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You Gotta Have Whaaaah?: Gyllenhaal and Carrey in "Damn Yankees"?
Variety is reporting that two actors who get a lot of digital ink around these parts have been attached to the latest big-screen musical. The guys behind the recent Hairspray are looking to revive the 1950's classic Damn Yankees, and have attached Jake Gyllenhaal and Jim Carrey to the project as the male leads. Carrey is a hot topic in these parts lately thanks to I Love You Phillip Morris (which is still ironing out distribution after its well-received Sundance premiere), where he plays a gay con man. And Gyllenhaal ... dammit, I know he was in some gay movie somewhere, I just can't remember ... Donnie Darko? No ... Bubble Boy? Eh, it'll come to me. Anyway, trust me, the gays love him! Jakey-poo is set to star as Joe Boyd, a baseball player who sells his soul to the devil, played by Carrey. I have a few thoughts on the casting: One, there had better be a part in there for Cheyenne Jackson. And two, despite the fact that neither fella has appeared in a musical before, Jake showed his musical theater chops (and how!) when he performed "And I Am Tellin' You" on Saturday Night Live a few years back, and Carrey nicely pulled off the "Cuban Pete" musical number in The Mask. But more importantly: I cannot wait to see Jake in baseball pants! Submitted by on Fri, 2009-02-27 09:30. |
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Ohhhhhh, Jake in baseball pants!!!
Damn
I need to be living closer by the time they get that musical done, I wanna see it so badly already !
Oh and thanks for using that picture of Jake, I just cannot stop looking at it now !
Its a movie
I know Jake is worshipped like a God in here, but really
Tab Hunter did the part in the movie, Cheyenne Jackson most recently on stage.
Why hire straight actors for gay roles?
Why hire straight actors....
Why hire straight actors for gay roles? THANK YOU!!!!!! It's exactly what I was thinking!
Gay Roles?
Um, am I missing something here? The two roles in question -- the Devil and Joe Hardy -- aren't gay roles. Well, the Devil may have some fabulousness going on, but he's completely asexual, and Joe is a longtime married man with no down-low proclivities. So how is this a situation of straight actors playing gay roles?
The blog wants some answers, mister!
Musical Comedy is a Gay Art Form.
Cole Porter, Lorenz Hart, Stephen Sondheim, Kander and Ebb, Steven Schwartz, et. al.
CAPICHE???!!!!!
Barrowman would make a great Lola.
Makes even less sense now, thanks
If I understand your explanation (and I use the term loosely), then every show written by a gay person must only be cast with gay people. It doesn't matter what the role -- even if the part is as hetero as Liam Neeson is long -- EVERY role in a Sondheim or Cole Porter show MUST be played by a gay person.
Alrighty, then...
The blog not only capiches, it entiendes and comprends.
Talk about worshipped like a God...
John Barrowman???
Two! Maybe.
I am virtually certain that the word "gay" is typed more often.
Maybe "the."
Though to be fair, since he was in the latest revival of the musical, mentioning The Ineffable was at least topical.
Gar vethed e-chunen; go hon bedithon na meth.
Haha
You're being ironic right?
About the straight actors in gay roles thing.
When did Cheyenne Jackson do it?
Cheyenne did it in an "Encores" Production
Cheyenne Jackson's Cast Mates in the 2008 CIty Center Production
The City Center production used the original 1957 script, which was different from the updated book used in the 1994 revival that starred Victor Garber as Applegate, Bebe Neuwirth as Lola and Jarrod Emick as Joe Hardy.
Cheyenne Jackson's co-stars were Jane Krakowski as Lola, Sean Hayes as Applegate the Devil, and Randi Graff as Meg Boyd.
Gay as a goose
"we want equality" ... but?
Since there are no gay characters in "Damn Yankees" I can only assume you are referring to Jake's role in Brokeback, and Carrey's role in Philip Morris.
Likewise, I assume you are calling into question NPH's role on "How I Met Your Mother", Repert Everett's current stint as Charles in Broadway's "Blithe Spirit", TR Knight on "Gray's Anatomy", Cherry Jones as President Taylor on "24", and other out and closeted gay men and women who play straight characters currently on stage, screen and television?
Please tell us all what litmus test you are asking be used for an actor's sexuality to be the basis in casting? Straight and gay. I'm curious to hear your take on this beyond "Why hire straight actors for gay roles"?
We can't ask "why hire straight actors to play gay roles?" without also asking the converse "why hire gay actors to play straight roles?". I thought we wanted equality and non-discrimination when being considered for jobs.
Who should play Lola?
Beyoncé?
Catherine Zeta-Jones?
Anne Hathaway?
Rihanna?
Jake sings!
Where'd you hear this?
This has "Catastrophe" Written All Over It
Jake Gyllenhaal does not have the pipes of someone like Cheyenne Jackson, Jarrod Emick or the other stage actors who've played Joe Hardy.
There's already the Gwen Verdon/Ray Walston movie. Why bother "remaking" this one? How are they "contemporazing" this? Lola will now be a man or a drag queen??? Blecch.
Eek
Thanks for bringing up Jarrod Emick. Great set of pipes.
Plus I can only shudder to think of them making the story "current". Will Applegate be re-written as a talent agent/manager who pumps Joe Boyd full of 'roids to turn him into Joe Hardy. Can A-Rod sing?
I agree this has all the signs of catastrophe. There's a reason Ray Walston did the movie rather than Jerry Lewis.
Musical actors who can't sing...
well it worked so well for Mamma Mia! didn't it?
In the heyday of musicals, either the actors could sing or they lipsynched for an invisible person who could.
Of course I'd love to be proved wrong here if they turn out to be decent.
Mamma Mia! Is Not A Good Example
The big draw in that film was ABBA's music. So that was not a movie musical. It was a bunch of "big" film stars doing Karaoke versions of ABBA's songs set to an idiotic story. Get thee a DNA test, Sophie!
DAMN YANKEES, on the other hand, is legitimate stage musical with bona fide show music penned by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross that was made into a film. The songs -- especially the ones for Joe Hardy and Meg Boyd require real singers (like Cheyenne Jackson and Randi Graff in the 2008 City Center production), and this whole notion of "contemporazing" the film and its score makes me think this will be a hot mess.
Jake Gyllenhaal was
Jake Gyllenhaal was actually one of the candidates to play the part of Christian in Moulin Rouge! He said so in an interview he did for the Donnie Darko DVDs. He, Ewan McGregor and Heath Ledger (!) were the last ones standing. Gyllenhaal said they didn't go for him because he was considered to be too young to be paired up with Nicole Kidman. It's a great interview, he sounded seriously bummed. :)
So yeah, I'm guessing he must have some singing skills.
SNL opener
I have looked everywhere, even became a member of NBC's (aggravating) web-site. Nbc has had other web-sites remove that particular video. I have never been able to see it. I can only imagine that it must be rather good. Damn!
It wasn't good. It was
Gay? Straight?
I just don't seem to understand this crap about gay or straight actors in gay or straight roles. What is that all about?
If straight actors shouldn't play gay roles, then why should gay actors be able to play straight roles? Is this a keep-in-the-closet thing going on?