First post
Wow, I've never been first before. Very exciting. Anyway, this looks like a very interesting project. We already know Bill Nighy is cast. Kristin Scott Thomas, Renee Zellweger, and Maggie Smith are in talks. Should be interesting.
shareCongratulations.
I couldn't find this board when I checked earlier.
Renée Zellweger Best Actress Oscar 2006.
It must've just gone up in the past couple hours. It wasn't here earlier today. Anyway, let's get to casting shall we?
Larita, American divorcee: Renee Zellweger (was she American in the Noel Coward play?)
John Whittaker: Matthew Goode
Mr. Whittaker, John's father: Bill Nighy
Mrs. Whittaker: Maggie Smith? Julie Christie?
John's sister: Kristin Scott Thomas
Larita's husband, a "drunken brute": ???
Larita's lover: ???
Was she an Amercian in Noel Cowards play? Good question. I don't know. Bad answer! I'm sure her royal Sageness will be able to say.
Drunken brutish husband. Is he American? Someone in his late 30s early 40s. How about Jack Nicolson? Perhaps too old. Hmmm.
Larita's lover: How about George Clooney?
Renée Zellweger Best Actress Oscar 2006.
Let's get serious.
Larita Filton: Renée Zellweger
Mr. Filton, Larita's husband:
Claude Robson, the co-respondent: George Clooney
The plaintiff's counsel: Colin Firth (who else?)
John Whittaker: Matthew Goode
Mrs. Whittaker, John's mother: Maggie Smith? Julie Christie?
Colonel Whittaker, John's father: Bill Nighy
John's elder sister: Kristin Scott Thomas
John's younger sister: Piper Perabo (she can do an English accent)
Sarah:
Man with stick near tennis court: The Director of course!
Who the bloody hell is Sarah? Plus we need a drunken brute of a husband.
Renée Zellweger Best Actress Oscar 2006.
Not that good casting! Claude Robson, GC, kills himself early on. Very small part.
I am beginning to think that a lot of these parts are only small. Have to think very carefully about this. Wonder why they cast Bill Nighy first, the women's roles seem to be the dominant ones? Wonder how much they have changed?
Sarah could be a friend or a maid, somebody's confidant, either way.
I think Bill Nighy is too sexy to be the crusty old colonel.
"I hate quotations, tell me what you know." Ralph Waldo Emerson.
I thought it may be a small part. At least I'm trying to get them into a film together.
It's a bit odd. Perhaps the original women's roles were cast and fell through.
I wondered if she was a child. I should look up the ages of the people who played them originally. My research thus far has been hasty and flawed.
Surely Bill can play crusty. Are all Colonels crusty?
Renée Zellweger Best Actress Oscar 2006.
The actress who played Sarah was twenty three or twenty four.
Colonels in old plays and films were usually the old fogey type unless they were youngish suitors, like in Jane Austen. It's the mother who investigates the girl too, not the father. Doesn't make him sound very on the ball.
We really need more info. There is nothing, not even the writers or Bill Nighy on the board!
"I hate quotations, tell me what you know." Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Yes, I just saw.
"It's the mother who investigates the girl too, not the father. Doesn't make him sound very on the ball."
Perhaps he's not so meddlesome.
If we had more info, we would have less to make up. I'm not sure that's a good or bad thing. Give them time. It's a brand new board.
Renée Zellweger Best Actress Oscar 2006.
We need in enough to know what we are doing, but not enough to squash our hopes. Rewriting it to fit the cast we want may be best. No suicide and RZ goes back to Clooney and leaves the toffs to themselves!
I am wondering whether to buy the original, with blackmail. It comes from the US but is very cheap.
"I hate quotations, tell me what you know." Ralph Waldo Emerson.
I don't really need to know what I'm doing but I know the rest of you do. So you are going to completely change the story to fit our cast.
Yes, buy it. Should I buy the Noel Coward play?
Renée Zellweger Best Actress Oscar 2006.
Is it on sale? I've got Oscar Wilde's but I've never seen any of Noel Coward's anywhere.
"I hate quotations, tell me what you know." Ralph Waldo Emerson.
I didn't know. I would've thought all those classic works were.
Renée Zellweger Best Actress Oscar 2006.
You're right it is available, I just bought it with three others, all his earliest work. Sounds good. It is described as a farce with darker undertones. The husband is younger and his family are downright pious but it sounds like the wife gives them their comeuppance, at least at one point! Think you should get it too, maybe we could cast some of his other plays for current actors?
"I hate quotations, tell me what you know." Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Just remember one thing, Sage -- I want Design for Living for Rachel!
shareThat's fine by me! Who will replace Ben Hecht as writer and Ernst Lubitsch as director though?
"I hate quotations, tell me what you know." Ralph Waldo Emerson.
I'll have to give that serious thought -- AND the casting of the two male stars.
shareI do believe I would trust Lasse Hallstrom with Design for Living, Sage. His pacing and comic timing is first-rate (see: Casanova). And perhaps the two writers of Casanova as well. And Heath Ledger in the Gary Cooper Role. Just need a dark-haired equally sexy fellow for the Frederic March role.
shareI fancy Johnny Depp, Leonardo di Caprio and Jake Gyllenhaal.
Back to the casting though! They might do actually, but can Ryan do comedy? I don't think I've seen him in anything but The Notebook.
I'm not as struck as most people with Heath Ledger so far, probably because I wanted them to keep the camera on Jake. He may grow on me!
No problem with the director of course.
I've got The Country Girl and Cold Mountain DVDs coming out to me! I've had Cold Mountain before, four times, but I couldn't play it on either of my machines and it wasn't very comfortable sitting at the other computer to watch a whole film. This one will do fine though.
"I hate quotations, tell me what you know." Ralph Waldo Emerson
I guess I'm one of the few women who don't find Jake that great looking. I didn't find Heath that attractive in Brokeback either though. It was in Casanova that he really got to me. Really...
Leonardo isn't sexy enough. Johnny would be great, except he's supposed to be around the same age as Heath. Ryan doesn't move fast enough. The men have to be able to dash about without falling over the furniture. Except, of course, when they're falling over the furniture. The only person who gets to take it slow (and seductive) is "Gilda."
Dermot Mulroney and Luke Wilson did some nice dashing about and not tripping over the furniture except when they were meant to fall over the furniture. Either of them could do it.
I would have had the Wilson brothers as third choices for the the two blokes actually. (First choices British}
"I hate quotations, tell me what you know." Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Ben Hecht totally Americanized "Design for Living." I haven't read Coward's play, but apparently it's about two homosexual artists sharing an apartment in Paris with an extremely witty, blazingly hot young woman. Ben Hecht's adaptation makes the characters "Americans in Paris," and the two young guys, an artist and a writer, are exceedingly hetero. The young woman, also American in Hecht's version, is still witty and blazingly hot, still very intelligent, has an excellent, well-paid job, but she just can't seem to decide which of the two guys she wants, so she has them both.
I can't see updating this (it just needs to be period), so I can't see the Wilson boys in it. I agree that Mulroney could do it, in which case the other guy could be Johnny (because they're both around the same age, 40-41), but the guys in the American version are supposed to be around 30, and I think it would work better for a modern audience if they really WERE that age (late 20s-early 30s), so I don't think Mulroney or Depp would be be ideal.
I wouldn't want it updated, if only for fear of dumbing it down.
Not bothered whether the guys are gay, straight or ambivalent. There is potential for humour in all three cases.
It might work better if they were younger as long as the actors chosen had developed their comedy skills. I'm not familiar with all that many actors in that age group, especially US ones.
"I hate quotations, tell me what you know." Ralph Waldo Emerson.
"Not bothered whether the guys are gay, straight or ambivalent. There is potential for humour in all three cases. "
That's true, but if they're gay, one might as well forget the Hecht-Lubitsch version and just do an adaptation of the Noel Coward play with an entirely British cast. My interest is not in that version, but in a remake of the Hecht-Lubitsch version in which a bright, successful young American woman is keeping two straight, American-in-Paris artist types who really turn her on.
Yes, I like that idea too, and it would have a wider appeal now, I would have thought. Can't think who to cast though.
"I hate quotations, tell me what you know." Ralph Waldo Emerson.
"Yes, I like that idea two, and it would have a wider appeal now, I would have thought."
Do you mean the faithful adaptation of the Coward play? I'm not sure it would have a wider appeal now. I do know that the Hecht adaptation did very well at the box office back in 1933. His story was apparently very appealing to men and women alike.
I just found this description of the film online.
"The cynical fairy tale, adapted by Ben Hecht from the Noel Coward play, tells of three expatriate Americans living in Paris - a struggling painter (Gary Cooper), an undiscovered playwright (Frederic March) and their self-appointed protector (Miriam Hopkins). The threesome resolve to establish a platonic garret dedicated to the service of art, but the muse soon finds it is hard-pressed with both artists trying to get Miss Hopkins on the dusty couch. Finally, they slip into a delightful menage a trois that has the lady switching with casual promiscuity from one to the other."
Well, not exactly promiscuity, but this definitely sets the traditional rom-com on its ear, particularly as she's the one with the wherewithal. Usually I'm not in favor of remakes, but this movie has not been restored and is not easy to find on DVD. In America, it's part of "The Gary Cooper Collection," and the digital transfer has done nothing to improve the sound and picture quality. I think I'm about to cry. This movie needs to be remade NOW.
There are probably a lot of young, attractive, stage-trained American/Canadian actors out there who can do 30s comedy, and Rachel can certainly play the heck out of Gilda.
I haven't seen it yet, but Design for Living is on my Netflix queue. They have it as double-bill of sorts with Peter Ibbetson. I'll let you know how the quality is, maybe it's been remastered since the Gary Cooper collection came out.
Scratch that. This one is from the GC collection.
"Scratch that. This one is from the GC collection. "
Yep. It's hard to believe that there isn't an Ernst Lubitsch Collection.
I'd very much appreciate knowing how bad the quality is. I find bad prints extremely distracting.
I intended to say that I liked the idea of the Hecht version as well, and that one might have more appeal now than the other, from the point of view of the liberated woman, not that people wouldn't like the gay one now. I am not surprised that the other one was a success with those stars and that idea. A typo may have confused things.
I like some remakes, and not others, the same as with sequels. It is a matter of merit, not of principle with me. Plays are meant to be performed many times, in different ways, like songs. It is trickier with films, as they are more permanent, and potentially closer to perfection, though not always! I have no objection to plays being adapted into films, the results can be brilliant, or even to them being remade, as long as it is well done.
The main problem with sequels and remakes is that they through money at them and hire big names with a lot of clout, in all department, and you wind up with no clear overview or style. Two many cooks spoiling the broth.
"I hate quotations, tell me what you know." Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Larita Filton: Renée Zellweger
Mr. Filton, Larita's husband: Clive Owen
Claude Robson, the co-respondent: ??
The plaintiff's counsel: Colin Firth (who else?)
John Whittaker: Matthew Goode
Mrs. Whittaker, John's mother: Julie Christie
Colonel Whittaker, John's father: Bill Nighy
John's elder sister: Kristin Scott Thomas
John's younger sister: Piper Perabo (she can do an English accent)
Sarah: ??
Man with stick near tennis court: The Director of course
We still need a Sarah and a Claude.
Renée Zellweger Best Actress Oscar 2006.
Since Claude Robson is technically long dead, I suggest we cast a late great, like Dirk Bogarde, Peter Finch or Laurence Harvey. At the right age of course.
Maybe Maggie Smith is Sarah? Perhaps she is an older friend and adviser? Or the Housekeeper?
Otherwise, if we need someone younger to be the friend how about Anna Chancellor? We can pair her off with Colin Firth for an extra happy ending! (She lost out in P&P and What a Girl Wants as well as not getting Hugh in 4 Weddings)
"I hate quotations, tell me what you know." Ralph Waldo Emerson.
I'm right. It happens occasionally.
Right. Which ones?
Renée Zellweger Best Actress Oscar 2006.
Hay Fever, The Vortex, and Fallen Angels.
The Hitchcock Easy Virtue is being reissued with a musical soundtrack. The original, still available, is apparently a silent. None of Coward's sharp dialogue. I will hire it, but I am not at all sure I will ever buy it.
"I hate quotations, tell me what you know." Ralph Waldo Emerson.
PS: I'll get the DVD instead but I'll wait to see whether RZ is actually cast in this film or not.
Back later. I'd better get to the shops now before.....
Renée Zellweger Best Actress Oscar 2006.
The original cast as far as I can see are all English.
Renée Zellweger Best Actress Oscar 2006.
Bound to have been. For a start it is an English play, and Hitchcock wasn't working in Hollywood back then. Would have been an English film. We did use to have a film industry!
"I hate quotations, tell me what you know." Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Sage, I have to second you about George Clooney. It's too small of a part and we wouldn't want to waste their co-stardom on something like that. Also he's an artist, can't see George as an artist.
But Bill Nighy, sexy? Have you seen the Constant Gardener?
It's too small of a part and we wouldn't want to waste their co-stardom on something like that.
It could be the start of a series of co-stardoms. But the majority rules, so okay....
Like me, she thinks all sorts of oddballs are sexy. He was kinda sexy in Love Actually and Shaun of the Dead.
Renée Zellweger Best Actress Oscar 2006.
I'm a sexy oddball myself! Don't know what your excuse is CT!
"I hate quotations, tell me what you know." Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Let's just say we wouldn't want to waste George Clooney in such a small role.
I could see the sexy in Love Actually. But I think he can overcome it.
Not yet, but I have seen him in a few other things. Did you see that Richard Curtis TV thing, The Girl in the Cafe, I think it was. He was Dylan in the Magic Roundabout too!
"I hate quotations, tell me what you know." Ralph Waldo Emerson.
I haven't seen either of those. No doubt he can be sexy, each to her own. But when you see The Constant Gardner, you'll see he can be, um, unpleasant as well. To say the least.
shareYes. Colin Firth must always play a lawyer when he stars with Renee.
Like your other choices except for George. Especially the cameo by the director, in the Hitchcock tradition.
It should be fairly easy to think of good drunken brute. Alec Baldwin?
Colin could defend her honour in court and then run off we her when when his loses the case, if we don't like the look of the others.
Yes, well done lbrooksie the others didn't notice my Hitchcock cameo.
We aren't sure that her husband is American. Any English actors that could play a drunken brute without too much trouble that we know of.
Renée Zellweger Best Actress Oscar 2006.
Good idea, though that would negate the need for the rest of the cast, including Mr. Nighy!
Huge thunderstorm here, I'm logging off before the computer gets blown out. Night all.
Of course I noticed you Hitchcock type cameo just as I saw the original listing on the old film. You can't keep up if you mention every detail though.
Colin won't get her if there is anyone called Fiennes in it. We must make sure the husband is younger.
I'm sure a lot of actors could play the drunken brute, but you need one where you can tell why she married him. A superficially attractive drunken brute. The guy who played Wickham in P&P could do it, Jude Law might be good too. Is pretty but can look very arrogant, and can probably do drunk.
"I hate quotations, tell me what you know." Ralph Waldo Emerson.
A superficially attractive drunken brute.
Jude Law would be a good choice.
Renée Zellweger Best Actress Oscar 2006.
The board is completely naked.. What's going on? IMDb is very odd sometimes. They'll put up fake cast members and naked boards hastily, but won't correct their mistakes until weeks and sometimes months later. Really strange!!
I'm off now.. Good Night.. Bwahaahhaahha!!
"You can't make love for toffee!"
It is less naked now. Got more clothes on, so to speak. They've put up the writer, a first-timer it would seem. And shooting is supposed to start in September. Hopefully Case 39 will be finished by then. If indeed Renee is cast! We may be jumping the gun here!
shareYes, lbrooksie. Seems as if it's time for a reality check. Renee is definitely the first American actress that a British film company would think of to cast in the role of an American woman, but if she'd accepted the role, I think she would have said, look, I've just completed one movie, am dashing off to do another, do you think Easy Virtue could be postponed for a few months? The September start says to me that she isn't it in.
Further, based on the description ("An Englishman meets his new in-laws after tying the knot with an American divorcée on the spur of the moment in France"),
the lead character is no longer the American woman going to meet HER new in-laws (as it was in the Hitchcock movie), but the English guy, who I'm betting will be played by Bill Nighy. I think this is a starring vehicle for the VERY talented BN and that's why he was the first to be cast.
Wise words Tyler, and food for thought. The IMDb synopsis is different and does indeed sound like a vehicle for Bill Nighy, to which I shall look forward with great anticipation.
On the other hand it does specify an American wife, which implies American in laws, and does indeed point to RZ at least being approached, if available.
I am puzzled that the other cast members in the frame, Maggie Smith and Kristin Scott Thomas are British, as if it is being role reversed in some way, and Americanized I would not have thought that they would need many Brits in the cast. There were none in Design for Living, were there?
As ever, even with more information, it is not enough!
"I hate quotations, tell me what you know." Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Well, this is a British film (Ealing Studios!), and it's not uncommon for Brits in British films to play Americans, and Kristin Scott Thomas can do and has done an excellent American accent. But, assuming Renee HAS been approached to play the wife, and assuming the screenplay now calls for bringing Bill over to, say, Texas, and for the humor to be that which ensues when a staid Brit, who has married a younger woman in haste, interacts with a bunch of nouveau riche Texas yahoos, and they DO plan to hire Americans to play Americans, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it true that only Bill has been cast and there was no actual mention of Kristin, Renee or Maggie? What exactly did the Daily Mail article say (THE DAILY MAIL -- JEEZ!!!).
shareHad trouble finding that story, the Daily Mail wasn't one of my sources, needless to say!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/bazbamigboye.html?in_article_id=388816&in_page_id=1794 I notice that their version of the synopsis is more like the original and different to IMDb's. Don't know who not to believe, they are both so unreliable!
MOst of the sources for this are the Cannes Film Festival interviews, the BBC and most of all variety. The better sources have fewer details of course.
Can't find the original one that had all five names, most as you say, only mention BN.
Can't find the story that mentions Maggie Smith now, only mentions of various stage productions.
"I hate quotations, tell me what you know." Ralph Waldo Emerson.
"I notice that their version of the synopsis is more like the original and different to IMDb's. Don't know who not to believe, they are both so unreliable!"
They also disagree on the start date, which is probably the most crucial thing as regards Renee's involvement in the project. I have to admit, the journalist who wrote the article in the Daily Mail makes it seem as if he has this information straight from the horse's mouth. But I have a feeling that the production company may want Renee for this project more than she wants the project. The article sounds like it was fed to the journalist by a studio publicist.
I think it would have to come from someone like a studio publicist for them to be so direct and not hedge their bets.
It is strange that they hung the story on RZ and not Bill Nighy, who seems the safer bet. I'm sure she has at least been approached for this, whatever the actual state of play is. Possibly they have offered to put back filming a little to try to involve her.
"I hate quotations, tell me what you know." Ralph Waldo Emerson.
This is from Variety, via comingsoon.net: Easy Virtue is a stylish romantic comedy about a young Englishman who gets married to an American divorcee on the spur of the moment in the South of France and then must return home to face his family. (Bold mine of course)
After the ongoing Case 39 debacle, I will believe any source before I believe IMDb. But giving the benefit of the doubt - that would change the entire plot. Is the scandalous divorce now in the man's past? While something like that might make a woman into a pariah, it might have less effect on a man. Or are they just going to make it into a fish-out-of-water comedy?
I fear you're probably right about Renee, though. Case 39 may be finished by September, but that's cutting it awfully close. Damn Daily Mail, getting our hopes up. Well, party's over. It was fun while it lasted.
Here's the Daily Mail article.
Renee's a class act
by BAZ BAMIGBOYE, Daily Mail
14:18pm 2nd June 2006
Reader comments (0)
Renee Zellweger has her eye on the gentry.
The Oscar-winning star is in talks to be in a new screen version of Noel Coward's Easy Virtue, which is due to start filming in the New Year.
She wants to play Larita Filton, a woman with a past that is uncovered by her new husband's snooty English family.
The mother of the young man she weds has an allergic reaction to Larita and does all she can to undermine her.
Bill Nighy and Kristin Scott Thomas are to play the parents who confront their daughter-in-law. Director Stephan Elliott, the man behind The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert, is looking for a young, dashing leading man to play Renée's screen husband.
Easy Virtue has always struck me as a comedy of manners that, ultimately, becomes a savage exploration of the upper classes.
Producer Barnaby Thompson, who also runs Ealing studios, hopes to begin filming in the South of France and then London in January and February.
Renée recently completed Miss Potter here in the UK; she soon starts filming psychological drama Case 39 in the U.S.
I have no idea how reliable this newspaper is. Sage?
share
To be fair it always gets the date right! It is more reliable on things that aren't affected by it's right wing political bias, but I don't think they always bother with second sources etc the way The Times, for instance, would now.
"I hate quotations, tell me what you know." Ralph Waldo Emerson.
This is the only article which mentions Renee and Kristin. Which means that it's either gossip, or the studio doesn't want to release too much info. Either way, she's only "in talks". I can't find any mention of Maggie Smith anywhere. That may have been in the imagination of the OP on Renee's board.
shareI found something that mentioned her, but whether it was a link or I googled it, I don't know. Can't find it now, anyway. She is mentioned with this play in several places, but it refers to stage productions. Whether they want her to play Mrs Whittaker again on film, or there was some confusion in someone's mind, I don't know.
"I hate quotations, tell me what you know." Ralph Waldo Emerson.
This sounds more reasonable than what's on IMDb. Plus it says Renée is in it. I believe them, for now.
A young dashing man.
Renée Zellweger Best Actress Oscar 2006.
"This is from Variety, via comingsoon.net: Easy Virtue is a stylish romantic comedy about a young Englishman who gets married to an American divorcee on the spur of the moment in the South of France and then must return home to face his family."
This sounds like what IMDb has for the 1928 version (which sounds like it's probably a faithful adaptation of Coward's play). There is absolutely no knowing what this about now. But I still say, if the two leads are the young Englishman and the American divorcee, why cast Bill Nighy first?
"Or are they just going to make it into a fish-out-of-water comedy? "
As far as I can see, either way, it's still just a fish-out-of-water comedy. I guess I'm not as ecstatic over this project as you all -- although I'm always knocked out by Bill Nighy's range.
"Well, party's over. It was fun while it lasted."
Gee, now I'm sorry I said anything. It's just that, I think it would probably be more fruitful to try to find out more about the story line of Case 39.
The original version sounds like a slightly more sophisticated comedy of manners that comments on British class prejudices, etc. It would help if I knew more about the original Noel Coward play. If it's just Bill Nighy going to Texas to meet the folks, I picture a bunch of gags about British and American cultural differences. Meet the Fockers redux, except with Brits v. Americans, instead of liberals v. conservatives. I'd be less interested in that version.
I would like to find out more about the storyline of Case 39. But there's nothing out there. A director has been chosen, at least.
"I would like to find out more about the storyline of Case 39. But there's nothing out there"
Because she hasn't started working on it yet. Don't worry, Renee's friend, Nancy is a great publicist. It won't be long before there's more info released to the media.
So I guess Jessica Biel has signed on to star with Colin Firth & Kristin Scott Thomas?
share..it sure looks like it...
http://www.cinecon.com/news/1211/jessica-biel-has-easy-virtue/
Jessica Biel? Isn't she far TOO young for this part? I guess basing films on a play can mean anything. It must add some polish to the screenplay to say based on a Noel Coward play.
I was looking forward to Renée Zellweger being cast in this. With Colin Firth on board, maybe that cancelled her out?? Too many people will associate them with Bridget Jones films.