Oscar nominee Anna Kendrick (Twilight, Up in the Air) got her start on Broadway — nabbing a Tony nomination at the age of 12, no less — before making her film debut in 2003's musical Camp. In this week's infectiously fun college-set comedy Pitch Perfect she comes full circle playing Beca, an antisocial college freshman who reluctantly joins a ragtag campus a capella group as they attempt to pop song-warble their way to the top.
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If you can appreciate a musical that unabashedly uses a 1996 Blackstreet jam as a communal rallying cry, then Pitch Perfect will be the most fun you'll have all year. (Also, we can totally be friends.) Producers Elizabeth Banks and Max Handelman, joined at an LA screening by cast members Brittany Snow, Skylar Astin, Alexis Knapp, Hana Mae Lee, Anna Camp, and Ester Dean, revealed how they first saw the potential in a nonfiction book about real life college a capella competitions – or, in the parlance of Pitch Perfect: The a-ca-drama.
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I'm not sure if Uma Thurman's character Rebecca Duvall on NBC's Smash is supposed to be all that convincing as Marilyn Monroe -- the subject of the Broadway show-within-the-TV show, in case you've been living under a rock -- but a sneak peek at next week's episode offers a snippet of Thurman's singing chops and, well... let's just say, it's good to know she'll only be around for a five-episode arc. Watch Thurman in a musical scene from her upcoming guest turn, decked out in a platinum blonde wig and singing about Freud, after the jump.
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It's been called the greatest rock musical ever made, the movie that launched Prince into the mainstream consciousness: 1984's Purple Rain. The semi-autobiographical story of a Minneapolis musician known as The Kid and his struggles with success, love, and an abusive father -- told as much through Prince's tortured swagger as through iconic chart-topping songs like "When Doves Cry" and the titular "Purple Rain" -- struck a chord with audiences and earned Prince an Oscar for Best Score to boot. But, as recounted in an exclusive excerpt from John Kenneth Muir's book Purple Rain: Music on Film, the film was headed for the rocks until neophyte director Albert Magnoli dared to tell Prince the truth about the film's initial script: "Well, I think it sucked."
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The off-Broadway musical adaptation of Stephen King's Carrie may have outlasted its 1988 stage predecessor by four times the stage run, but it died nonetheless last weekend -- two weeks early! The NYT has the post-mortem: "Several theater producers contacted recently said that Carrie, no matter how well acted and sung, presented far more than the usual share of difficulties, the most insurmountable being that nearly every character is dead at the end....Several reviewers complained about certain songs and a one-note blandness in the high school scenes, but the sharpest criticism was that Carrie had been de-camped to the point of dullness." Chloe Moretz, you're our last hope! [NYT via Movie City News]
Woody Allen, whose Midnight in Paris is competing at this Sunday's Academy Awards, will be bringing his Oscar-nominated 1994 comedy Bullets Over Broadway to the Great White Way in 2013, reports the New York Times. The adaptation has long been rumored to be in the works; Allen himself is writing the book, with songs culled from existing 1920s-era music. Cue obligatory Dianne Wiest quotes! [NYT]
In spite of the role he played in bringing the movie musical back into prominence, Rob Marshall has been, shall we say, a bit inconsistent over the years. This goes for his work within the musical genre, from the Oscar winning Chicago to the messy Nine, as much as his direction of non-musical films (Memoirs of a Geisha, I'm looking at you). Just look to his most recent effort, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides; commonly accepted as the weakest entry in the series, a sequel that hardly justifies its own existence, it's nevertheless brought in $1 billion for Disney to date. And so, let's discuss: Can Rob Marshall be trusted to adapt Broadway's Into the Woods?
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The Joel Edgerton-Mary Elizabeth Winstead prequel The Thing hits theaters this Friday, so if you need a refresher on the events of the John Carpenter 1982 original -- which takes place three days after the new film -- what better way to relive it than through the Cliff's Notes version, as sung in the style of Frank Sinatra from the point of view of the dog? Just go with it. Watch Jon and Al's John Carpenter's The Thing: The Musical, then stick around for more Buzz Break.
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Now, in addition to Goonies, Newsies, Carrie and Rocky, Hollywood is adapting Diner into a Broadway musical. If it works out, Diner could be the next Billy Elliott or Hairspray! And if not, it could be the next Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark. Scheduled for a fall 2012 premiere, the adaptation of Barry Levinson's directorial debut will revive the saga of high school buddies played by Steve Guttenberg, Daniel Stern, Mickey Rourke, Kevin Bacon, Tim Daly and Paul Reiser. Oh, and did I mention that Sheryl Crow is involved?
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Though Anne Hathaway is still just rumored to be a potential addition to Tom Hooper's musical film adaptation of Les Miserables, star Hugh Jackman is already getting some company for the December 2012 release. According to Variety, Russell Crowe will play foil to Jackman's Jean Valjean as Inspector Javert. Could Crowe's past experience singing with his bands 30 Odd Foot of Grunts and The Ordinary Fear of God have given him the casting edge?
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Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino (Alias, LOST, Star Trek, Up, Super 8) has created some of the most memorable aural film and television moments in the last decade, notably working time and time again with a chosen few close collaborators including J.J. Abrams and the folks at Pixar. So on the eve of his latest film, the globe-trotting sequel Cars 2 (his fourth Pixar score since 2004's The Incredibles), Movieline asked Giacchino to share his pro tips for mastering the film-scoring game.
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As the makers of multiple Tony winners like Spamalot, Billy Elliott, and Hairspray (among many, many others) know, adapting hit Broadway musicals from movies can be quite rewarding -- commercially and creatively. But since these days it seems like Broadway folk are dipping into the Hollywood playbook for just about any kind of material -- nun-themed disco comedies, '80s-set Adam Sandler pics, even the Patrick Swayze-Demi Moore romance Ghost, complete with potter's wheel cheesiness -- Movieline's got your guide to the five most promising future movie-to-Broadway adaptations to watch for.
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From where she's sitting -- literally, high above the rafters -- T.V. Carpio must finally feel like she's found her calling. The multitalented actress has taken a circuitous and almost accidental route to stardom, turning in stints as a would-be Olympian, a Law & Order guest star, and a professional dancer along the way, but currently she's poised to make her name in the biggest, riskiest manner imaginable: As the female lead in Julie Taymor's Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.
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