Johnny Simmons

You probably might have heard by now that The King’s Speech is headed to Broadway, and I really am intrigued by the state of affairs which has turned the film from affable Best Picture contender to loathed Oscar winner. (I was a vaguely reticent fan when I first saw, but upon multiple viewings it ended up in my top 7 that year).
           
I’m interested in the notion of how the film will transfer to theatre, I could imagine the libretto would be rather simple – the script is straightforward. It’s the music – the crux of a musical – that has me more anxious. I happened to get my hands (illicitly, of course) on a drafted list of songs for the 2012 opening. I’ve left my thoughts below on what I imagine they could be about where necessary.
       
ACT ONE

• The Microphone – Ensemble


• Speech Therapy– Elizabeth


• The Penguins – Bertie


• My Castle, My Rules – Lionel


• Unnamed Song – Bertie, King George V


• The King’s Speech I– Lionel, Bertie and Elizabeth


• When I Was a Boy – Bertie, Lionel


• King George the Stammer-er – Bertie, David

This would probably be the scene for the first The King's Speech number...

ACT TWO

• When I Was A Boy (Reprise) – Bertie


• Shit and Fuck and Tits – Albert and Lionel


• The King’s Speech II– Bertie, David and Ensemble


• Unnamed Song - Lionel


• If I Must Be Queen – Elizabeth, Bertie (I imagine that this could be a sleeper number that ends up becoming the emotional gamut of the show)


• Confrontation / I Have A Voice– Bertie, Lionel


• The King’s Speech III – Albert, Lionel, Elizabeth and Ensemble

It seems the songwriters are playing on the concept of his literal speech and his speech (as in the manner of speaking), which is the only reason I could account for a resounding THREE songs with the title. I’m actually surprised that Elizabeth actually has a solo, this is – after all – a boys’ piece so she’s probably lucky to get even that. I like that the purported list has little more than a dozen numbers, which probably means it probably won’t be sung-through. I can’t imagine what the solo number for Lionel in the second act could be about. Maybe we might get a further glimpse of home life…who knows?
       
Fingers crossed; maybe the lyrics to some of these gems might leak before the year’s out. *I’ll do my utmost to make that happen.*
          
     
(To state the obvious, in case the deadpan is misleading - this information is falsified.)

There’s really no hard and fast rule, but I’m sure it’s difficult when actors in the same age range have the same first name hijinks ensue. And, when I say hijinks I of course mean that I forgot which is which. It’s happening right now in the form of Chris Pine and Chris Evans who I still end up mixing up crazily. I swear, I was having an argument with myself where I was convinced that it was Chris Pine who was in Fantastic Four. Obviously, I was wrong – it turns out the only is Star Trek (and that Diane Keaton TV movie Surrender, Dorothy - but that doesn’t count, I can’t remember him in it).

I’ve seen a lot more of Evans work (Not Another Teen Movie, Cellular, The Perfect Score, The Nanny Diariesand more recently Captain America) and he seems interesting enough in that bland way but he’s hardly riveting. The reason the Chris versus Chris battle comes to mind is because Heathers was on recently and I remembered there was a time when Christian Slater did more than star in bad TV shows. Of course, there’s only room for one Christian now (the Oscar winning one) but I have to admit that circa 1999 I was more interested Slater than I was in Bale. Oddly, it comes down to their two Winona Ryder films – Slater in Heathers and Bale in Little Women. And, even though, on a literary front Little Women is unbeatable, I’m not a big fan of 1994 version (although Bale is good in it), so Slater sort of wins by default - although he's terribly hilarious in Heathers so it's probably not just default - he's so easily the MVP in Heathers.

Looking at their résumés, it wasn’t until 2000 when the two really went separate ways Bale had American Psycho, and he’s been unstoppable since. Shame for Slater. For now, I’d say that Chris Evans and Chris Pine are evenly matched but who knows which will get a big break in the next fifteen years or so and turn into an Oscar winning performer?


Okay, make your arguments below. Go!

Heretic posting – I know. Sue me, I like Sam Trammell.

These are not good times. Things are insane at work and I'm under the weather, physically not emotionally. Well, the Emmy nominees didn't exactly cheer me up. But, I'll live. I shall return...soon...but for now -

Anyone else enjoying Fiona Shaw on True Blood? I wouldn't know because other than a few of you I have no idea what you readers watch on TV, which completely invalidates the TV part of this blog. As much as I love movies I often think that knowing what people watch on a small screen is a better barometer of their personalities than the big screen. Or, maybe I'm just being inquisitive and want to know what tickles your fancy? True Blood fans? Burn After Reading? Anticipating Breaking Bad or Damages?  The Closer maybe?
        
What are you watching on TV?

I’m from a legitimate Oscar predictor, and most of you probably know where to find the truly dedicated ones. But, 2011 is almost halfway done and there’s a deceptively little being said about potential Oscar nods. I’m probably wrong about these, but I’m never really invested in Oscar predictions for being right. I’d just like to put it out there that I don’t think that War Horse and The Iron Lady are going to be as big of hit as many are anticipating, but as I said. It’s all speculative here, I tend to have more fun making up random lists than in seeing them proven right. So here goes with random predictions for the top 6.
                
BEST PICTURE
MY GUESS: The Ides of March, A Dangerous Method, ★The Descendants, J. Edgar, Midnight in Paris, Money Ball, Tree of Life, We Bought A Zoo
THEN AGAIN, PERHAPS: Carnage, Hugo Cabret, On the Road, War Horse
MORE POSSIBILITIES: Contagion, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, My Week with Marilyn, We Need to Talk About Kevin
         
BEST DIRECTOR
MY GUESS: George Clooney for The Ides of March, David Cronenberg for A Dangerous Method, Clint Eastwood for J. Edgar, Terrence Mallick for Tree of Life, ★Alexander Payne for The Descendants
THEN AGAIN, PERHAPS: Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris, Cameron Crowe for We Bought A Zoo, David Fincher for Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Roman Polanski for Carnage, Steven Spielberg for War Horse
MORE POSSIBILITIES: Bennett Miller for Money Ball, Oren Moverman for Rampart, Walter Salles for On the Road, Martin Scorsese for Hugo Cabret
      
BEST ACTRESS
MY GUESS: Glenn Close in Albert Nobbs, Kirsten Dunst in Melancholia, Tilda Swinton in We Need to Talk About Kevin, ★Rachel Weisz in The Whistleblower, Michelle Williams in My Week with Marilyn,
THEN AGAIN, PERHAPS: Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady, Charlize Theron in Young Adult, Robin Wright in The Conspirator
MORE POSSIBILITIES: Jodie Foster in Carnage, Felicity Jones in Like Crazy, Keira Knightley in A Dangerous Method, Rooney Mara in Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
            
BEST ACTOR
MY GUESS: George Clooney in The Descendats, Leonardo DiCaprio in J. Edgar, Jean DuJardin in The Artist, ★Ryan Gosling in The Ides of March, Brad Pitt in Money Ball
THEN AGAIN, PERHAPS: Matt Damon in We Bought A Zoo, Michael Fassbender in A Dangerous Method, Ralph Fiennes in Coriolanus, Sam Riley in On the Road
MORE POSSIBILITIES: Woody Harrelson in Rampart, Gary Oldman in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, John C. Reilly in Carnage, Owen Wilson in Midnight in Paris
               

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
MY GUESS: ★George Clooney in The Ides of March, Philip Seymour Hoffman in Money Ball, Viggo Mortensen in A Dangerous Method, Brad Pitt in Tree of Life, Christoph Waltz in Carnage
THEN AGAIN, PERHAPS: Kenneth Branagh in My Week with Marilyn, Thomas Haden Church in We Bought A Zoo, Ben Foster in Rampart, Armie Hammer in J. Edgar, Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Ides of March
MORE POSSIBILITIES: Jim Broadbent in The Iron Lady, Paul Giamati in The Ides of March, Josh Lucas in J. Edgar, John C. Reilly in We Need to Talk About Kevin
            
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
MY GUESS: Judi Dench in J. Edgar, Scarlett Johansson in We Bought A Zoo, ★Vanessa Redgrave in Coriolanus, Naomi Watts in J. Edgar, Evan Rachel Wood in The Ides of March
THEN AGAIN, PERHAPS: Jessica Chastain in Tree of Life, Judi Dench in My Week with Marilyn, Janet McTeer in Albert Nobbs, Kate Winslet in Carnage
MORE POSSIBILITIES: Marion Cotillard in Midnight in Paris, Charlotte Rampling in Melancholia Sigourney Weaver in Rampart
            
I realise I have Clooney being nominated for three categories already, but I never said I trying to make sense. And, I think we all know sometimes Oscars don’t make sense. Is it too early for Oscar discussion? Possibly. But, what hunches do you have?

             

Did anyone watch Lindsay on Jay Leno this week? I'm such a ridiculous sentimentalist I still feel a little misty when I see Lindsay Lohan movie pre-Herbie Fully Loaded (and Bobby). I still stand by belief that Lindsay could be a great actor if she tried, but with all the terrible publicity recently that seems incredibly unlikely. Of course, though, she was on talking about her plans to turn her life around what and it does seem sincere, but I guess I can't be blamed for being less than certain about where that's going to go. Hopefully she gets back on track and in the next few years she can actually turn out a great performance.
        
For now, I'll placate myself with Lindsay back in the day.