Janis Joplin Biopic

taz · Post by **taz** » Tue Jun 24, 2003 2:49 pm

Ugh...sorry, I just think Janis Joplin and Joe Cocker are two sides of the same coin...but thought I'd post anyway

Looks like Renée Zellweger will get a two-for-one deal out of that Bridget Jones sequel weight gain. The Chicago star has signed on to channel the pudgy singing legend Janis Joplin in a forever-in-development biopic. According to Daily Variety, the Golden Globe-winning actress will step up to the microphone as the late, gravel-throated songstress, who died of a drug overdose at 27 in 1970, in Piece of My Heart. The movie is slated to start filming immediately after Zellweger wraps work on Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. Zellweger will also act as a producer on the picture, joining forces will Lakeshore's Tom Rosenbert and Gary Lucchesi and Paramount Pictures. "Renée has been obsessed with Janis for years and is totally committed to this," Rosenberg tells Variety. "We are looking to quickly bring aboard a writer-director so that this can be the picture she makes after the sequel to Bridget Jones's Diary."..eonline.com

Post by **spooky girlfriend** » Wed Jun 25, 2003 10:09 am

Renee as Janis. Hmmmm, I'm thinking.

As for that weight she gained, I think she's already more than lost it. But she's still just a twig. I didn't really think she looked heavy in that movie, but that could be my opinion. On another site recently, I found a list of "top ten" from EC which included albums and movies. This is what he said:

6. Renee Zellweger in
'Bridget Jones's Diary' (2001)

"She looks such a doll in it. It's so funny that she's supposed to be overweight and she actually looks fantastic. That proves how mad Hollywood really is. "

So he likes gals with just a little something to hold on to.

Post by **BlueChair** » Wed Jun 25, 2003 7:13 pm

What's with all the bad casting moves as far as musicians go lately?

Sean "Puffy" Combs as Robert Johnson!?
Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash!?
Reese Witherspoon as June Carter!?
Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles!?

and now this!?

Post by **spooky girlfriend** » Wed Jun 25, 2003 7:17 pm

Uuuuugghh! Some of those I just can't see working out well.

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Mon Jun 30, 2003 12:39 am

Part of the problem is that is most famous actors or even musical stars these days are just too darn perfect looking to play anyone -- except other famous people people, or maybe good looking athletes. (Even actors of earlier generation were relatively pudgy compared to the current group.)

Nevertheless, I think Joaquin Phoenix, at least, can work. He's isn't over-pretty to play a young JC, esp. with that scar on his lip and all. He's also a really interesting actor, btw. (I recently reviewed his new movie, "Buffalo Soldiers" and it's nifty, though my favorite performance by him so far was in that movie about the Marquis de Sade with Geoffrey Rush -- can't remember the title right now but Joaquin was great in it.)

Re: Renee as Janis -- well, she's no Bette Midler, but I guess she deserves a shot at it....

taz · Post by **taz** » Mon Jun 30, 2003 7:30 am

bobster wrote:my favorite performance by him so far was in that movie about the Marquis de Sade with Geoffrey Rush -- can't remember the title right now but Joaquin was great in it.)

Movie was "Quills"...thought he did an awesome job in that as well Bobster...

DrJ · Post by **DrJ** » Mon Jun 30, 2003 7:41 am

I saw "Buffalo Soldiers" about 6 months ago as the surprise movie at the Dublin Film Festival. It's alright, but I'm not surprised it's been buried for the last two years... (It about US soldiers in Germany running drugs and guns from the barracks, plus FilmFour who made it went bankrupt)

DrJ

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Wed Jul 02, 2003 11:21 pm

Well, the stated reason -- and not a hard one to swallow at all -- was that the delay (admittedly, in nearly every other case a bad sign) was due to the political climate here in the U.S. The film was originallly sold to Miramax, the director says, on September 10, 2001, and finding a good time to release has been tough.

If you've never watched "Fox News" it might be hard to understand, but the political climate here in the U.S. has been fairly frightening here in the land of the First Amendment. (It's just starting to loosen up, slightly.) Anything that portrayed U.S. soldiers as something less than super-heroic could easily have tipped the scales from the kind of "good" controversy that gets box office to the kind of "bad" controversy that quells open debate and causes Hollywood limps to avoid further "edgy" films.

Me personally, I really enjoyed the director's visual flair and the black humor and thought the story was excellent -- right up to the ending, which I thought didn't work too well.