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Playing Devil's Advocate to Test Our Argument

Re: Playing Devil\'s Advocate to Test Our Argument

Zero Mostel made "Fiddler On the Roof" famous on Broadway, didn't he? And his part was recast for that movie.

I think most musicals are actually recast when they go from stage to screen. I don't know about other plays.

Stage roles are recast much more often than not, and not *only* for because of box office concerns. Stage acting and screen acting are very different things. Some people can do both well. Other people specialize in one or the other. Very often a great stage performance would look like horrendous over-acting on film and a great film performance would look like mumbling non-acting on stage.

I remember hearing a story about the making of Cleopatra. Richard Burton, who had come up as a classically trained stage actor, was complaining vehemently to the director and / or producers about Elizabeth Taylor's complete lack of any performance in the title role. After a while they took him aside and showed him the dailies. Burton was shocked to see that, on screen with close-ups, Taylor looked wonderful and he was the one who like a silly incompetent who was massively overacting. Burton was supremely talented and adjusted quickly. However, wondering whether a given stage actor will be able to make that adjustment quickly enough for your movie is a legitimate concern in some cases.


And actually, what I remember hearing / reading about Mostel and Fiddler was that the issue in that case was exactly the opposite of the wanting-a-bigger-box-office-star syndrome. Mostel was very well known, and had a very specific style. He did big, broad, over-the-top, farcical comedy. That's what he was known for, and it worked terrifically in playing Tevye on stage. The director (Norman Jewison, IIRC) wanted a much more intimately personal and emotional feeling for the movie, which the closeness of movies allows. Even if Mostel toned down his performance for that movie, the audiance's recognition of him as Zero Mostel and their expectaction of his style would compromise their identification with and emotional investment in Tevye, or at least that is what Jewison feared. He was purposely going the other way, to cast a virtual unknown as Tevye so that audiances would see him only as Tevye.
 
Re: Playing Devil\'s Advocate to Test Our Argument

Oh, thanks there old Mighty. So they both were doing the stage productions.

I have to admit, Topol was wonderful, simply stunningly brilliant, in that roll. :cool:
 
Re: Playing Devil\'s Advocate to Test Our Argument

Sorry, PR, I missed your post last time I replied.

Yes, I have to admit, Topol is perfect in that roll. I can't imagine anyone else doing it.

I heard one comment once (don't know how valid it is, but it's funny if a bit politically incorrect...)

'When an Israeli jew (like Topol) "talks to god" he does it like he expects an answer.

:D
 
Re: Playing Devil\'s Advocate to Test Our Argument

Sorry, PR, I missed your post last time I replied.
That's cool. I've done that, too, when replies pop up on a new page of the thread.


'When an Israeli jew (like Topol) "talks to god" he does it like he expects an answer.

:D

I'm not sure if that applies that generally, but it certainly applies to Topol's reading of those lines in Fiddler. :cool:
 
Re: Playing Devil\'s Advocate to Test Our Argument

I was afraid to bring this up for the past few weeks, but there's only one "name" actor I can see playing Galen: Jude Law. He's got the look, the accent, the cold stare, and although he's quite well known and getting lots of work, I don't believe he is an expensive mega-star yet. Also, he's done sci-fi before, from A-I to Gattica (any others?).

I think Clive Owen would be even better, if you must have a Brit :)

Just what I was thinking! Clive Owen would make a great Galen! For people who don't know him, rent his film Croupier, and you'll see. He was also very good in a British-made series shown on PBS' Mystery, in the US.
 
Re: Playing Devil\'s Advocate to Test Our Argument

Just what I was thinking! Clive Owen would make a great Galen! For people who don't know him, rent his film Croupier, and you'll see. He was also very good in a British-made series shown on PBS' Mystery, in the US.

And he's in the new movie, 'Closer', although I haven't seen it yet, although I did see Gary Cole play the role that Clive Owen takes in the movie, on stage in Chicago :)

I also think Alan Rickman would make a good Galen. He could bring the right level of sarcasm to the role :D
 

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