Electric Stage-To-Screen Adaptations You Shouldn’t Miss
There's too many to choose from, but here's two of our favorites
In theaters this weekend is Cyrano, director Joe Wright’s (Pride and Prejudice, Atonement) adaptation of the classic 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac. With this in mind, today we’re writing about movies that were adapted from stage to screen for our Friday recommendations. It will come as no surprise that there are many great film adaptations of plays and musicals, so we have selected just a couple of our must-sees. Read, subscribe, and let us know if you like these!
Billy recommends…
Les Miserables
So many people I respect do not like this movie. Russell Crowe’s performance has aged poorly. Well, I don’t know if it aged poorly. I think most of us knew it was the weak link of this movie right away (I maintain that he gives a great performance despite his strange singing voice). Director Tom Hooper has become a notorious figure in Hollywood. So I get it! This isn’t great cinema, but man I love watching Les Miserables. It sucks me in with its live on-set recorded songs and massively over-the-top performances.
I am glad to say that I have kept my enjoyment of this movie despite a serious potential roadblock. I saw it with an ex and that type of trauma could make watching a decade-sprawling musical-romance-epic a no-go, but I have persevered. Using the message of perseverance from this movie to bring me out of the darkness. We open Les Miserables with Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) facing off with his oppressor Javert (Russell Crowe). From the jump, as Nick Miller from New Girl beautifully said, this is a real “Jean Vanjer and Vajer situation.” Valjean was forced into slave labor because of a petty crime of stealing a loaf of bread. Javert will never forgive men who commit crime. Powerful imagery, intense music, and a fierce rivalry set up all the tension that is needed for the rest of the story.
This is a musical we are all aware of, so I won’t go into much detail on the story that transpires, but moment after moment get me bellowing out in my living room. Particularly the song “In My Life” and the subsequent relationship/love triangle between Marius (Eddie Redmayne), Cossette (Amanda Seyfried), and Eponine (Samantha Barks). A wonderfully realized look at young love and heartbreak from someone wishing what they had was theirs. My cynicism is completely washed away in these moments and my true romantic heart begins to burst at the seams. This storyline began my love affair with Amanda Seyfried as an actress and announced Eddie Redmayne as an awards player and franchise leading man.
I will sit in my bad taste and enjoy this movie forever. Anyone is welcome to join me in song during my next viewing. Which is long overdue. Les Miserables is one of the few experiences where I knew this was a musical originally. Gearing me up for what to expect. That helped with this experience, but that can often set up unfair expectations for what happens on screen. It is difficult to taper those expectations for seeing an adaptation of something you love, so when a movie does it justice, it makes that experience even more enriching. - Streaming on Netflix
Drew recommends…
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
It surely cannot be easy to bring cinematic magic to an adaptation of a play set almost entirely in one space. How do you turn what is so clearly designed for the stage into a dynamic experience on the screen? In 1966, director Mike Nichols (The Graduate) somehow pulled off this feat in his debut film, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Based on Edward Albee’s 1962 play about a bitter and aging married couple that invites a young couple over for drinks (and some emotional terrorism), Nichols’ film leans on his talented foursome of actors to deliver the rip-roaring dialogue while he keeps the action moving and the audience guessing.
If you love the “Dinner Party” episode of The Office, then allow me to introduce you to the feature-length version with even more passive-aggressive sniping, drunken tirades, and exposed marriage secrets. Real-life husband and wife Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton play Martha and George, dysfunctional hosts to younger couple Nick and Honey. Taylor, only in her mid-30s at the time, put on serious weight to play the frumpy 50-something Martha. Her committed and unvarnished performance alongside her husband Burton, both massive stars at the time, earned her a Best Actress Oscar.
The intense marital fireworks of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? made it a huge success as it became only the second film to be nominated in every eligible category at the Academy Awards. Not only were audiences and critics blown away by the explosive acting and writing, but it’s the manner in which Nichols adapted Albee’s award-winning stage play that really made this movie special. Here’s a black-and-white film set mostly in one house that doesn’t have a single dull shot. The editing, pacing, and camera movements match the high-wire dialogue beat for beat, as the domestic unease and desperation of the story is heightened by the thrilling filmmaking. It’s a masterful clinic in how to adapt a hit play into a hit movie. - Available to rent on Apple, Amazon, and other digital platforms
From the DYLA Archive…
Links
Francis Ford Coppola made some of the greatest films of all-time but hasn’t worked in Hollywood in decades. GQ did a feature story on the legend and his potential big-budget comeback.
Christopher Nolan is putting together another all-star cast for his 2023 film about J. Robert Oppenheimer and the creation of the atomic bomb. See the cast and a first look at Cillian Murphy in the lead role.
The Oscars have, bizarrely, decided to cut some of the categories from the telecast this year. So I guess the message is that editing and scoring a film aren’t that important?