
Posted by sloegin on January 12, 2012 at 8:34 PM
Lissa 18
I love that scene! I own all of the Thin Man movies, and used to, back in the day, when I was feeling nervy, put one on before bed and fall asleep to them.
Also, yes George Clooney, and maybe Johnny Depp, but who for Nora?
Posted by Lissa on January 12, 2012 at 9:20 PM
--MC 19
Not Depp, not Clooney. Bill Murray. Let's go back in time and make a Thin Man film with Bill Murray ca. 1995.
Posted by --MC on January 13, 2012 at 7:34 AM

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