Just read in this weeks Parade Magazine a bio pic of the late singer
Dusty Springfield is in the works. Would hope a couple Bacharach
songs will be in the movie. Movie is to star Kristin Chenoweth.
How many Bacharach songs did Dusty record?
Tom
Dusty Springfield Bio Pic in the Works.
Moderator: mark
Dusty bio-pic in the works
That biopic sounds amazing. Rest assured that plenty of BB tunes will be featured.
Interesting that Kristen Chenoweth will be portraying a lesbian-- no way this subplot can be skirted in this day and age-- while in real life she tours with right-wing Christian music and sermon revival shows... where she is labelled a "Woman of Faith" ?
Stretching her actor's chops-- or out to make a "statement" ?
Interesting that Kristen Chenoweth will be portraying a lesbian-- no way this subplot can be skirted in this day and age-- while in real life she tours with right-wing Christian music and sermon revival shows... where she is labelled a "Woman of Faith" ?
Stretching her actor's chops-- or out to make a "statement" ?
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scotsgreg
Dusty BioPic
Uhhh...Kristen Chenoweth? I don't get it. A great talent to be certain, but doesn't look remotely like Dusty...doesn't sound remotely like Dusty. Hmmmm...I think I'd rather see a stronger actress with more of a resemblance in the role and hear the original recordings in the manner of Jessica Lange as Patsy Cline in "Sweet Dreams."
My two cents...
My two cents...
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Toms
Kristin Cheoweth
Kristin Chenoweth was on David Letterman a few weeks back.
Have never heard of her until then. Was real impressed with her
in the conversation she had with Letterman. Didn't perform any music. She is cute and has alot of spunk. Anyway you can catch her in the upcoming movies,
Bewitched in June and The Pink Panther in August of this year.
Tom
Have never heard of her until then. Was real impressed with her
in the conversation she had with Letterman. Didn't perform any music. She is cute and has alot of spunk. Anyway you can catch her in the upcoming movies,
Bewitched in June and The Pink Panther in August of this year.
Tom
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bruce
dusty bio pic
I don´t know who´s this actress you mention; according to what I´ve read nobody knows exactly about Dusty Springfield´s sexuality, many others wrote her story but Dusty herself never expressed clearly enough about that, I´ve read that she avoided talking about that, now this is part of her legend, another mystery. What will this film show based on what? that´s another mystery.
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BurtBuddy
Dusty mentioned in an interview around '76 that she was bisexual, and it pretty much killed her career for the next ten years. Her manager wrote a book about her a few years ago, after D's death, which laid bare the details of Dusty's personal life in a somewhat cold and unsparing manner. Among the things brought to light was the fact that she had several lesbian relationships and never once dated a man.
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bruce
dusty springfield
BurtBuddy, I think you refer to the book by Vicki Wickham -Penny Valentine, some of her "friends" in life, actually Dusty was dead when that book appeared, who could confirm or refuse what they wrote?
It´s true that once Dusty said she was bisexual, also strange as she was reluctant to talk about her private life, it´s also true that nobody knows about any boyfriend, but this does not mean that everything written in that book (or in others) is the truth, I think the complete truth will never be known and it will remain as part of Dusty Springfield´s legend, after all her musical legacy is what really matters, don´t you agree?.
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It´s true that once Dusty said she was bisexual, also strange as she was reluctant to talk about her private life, it´s also true that nobody knows about any boyfriend, but this does not mean that everything written in that book (or in others) is the truth, I think the complete truth will never be known and it will remain as part of Dusty Springfield´s legend, after all her musical legacy is what really matters, don´t you agree?.
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scotsgreg
Dusty Biopic
Bruce, I appreciate and concur with the view that Dusty Springfield's music is her greatest legacy, as it is with any artist of merit. However, a film biography that refrains from addressing her sexual identity and romantic relationships with women could hardly provide an honest depiction of her life and career. Imagine a biography of Frank Sinatra that ignored his womanizing or his relationship with Ava Gardner and the impact she had on his life and music in the 1950's. Although Dusty rarely discussed 'homosexuality' outside of a few publicized interviews, as I understand it, her orientation became something of an unspoken 'nod and wink' in the industry and accounts of intimate lesbian relationships are corroborated by a variety of her friends and associates (and at least one alleged ex-lover) in various books and interviews. There are many who feel that it was the duplicity under which was forced to forge her public identity that contributed most to her downward spiral in the 1970s and early-1980s. All any posthumous biography can offer is testimony from hopefully reliable sources familiar with the subject which, at best, entails a certain measure of speculation. It's a little trite, but to expound upon the old "walks like a duck, talks like a duck" aphorism, she may not have tried to appear like a stereotypical duck, but if many of her dearest relationship were with ducks, and her friends say she was a duck and she said she was a duck...well...it's reasonable to assume she was something of a duck... It would be inaccurate and irresponsible for a biopic to present otherwise.
re: DUSTY movie in pre-production
Am I right in remembering that, when Dusty died, she bequeathed her full estate to two entities: Vicki Wickham... and her pet cat?? No joke.
P.S. I only wish that Burt were signed on with this upcoming movie to do all the orchestral arrangements. Now THAT would make a swell soundtrack CD.
My guess is that, in this movie, Chenoweth's makeup & hair artists will dramatically downplay Dusty's original early-60's physical look... ie., to make it a little bit more "Vogue"-ish, subtle and Milennium-contemporary. When, in fact, Dusty's 1964 look was anything but subtle... Dusty was a big girl with big bleached (even slightly bizarre) hairdos, miles of kohl, lots of thick beige pancake and peculiar light-fleshtone matte lipstick... The "Brigitte Bardot" idea, but taken to a near-Kabuki extreme. To attempt to "prettify" or downplay that look would almost be a disservice to Dusty's memory. Let's call a spade a spade and examine the truth of who this woman was, I say. We're all grownups; the wall has been too long sundered for us to be coy now.
Like Janis Joplin, Dusty was big in every way. She drank like a fish, and surely partook of several other 1960's sacraments as well. To make her unilaterally precious and demure would be wrong, wrong, wrong, and render this biopic impuissant.
I'm not saying that the filmmakers should be cruel or disrespectful... however, they need to show what it felt like-- in the pre-Stonewall days-- for a gay person to try to "pass" as heterosexual in those days.... even when their true talents vastly outstripped pusillanimous conventions of rigid sexual delineations in those benighted days... Fitting square pegs into round holes.
I admire the technique used in, say, Hamlisch's A CHORUS LINE, where the audience is disabused to see both the seamless glitz of the stage performance-- sharply juxtaposed with the real-life behind-the-scenes angsts of the actors who busted their butts to bend their own lives to fulfill audience's more conventional expectations of what a "show" should be...
IMHO, of course...
P.S. I only wish that Burt were signed on with this upcoming movie to do all the orchestral arrangements. Now THAT would make a swell soundtrack CD.
My guess is that, in this movie, Chenoweth's makeup & hair artists will dramatically downplay Dusty's original early-60's physical look... ie., to make it a little bit more "Vogue"-ish, subtle and Milennium-contemporary. When, in fact, Dusty's 1964 look was anything but subtle... Dusty was a big girl with big bleached (even slightly bizarre) hairdos, miles of kohl, lots of thick beige pancake and peculiar light-fleshtone matte lipstick... The "Brigitte Bardot" idea, but taken to a near-Kabuki extreme. To attempt to "prettify" or downplay that look would almost be a disservice to Dusty's memory. Let's call a spade a spade and examine the truth of who this woman was, I say. We're all grownups; the wall has been too long sundered for us to be coy now.
Like Janis Joplin, Dusty was big in every way. She drank like a fish, and surely partook of several other 1960's sacraments as well. To make her unilaterally precious and demure would be wrong, wrong, wrong, and render this biopic impuissant.
I'm not saying that the filmmakers should be cruel or disrespectful... however, they need to show what it felt like-- in the pre-Stonewall days-- for a gay person to try to "pass" as heterosexual in those days.... even when their true talents vastly outstripped pusillanimous conventions of rigid sexual delineations in those benighted days... Fitting square pegs into round holes.
I admire the technique used in, say, Hamlisch's A CHORUS LINE, where the audience is disabused to see both the seamless glitz of the stage performance-- sharply juxtaposed with the real-life behind-the-scenes angsts of the actors who busted their butts to bend their own lives to fulfill audience's more conventional expectations of what a "show" should be...
IMHO, of course...
Central Texas, USA
re: upcoming DUSTY biopic
Also, one hopes that Chenoweth is working hard on her Irish and English spoken accents... bugger those up, and all will be for naught.
Central Texas, USA
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scotsgreg
Dusty Biopic
But with Kristin Chenoweth? Unless the film is some sort of bizarre, super-indie deconstruction, how are the objectives you outline, David, supposed to coalesce with an actress like Kristin Chenoweth? As you previously mentioned, not only does she have a substantial fan base in Red State-flavored Christian music, her looks and star persona suggest Sally Field while her voice, at least as she has applied it to date, embodies that reedy, overarticulated pop-gospel style so prevalent on contemporary Broadway, something of a qualitative antithesis of Dusty Springfield on both counts, don't you think?
While deep down inside I hope for something at least as candid and compelling as Taylor Hackford's "Ray," I'm afraid I'm envisioning more of a glossy, breezy VH1/Lifetime biopic with a rapid pace, a breathless, Marilyn Monroe-styled impression of Dusty's vocal technique, lots of "look-how-funny-fashions-used-to-be" costuming, a helping of Paul Rudnick camp, a little alcohol abuse, a tentative, "Color Purple"-ish lesbian moment or (maybe) two, a gloriously redeeming Pet Shop Boys comeback and a brief, tear-stained breast cancer ending. "Since you went away-yay...I've been hangin' around...I've been wondering why...I'm feeling down..." Roll credits.
While deep down inside I hope for something at least as candid and compelling as Taylor Hackford's "Ray," I'm afraid I'm envisioning more of a glossy, breezy VH1/Lifetime biopic with a rapid pace, a breathless, Marilyn Monroe-styled impression of Dusty's vocal technique, lots of "look-how-funny-fashions-used-to-be" costuming, a helping of Paul Rudnick camp, a little alcohol abuse, a tentative, "Color Purple"-ish lesbian moment or (maybe) two, a gloriously redeeming Pet Shop Boys comeback and a brief, tear-stained breast cancer ending. "Since you went away-yay...I've been hangin' around...I've been wondering why...I'm feeling down..." Roll credits.
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Toms
Poster of Kristin as Dusty
Some pics and more info on Dusty movie.
http://www.iguide.net/start-movieposter ... IC_ID=8837
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/92479.html
Tom S
http://www.iguide.net/start-movieposter ... IC_ID=8837
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/92479.html
Tom S