Olivia Newton-John, the singing sensation and star of pop cultural movie musical landmark ‘Grease’ has died. She was 73.
Newton-John was born in Cambridge, England, but moved to Australia with her family when she was five and was raised in Melbourne.
Though her parents were both academics, Newton-John gravitated towards performance, and specifically, music. She started learning the piano at five, and by the time she was a teenager, she’d formed an all-girl group called Sol Four. They won a TV talent contest called ‘Sing, Sing, Sing’, which offered the opportunity to travel to London. From there, she began performing on army bases and in clubs around Europe.
Her music career took its next step via a deal with Decca Records. Kicking off as a country artist, she transitioned to pop with the late-1973 hit ‘Let Me Be There.’ It was the first of 15 Top 10 U.S. singles, including five chart-toppers: ‘I Honestly Love You,’ ‘Have You Never Been Mellow,’ ‘You’re the One That I Want’ — with John Travolta, from ‘Grease’ — ‘Magic,’ and her biggest smash, ‘Physical.’ The latter topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 10 weeks and was the biggest single of 1981.
Talking of ‘Grease’, while it became the thing that so many know and love her for, Newton-John was initially unsure about taking on the co-starring role of Sandy, mostly because her previous cinematic experience had been with ‘Toomorrow’, the movie featuring the bubblegum, UK-take-on-The-Monkees-group she joined pre-1970s, was a failure.
“I was very anxious about making another film, because my music career was going well, and I did not want to mess it up by doing another movie that wasn’t good,” Newton-John told Vanity Fair in 2016.
‘Grease’ went on to become a pop cultural sensation and she enjoyed even more musical success with songs from the soundtrack.
(L to R) Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta in 1978’s ‘Grease.’
Newton-John was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992 but recovered from that occurrence. The cancer returned, however, in 2017 and she announced it had spread to her lower back. She never wanted to be seen as simply a cancer survivor, however. “‘Survivor’ sounds like someone clinging onto a lifeboat,” she told ‘Today’ the same year. “A thriver’s someone who’s already off the boat and on land.”
Her family released the news via her Facebook page. “Olivia has been a symbol of triumphs and hope for over 30 years sharing her journey with breast cancer,” husband John Easterling wrote. “Her healing inspiration and pioneering experience with plant medicine continues with the Olivia Newton-John Foundation Fund, dedicated to researching plant medicine and cancer. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that any donations be made in her memory to the Olivia Newton-John Foundation Fund.
“Olivia is survived by her husband John Easterling; daughter Chloe Lattanzi; sister Sarah Newton-John; brother Toby Newton-John; nieces and nephews Tottie, Fiona and Brett Goldsmith; Emerson, Charlie, Zac, Jeremy, Randall, and Pierz Newton-John; Jude Newton-Stock, Layla Lee; Kira and Tasha Edelstein; and Brin and Valerie Hall.”
Tributes have been pouring in for the much-loved star, though the final word gores to Travolta, her ‘Grease’ co-star and friend.
(L to R) Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest, and Michael McKean in ‘This Is Spinal Tap.’
‘This Is Spinal Tap’ is widely considered to be one of the funniest movies of all time. Comedians cite it as a huge influence and musicians are quick to praise it too.
The pressure, then, to make a sequel to the 1984 release must have been huge on director Rob Reiner and stars Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer, who largely improvised their way through comic chaos, undersized set designs and an ever-changing roster of drummers as England’s “loudest” band go on tour.
While all involved have resisted such ideas until, Guest, McKean and Shearer have toured from time to time. Yet with the 40th anniversary of the first movie approaching in a couple of years, Reiner and co. have come up with something, sprung partly from those real-world concerts (or the relative lack of recent gig).
The plan is to do a sequel that comes out on the 40th anniversary of the original film and I can tell you hardly a day goes by without someone saying, why don’t you do another one? For so many years, we said, ‘nah.’” Reiner tells Deadline. “It wasn’t until we came up with the right idea how to do this. You don’t want to just do it, to do it. You want to honor the first one and push it a little further with the story.”
(L to R) Rob Reiner and Christopher Guest in ‘This Is Spinal Tap.’
And that idea? “They’ve played Albert Hall, played Wembley Stadium, all over the country and in Europe,” Reiner said. “They haven’t spent any time together recently, and that became the premise. The idea was that Ian Faith, who was their manager, he passed away. Ian’s widow inherited a contract that said Spinal Tap owed them one more concert. She was basically going to sue them if they didn’t. All these years and a lot of bad blood we’ll get into, and they’re thrown back together and forced to deal with each other and play this concert.”
The band aren’t the only ones returning as Reiner, in addition to directing once more, will also grace the screen again as Marty DiBergi, the fake filmmaker who was chronicling the band’s latest tour in the mock-rock-doc. Turns out, there’s some ill will there too… “The band was upset with the first film. They thought I did a hatchet job, and this is a chance to redeem myself,” says Reiner of his character. “I am such a big fan and I felt bad they didn’t like what they saw in the first film. When I heard they might get back together, I was a visiting adjunct teacher’s helper at the Ed Wood School of Cinematic Arts. I drop everything to document this final concert.”
While returning to the world of a nailed-down comedy classic invites unwelcome comparisons and the risk of tarnished legacies, the idea of this bunch making merry, and music, again certainly appeals.
The original will be screened at the Cannes Festival next week as part of the Cinema de la Plage sidebar, and rights to distribute the sequel will be on sale. The current plan is to have the new movie in theaters on March 19th, 2024. No word yet on whether it’ll have to share the bill with a puppet show.
George Clinton at the 2016 EXIT Festival. Photo Credit: YouTube.
Eddie Murphy scored a major success – and, in our opinion, was robbed of a worthy Oscar nomination – for playing a real-life person in Netflix’s ‘Dolemite is My Name’. He’s looking to re-enter the biopic world with a new movie, one about musical legend George Clinton.
Clinton is widely considered to be the Godfather of Funk, rivaling James Brown and Sly Stone as the foremost innovators in that musical genre. The film will tell the story of the iconic musician’s humble beginnings in North Carolina in the 1940s to the formation of groundbreaking bands and ultimately to becoming a major influence on artists of the hip-hop generation including Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Outkast and Wu-Tang Clan, among many others.
In case the name is unfamiliar, his band Parliament-Funkadelic (abbreviated as P-Funk) is an American funk music collective of rotating musicians headed by Clinton, primarily consisting of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic, both active since the 1960s. Their distinctive funk style drew on psychedelic culture, outlandish fashion, science-fiction, and surreal humor; and, along with their influential status, helped pioneer Afrofuturism.
Murphy, according to Deadline, is passionate about this idea, so expect it to move quickly.
Eddie Murphy in ‘Mr. Church.’
Still, it’s very early days for this one; Murphy is aboard to both star and produce alongside with John Davis and Catherine Davis, who will work through their Davis Entertainment banner. The trio is busy making a deal with Clinton, a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner, for his life and musical rights.
Once that happens, they’ll look for writers who can bring his fascinating story to life – and we figure their best bet might be biopic experts Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, who worked so well with Murphy on ‘Dolemite’ -but you never know who might get the gig.
When those pesky details are in place, the team can start to shop the project around various studios and streamers, and there’s a chance that it could land at Amazon, where Murphy has a deal following the success of ‘Coming 2 America.’ Yet ‘Dolemite’ – which also had the Davis Entertainment duo as producers, was made for Netflix, so don’t count out their big rivals.
As an actor, Murphy has Kenya Barris comedy ‘You People’ – in which he stars opposite Jonah Hill – making its way through post-production at Netflix and keeps talking up the idea of returning to the role of Axel Foley for a fourth ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ movie.
Music biopics are a popular subject right now, with Baz Luhrmann’s ‘Elvis’ due in theaters on June 24, ‘Once’ director John Carney just attached to the long-gestating Bee Gees film and Naomi Ackie playing Whitney Houston in ‘I Wanna Dance with Somebody’, which is set for release on December 21st.
Eddie Murphy at the Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special.
Just because he’s got approximately 425 projects in different stages of development around Hollywood, J.J. Abrams isn’t letting that stop him from adding to the list. He’s now in the early stages of developing a show about rock icons U2.
Yes, love them for their many hit songs and huge-selling albums or hate them for that one time the put a record on everyone’s Apple devices, U2 are one of the most recognizable musical acts in the world, and they’ve certainly been around long enough to generate enough stories that a show about them could work.
Anthony McCarten, who has form with writing about both real-life people and musical acts (his resume includes movies about Stephen Hawking, Winston Churchill and, surely the most relevant here, Queen/Freddie Mercury biopic ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’), is on board to write the scripted series.
Netflix is partnered with Abrams’ Bad Robot company on the show, which is mostly under wraps for now. We don’t, for example, even know what it’ll be called, let alone what the narrative focus is.
J.J. Abrams on the set of ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.’ Photo Credit: Annie Leibovitz/Vanity Fair.
All that The Hollywood Reporter has heard is that U2 themselves are expected to be involved and will give their blessing, and, of course, getting the rights to their back catalogue is of vital importance for a show like this to succeed.
For those thinking, “Who2?”, a short history… U2 — fronted by Bono, lead guitarist The Edge, bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. — was formed in 1976 out of Dublin, Ireland, and has released 14 studio albums. The often-political band has sold more than 170 million records worldwide, taking home a record 22 Grammys. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005. With albums including The Joshua Tree, Rattle and Hum, Achtung Baby and, more recently, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, they have regularly made Best Of lists.
In that time, they’ve overcome creative struggles, controversy and criticisms. Lead singer Bono made headlines this week when a poem he wrote about the conflict in Ukraine was read to US lawmakers.
Perhaps the biggest surprise about this series is where it’ll end up – Abrams has a big deal with WarnerMedia, and you might think it would have found a home at HBO.
The show is still at a very early point, so if you’re on edge, and desire to know when it might show up on Netflix, we’re afraid you’ll just have to wait until the end of the world. Or until the streaming service makes an announcement. We know, it’s not the sweetest thing.
J.J. Abrams on the set of ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.’ Photo Credit: Annie Leibovitz/Vanity Fair.
Evan Rachel Wood as Madonna in the Roku Channel’s ‘Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.’
Already shaping up to be one of the more fun movies on the way, ‘Weird: The Al Yankovic Story’ set its stall out early, casting former ‘Harry Potter’ star Daniel Radcliffe as the mop-topped musician best known for his parody songs.
“Weird Al” Yankovic has enjoyed quite the career is the biggest-selling comedy recording artist of all time. A five-time Grammy winner, his 2014 release ‘Mandatory’ Fun was the first comedy album in history to debut at #1 on Billboard’s Top 200. He is one of only three artists to have had their own top 40 hits in each of the last four decades (the other two being, coincidentally, Michael Jackson and Madonna).
On August 27, 2018, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce awarded Weird Al with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He has also popped up in a host of movies, shorts, and TV series, either as himself or other characters, and might be best known for indie comedy movie ‘UHF’, which was released in 1989.
The new movie, which was spurred by Yankovic’s decision to chronicle his “depraved and scandalous” life (Radcliffe’s words, not ours), will chart his days spoofing the likes of the Material Girl and the King of Pop. He wrote the script alongside director Eric Appel, who has worked on projects such as ‘Silicon Valley’ and various Funny Or Die shorts (the comedy company is producing the movie alongside Tango).
Wood here plays Madonna, and we’ve got to admit she’s a good fit for the music icon, seen here in her “Like A Virgin” career stage. She gave permission for Yankovic to parody that early song, and the result was medically themed comedy record “Like A Surgeon.”
Daniel Radcliffe as ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic in The Roku Channel’s ‘Weird: The ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic Story.’
Wood, an actor, writer, and director, is famous for the likes of ‘Thirteen’ ‘The Wrestler’ and ‘Across The Universe’, and on TV screens as revolution-minded artificial lifeform Dolores on ‘Westworld.’
As for Wilson, he’s taking on the role of Dr. Demento, the famed music DJ and champion of novelty records. Real name Barret Eugene “Barry” Hansen, Demento rose to cult status as a broadcaster who loved the crazier side of music, and he was hugely responsible for bringing Yankovic’s talents to a much wider audience.
The actor might still be best known for TV sitcom ‘The Office’, though he’s been seen in movies including ‘The Meg’ and ‘The Rocker’.
Nicholson and Huss are aboard to be Yankovic’s parents, Mary and Nick. Will they be supportive? Or shake their heads at their son’s musical ambitions? We’ll have to wait and see. Also unknown? Who else we can expect to show up in this one…
The movie is now shooting in Los Angeles, and the result will debut exclusively on the Roku channel on a yet-to-be-announced date.
(L to R) Pat Smear, Nate Mendel, Rami Jaffee, Chris Shiflett, Dave Grohl, and Taylor Hawkins in ‘Studio 666,’ an Open Road Films release. Photo Courtesy of Open Road Films.
Opening in theaters on February 13th is the new horror comedy from the rock band the Foo Fighters called ‘Studio 666.’ The movie follows the band as they move into a haunted house to record their new album, and stars frontman Dave Grohl, drummer Taylor Hawkins, guitarist Pat Smear, guitarist Chris Shiflett, bassist Nate Mendel, and keyboardist Rami Jaffee as themselves.
The cast also includes Whitney Cummings (‘2 Broke Girls’), Will Forte (‘Nebraska), Jeff Garlin (‘Curb Your Enthusiasm), Leslie Grossman (‘American Horror Story’), and Slayer guitarist Kerry King. The result is a purposely cheesy horror comedy that is super entertaining to watch for both fans of the genre as well as fans of the Foo Fighters, and features fun performances from Grohl and the rest of the band.
Directed by B. J. McDonnell, ‘Studio 666’ begins with a flashback to decades ago, and introduces us to a haunted house in Los Angeles, where a band is completing their new album. But, when the lead singer is possessed by a demon, he kills all his bandmates in a brutal murder. Years later, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted band Foo Fighters are discussing where they will record their new album and Dave Grohl suggests a mansion in Encino, which just happens to be the same house from the prologue.
However, once the band moves in, they soon learn about the mansion’s unusual history when Grohl becomes possessed by a demon. The musician becomes obsessed with finishing the 45-minute-long song that the previous band which occupied that house was unable to complete. As Grohl’s behavior becomes more and more uncontrollable, the band begin to suspect something is wrong and investigate. But, will they discover the truth too late to save their friend … and their own lives?
(L to R) Nate Mendel, Taylor Hawkins, Chris Shiflett, Dave Grohl, Pat Smear, and Rami Jaffee in ‘Studio 666,’ an Open Road Films release. Photo Courtesy of Open Road Films.
To begin with, you really can’t take ‘Studio 666’ too seriously. While it’s not exactly great filmmaking, it is a really well made and funny little horror comedy. On the surface, combining the Foo Fighters with the horror comedy genre may seem like an idea out of left field, but if you’ve ever watched one of their music videos, you’d know that this is actually right up their alley. Foo Fighters have always been a fun band, full of personality, and this movie was a perfect vehicle for them as the horror/comedy situation is wonderfully suited to their sensibilities as performers.
While the band plays themselves, it’s certainly an exaggerated version of themselves. Grohl, Smear and Hawkins are arguably the best-known members of the group, so their characters were pretty close to what you’d expect (until Grohl becomes possessed). Since Chris Shiflett, Nate Mendel, and Rami Jaffee are the least public members of the band, it allowed the script to have more fun with their characters. Shiflett plays his role as an instigator and a tough guy, while Jaffee is depicted as a sexed-up stoner, and Mendel as a quiet genius. Smear and Hawkins continue their public personas, with Smear as the group’s elder statesman and Hawkins as the surfer-styled “cool guy” in the band.
But what comes across is that all of the Foo Fighters were willing to commit to the project and have fun. Grohl has the hardest role in the film, playing himself, and then playing himself possessed by a demon. He’s at his best when he is just playing himself, but there is something fun about watching the drummer from Nirvana acting like a demon has possessed him. Grohl and the entire band give really fun performances that work in the context of the movie.
Dave Grohl in ‘Studio 666,’ an Open Road Films release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Andrew Stuart/Open Road Films.
The film is really about the Foo Fighters, so the other members of the cast are not all that important, but I did think Leslie Grossman gave a strong performance as the band’s real-estate agent. Whitney Cummings has nice chemistry in her scenes with Jaffee, while Will Forte adds comedic flair in his sequence with Grohl. However, Jeff Garlin is too over-the-top, even for this movie, as the band’s record producer. The comedian seems to be pushing too hard in his scenes, and even indicates his character’s true intentions too early in the film.
Director B. J. McDonnell does a good job with the material, never taking it too seriously, and letting the band be the real star of the film. I’m not really a fan of horror, but I do like horror comedies like ‘Evil Dead II’ and ‘Army of Darkness,’ and ‘Studio 666’ is definitely in that wheelhouse. But I’m a huge fan of the Foo Fighters, and for me, they were really the winning ingredient in this project.
There is a long tradition of rock bands starring in their own movies, both good and bad. For every ‘A Hard Day’s Night,’ there is a ‘Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park,’ and I’d like to say that ‘Studio 666’ falls somewhere in between. In the end, ‘Studio 666’ is what it was meant to be, which is a fun, genre-blend starring the Foo Fighters, one of the greatest rock bands of all time. That is exactly what it is, no more, no less.
(L to R) Chris Shiflett, Taylor Hawkins, Rami Jaffee, Nate Mendel, Pat Smear, and Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters at the World Premiere of ‘Studio 666.’
Opening in theaters on February 25th is the new supernatural horror comedy ‘Studio 666,’ which stars the Grammy Award winning rock band the Foo Fighters.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Dave Grohl and members of Foo Fighters, including Pat Smear and Chris Shiflett, about their work on ‘Studio 666.’
Grohl, Smear, and Shiflett discussed the new movie, how it came together, Grohl’s original idea for the story, Shiflett’s acting lessons, what it was like for Smear to play an exaggerated version of himself, and the truth behind the “Pearl Jam high five.”
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You can read the full transcript of our interview with Dave Grohl, Pat Smear and Chris Shiflett below, or watch a video of the interview in the player above.
Moviefone: To begin with, Dave can you talk about how this project came together? Was it always the intent to make a horror movie with members of the band playing themselves?
Dave Grohl: It really started about three years ago. I have a friend that went to have a meeting with some movie studio. He came out of the meeting and texted me and said, “I just got out of this meeting with these people that want to make a horror film with the Foo Fighters.” I texted back, “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard in my life. We will never do that. That’s too ridiculous. No way. I don’t think any of us are even huge horror fans.”
Then we moved into this house, the house in the film. We moved in there to make our new record, ‘Medicine at Midnight.’ While we were in there writing, I thought, oh, well, wait. We have a creepy house, and we could just do it really quickly. Once we’re finished with the record, we’ll just film some ridiculous thing.
Then I just came up with this stupid idea that was, okay, we move into a house and the house is haunted and I become possessed and stuff goes wrong. Then I kill everybody. We actually talked about a bunch of different ideas for the band members.
It was really fun, just riffing. Then we got screenwriters to come in and really write it, then we had a table read, and then added special effects. That was when we started to realize, “Oh my God, hold on a sec, this isn’t a long form music video. This is a full-length feature film!” It just ballooned and snowballed from there, to where we’re like, “Oh my God, we made a movie. What?”
Dave Grohl in ‘Studio 666,’ an Open Road Films release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Andrew Stuart/Open Road Films.
MF: Chris and Pat, how did you both feel about acting in the film and playing exaggerated versions of yourselves?
Chris Shiflett: It was nerve wracking going into it. I don’t know if we’ve talked about this, but I took some acting lessons. You got to understand when somebody puts a camera in your face, you get weird and twitchy, and your face does weird stuff. This was pre-pandemic, bro. A friend of mine, who’s a director connected me with a great acting coach and I went to her with the script.
It was fucking amazing because she sat there and read, line by line, and l got into, like what’s the motivation? It was amazing. It really, really helped. It made me so much more comfortable. And, I want to go on the record, because it is like these heightened versions of ourselves, but I have never made fun of Dave’s barbecue skills. Not one time. That is fiction!
Pat Smear: I’m just going to dispute your claim that this is an exaggerated version of ourselves. Clearly, it’s not. There’s nothing there that I wouldn’t do normally. So, what can I say? I don’t know. It’s awkward. It’s easy, but it’s awkward.
(L to R) Chris Shiflett, Rami Jaffee and Taylor Hawkins in ‘Studio 666,’ an Open Road Films release. Credit: Courtesy of Open Road Films.
MF: Finally, the movie shows the band repeatedly participating in the “Pearl Jam high five,” which is a reference to that band’s first album, ‘Ten.’ Is that something the band does in real life, or was that just added for the movie?
DG: That was an improv moment in the boardroom scene, where someone said, “Okay, let’s do it.” I went “Pearl Jam high five up top.” No, it’s not something we’ve ever done before.
PS: In fact, didn’t we do like five different high fives? Every time we had to do that scene over, we did a different dumb thing, I think. Then, that’s just the one they picked.
DG: I didn’t really think anyone would notice. I mean, of course I’m referring to the cover of their debut album, ‘Ten.’ Where they’re all high fiving. So, we did it once in that boardroom scene, and then, later on we filmed another scene in the driveway of the house, where I did it again. It’s in the movie twice. But the first one was great. It was a “Pearl Jam high five,” and we did that, and I go, “’Jeremy’ has fucking spoken.” Then we high five in the driveway, and then I go, “Break. We’re still ‘Alive.’”
PS: Wow. See, I got to see this movie.
DG: Pat hasn’t even watched the movie yet, God damn it! He’s like Johnny Depp, he won’t watch his own movies.
Pat Smear in ‘Studio 666,’ an Open Road Films release. Credit: Courtesy of Andrew Stuart/Open Road Films.
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Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann’s ‘Elvis.’ Photo Courtesy of Warner Bros.
It’s been nine years since writer/director Baz Lurhmann had a film in theaters. Not to say he’s been sitting around doing nothing; he oversaw Netflix series ‘The Get Down’ and worked on several commercials. It’s good to see, though, that he’s headed back to the big screen with ‘Elvis’, which has its first full trailer out in the world.
As you might predict from the title, the film charts the life of the musical icon, who burst on to the scene in the 1950s and became one of the most famous people in the world.
Austin Butler, who has appeared in movies such as ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’, here plays Elvis Presley, and the film explores his life and music seen through the prism of his complicated relationship with his enigmatic manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks). The story delves into the complex dynamic between Presley and Parker spanning over 20 years, from Presley’s rise to fame to his unprecedented stardom, against the backdrop of the evolving cultural landscape and loss of innocence in America. Central to that journey is one of the most significant and influential people in Elvis’s life, Priscilla Presley (Olivia DeJonge).
Elvis is not the only iconic musician to show up here, either, as in his life and career, he crossed paths with a swathe of others. Singer/songwriter Yola plays Sister Rosetta Tharpe, model Alton Mason takes on the role of Little Richard, while Gary Clark Jr. is Arthur Crudup, and artist Shonka Dukureh plays Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton. Luhrmann wrote the movie with Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce, and Jeremy Doner.
Elvis Presley is a tricky subject to bring to life; he’s one of the most recognizable people in the world, even to an audience that didn’t grow up listening to his music, and his story has a tragic ending. There are also all the political and world-changing events to encompass while finding a way into the complex relationship between Parker and his star client. Of course, it helps to have Tom Hanks in the cast, and he’s throwing his all into the role.
Luhrmann’s film has taken longer than anticipated to arrive, partly because of the huge undertaking, but also because it was one of the movies seriously affected by the Coronavirus pandemic, forced to shut down when Hanks and others contracted the virus.
It’ll finally head to theaters on June 24.
If you want to know more about the movie, Luhrmann and his leading man participated in a video Q&A on twitter to help launch the trailer, and you can find that below.
(L to R) Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson in ‘Marry Me’
‘Marry Me’ is looking to capture some love this coming Friday as Valentine’s weekend kicks off, pairing Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson as a seemingly mismatched couple who meet under unusual circumstances.
The movie, directed by Kat Coiro, opens as Kat Valdez (Lopez) is half of the sexiest celebrity power couple on Earth with hot new music supernova Bastian (Colombian singer Maluma). As Kat and Bastian’s inescapable hit single, ‘Marry Me’ climbs the charts, they are about to be wed before a global audience of their fans.
Divorced high-school math teacher Charlie Gilbert (Wilson) has been dragged to the concert by his daughter Lou. When Kat learns, seconds before the ceremony, that Bastian has cheated on her with her assistant, her life turns left as she has a meltdown on stage, questioning love, truth, and loyalty. As her gossamer world falls away, she locks eyes with a stranger, a face in the crowd: Charlie, awkwardly holding a sign reading “Marry Me”. In a moment of inspired insanity, Kat chooses to marry Charlie. What begins as an impulsive reaction evolves into an unexpected romance…
Lopez needs little introduction, given that she’s a musical superstar and actress who has appeared in movies including ‘Out Of Sight, ‘Hustlers’ and ‘Monster-in-Law’.
Wilson, meanwhile, has long established his comedic and dramatic credentials, working regularly alongside old friend Wes Anderson as both writer and actor, and has a lengthy resume including ‘Wedding Crashers’, ‘The Royal Tennenbaums’, all three ‘Meet the Parents’ movies and as the voice of Lightning McQueen in Pixar’s ‘Cars’ movies.
Lopez first crossed paths with her ‘Marry Me’ co-star Wilson in 1997 creature feature ‘Anaconda.’ ‘Marry Me’ promises to be a very different experience.
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The two popular actors recently spoke at a virtual press conference about the new film, here is what they had to say.
Jennifer, you play musical superstar, Kat Valdez in ‘Marry Me.’ Who is she in your eyes? How does her life change from the moment she decides to follow the impulse to marry a stranger?
Jennifer Lopez: In my eyes, Kat Valdez is a very kind of self-assured, recording artist veteran in the industry who has built herself and her life into something that she’s proud of, but it also, in a way, because of her personal life has become a bit unsatisfying. I think for her there’s a beautiful journey here. Once the character that Owen plays, Charlie, comes into her life, it really changes it forever. Changes her perspective, changes her ideas of being caught.
Sometimes you feel you are kind of caught like, “Okay, I’m trapped in this fame. I’m trapped in this life. This is all I can do. I really don’t get to have a life like everybody else or love like everybody else.” I think what Owen’s character teaches her is that she can and that it is possible and that there is hope for her. She could have a real love and a real home, which she’s never had.
How much of Kat is in you and how much of you is in Kat, Jennifer?
JL: I think there’s a lot of us in each other. This wasn’t a role where I had to research what it was like to be a famous recording artist who does branding and who has all of that. I understand what all of that is already. I think the difficult part was the meta part, which was the idea of showing what it’s really like inside my bedroom. When something goes wrong and you suffer a heartbreak like this in front of the whole world, and the media goes to town on you to kind of unearth the story and understand it and poke fun at it.
In some of those moments, even with scenes with me and Owen, where he’s asking, “Don’t, you want to just give up on the whole love thing?” It was just that philosophy that she has. I understand it’s like, “No, if there’s a one in a billion chance, no matter what the numbers are, you’re a math teacher, that’s worth it,” because I think what she has craving is that love and that home. So, there was a lot of moments there where I was able to bring a truth to the character in the emotional life that was authentic and real.
Owen, How do you see the character of Charlie?
Owen Wilson: Charlie’s sort of ordinary, I guess that would be sort of a man of the people. Then Bastian is this singing sensation and engaged to Kat Valdez. Through circumstance somehow, I wind up there at the concert. The next thing you know I’m on stage getting married. It’s such a leap of faith that when you read it, you are kind of, “Oh, I wonder how that’s going to work?” Yet, in the movie, sort of everything that leads up to it, I think you kind of go along with it. I felt it was kind of believable.
Music of course is a key element of the movie, Jennifer. Can you talk about the experience of making an album and a movie at the same time?
JL: That was a first for me, which was such a pleasure. It’s like my two worlds coming together, but making the album, it was great because they really allowed me to input into where and when and what these musical moments would be for this character. They really looked to me to be like, okay, how would this be? How could we make this feel real? Picking the music for the arc of the characters says, nobody understood the character more than I did. Nobody understood what it was to be a musical art artist and be this person within this movie.
Owen, how was your experience with Jennifer this time around?
OW: For me, it was very relaxing. It was nice because Jen assumed so many responsibilities, I didn’t have to worry about anything. She and Elaine (producer Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas) had to bear the brunt of the stress of everything. A lot of times when you work on a movie, you kind of hear it in your head or you have casting ideas. With this, everybody was just spot on. I wasn’t worried about anything. I felt that it was working while we were doing it.
(L to R) Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson in ‘Marry Me’
You were mentioning before how Charlie’s this normal guy, and the movie really plays into the idea that opposites attract. Do you believe that in real life?
OW: Well, to an extent. I think opposites attract in a sense from different backgrounds and seemingly very different. But I think in terms of your spirit, I think there must be some sort of overlap either in humor, or the way you look at the world, or what you’re curious about, or sense of adventure. So, in those ways I think sometimes it helps to have a little bit of overlap for that attraction to work.
Jennifer, you’ve starred in some memorable romantic comedies. Is this a homecoming of sorts for you and do you have a special place in your heart for that genre?
JL: Yes, I do. I think that’s why I’ve done so many throughout my career. It’s because I, as a moviegoer, love romantic comedies. Those are some of my favorite movies of all time, whether it’s ‘When Harry met Sally’ or ‘Prelude to a Kiss’ or any of these types of movies, the Meg Ryan era, and the Julia Roberts era, all those movies is what I grew up on. I love them so much.
So, it is kind of a homecoming for me because I haven’t done one in a few years and now I have two coming out. I have this one, ‘Marry Me’ and then ‘Shotgun Wedding’ will be out at some point, which I did with Josh Duhamel. So, I’m excited to be able to do a couple.
Is there a certain element in a romantic comedy script that makes you want to say yes to it, Jennifer?
JL: I think it’s hard to reinvent it every time. How do you make it different than the last one? Because we kind of always know that two people are going to wind up together and that’s going to be the end. So, it’s about how interesting the journey is and the interaction between the two characters and how interesting that is. If that’s written well, that’s what makes me want to do it.
Jennifer, Marry Me has some unforgettable songs. Do you have a favorite one?
JL: It’s hard. I mean, off the top of my head, I love ‘Nobody’s Watching Us.’ I love it so much because I really relate to it. ‘On My Way’, for me is such a life song. It’s one of those perfect sentiments in a song. Yes, it fit well in the movie, but I just thought it was a song that everybody could relate to because we all feel like the mistakes we make are so tragic in our lives.
This is so hopeful because it says that every single mistake that I made was leading me down a yellow brick road to exactly where I needed to be and where I wanted to be, and I do believe in that in life. So, I would have to say, if I had to pick a favorite child, which I would never do, it would be, ‘On My Way.’
Owen, Kat obviously takes a big leap of faith when she marries Charlie. What’s the biggest leap of faith you’ve taken?
OW: I think, for me, I did not study acting. I was an English major, but I always loved movies and I liked writing. So, when my friend and I started writing a movie together, believing that I could act in it, I don’t know that I did necessarily. It was more my friend’s belief that I could do it. Because growing up in Dallas, if you had said, ‘Oh, I want to be in movies,’ I think people would’ve almost laughed at you like, “Yeah, who doesn’t want to be in movies?” But I think that believing that I could maybe have a career doing something creative, that’s not the life that most people lead. So that was a leap of faith.
‘Marry Me’ debuts in theaters and streaming on Peacock February 11, 2022.
(L to R) Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson in ‘Marry Me’
Based on the graphic novel of the same name by Bobby Crosby, ‘Marry Me’ sees star and producer Jennifer Lopez back in her element. Featuring nearly a dozen original songs – mostly performed in their entirety – Lopez stars as lovestruck superstar Kat Valdez.
Set to marry her fiance Bastian (Maluma) in front of 40M people on live television, her world comes crashing down when a video surfaces of him cheating on her. Caught up in the moment, she proposes to a stranger in the crowd holding a marry me sign. Is her whirlwind marriage to hapless math teacher Charlie (Owen Wilson) just a publicity stunt, or did she accidentally find something real?
Director Kat Coiro is no stranger to the romantic comedy genre. Born to bohemian parents in a third floor Manhattan walk-up, Coiro spent much of her childhood living a nomadic existence around the globe. She studied theater and Russian literature at Carnegie Mellon University, and briefly enrolled in the American Film Institute’s MFA program before dropping out to film her first feature ‘L!fe Happens’.
Co-written by Coiro and star Krysten Ritter, the rom-com was partially inspired by their own friendship, as well as Coiro’s experience as a first time mother. She quickly directed two more romances: ‘And While We Were Here’ and ‘A Case of You’ before pivoting to television. Her TV credits include the pilots for comedies’Girls5Eva’ and ‘Florida Girls,’ and the upcoming Disney+ show ‘She Hulk’.
After nearly a decade working solely in television, ‘Marry Me’ is not only a delightful return to the romantic comedy genre for the director, but also a showcase for Coiro’s vivid visual flare and skill at capturing the essence of entertainers at their most spectacular.
Jennifer Lopez at 2015 American Music Awards. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images)
Moviefone: What do you look for in the films that you direct in general, and how did you get involved with ‘Marry Me’ in particular?
Kat Coiro: It’s funny because I never really subscribed to a specific genre. I just look for a mix of humor and heart and humanity. I had actually moved into the television space. I’d kind of said I’m not going to do features for a while. But when I read this script, it just really spoke to me in terms of its humanity. Even though it’s this larger than life story about a celebrity, there is something so elementally vulnerable and human and interesting in the heart of the story.
That’s really what drew me to it. Also having Jennifer Lopez play this role that feels like she was born to play. It’s the combination of all of her talents: acting and singing and fashion. She brought so much to it. She was attached when I read the script, so that was really an exciting element, obviously.
MF: I read that she listened to a hundred songs to narrow down the ones featured in the film.
KC: More than that! We listened to probably 400 songs. Our partners at Universal, and then Jennifer’s music team, they inundated us with songs that had been banked songs that were originally written for the film. There were a lot of different songs entitled ‘Marry Me’ that we went through. That was a huge process. It was me and Jennifer and Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, who’s the producing partner, and then also Mike Knobloch, and Rachel Levy over at Universal and Benny Medina.
We would all get these files, and say here are the top ten from that batch. One of the great parts of the process is that we would all hear the same song and go, this is the one! It was so important that the songs not just be good in and of themselves, but that they tie into the emotional arc of the story. Because while it is a rom com, and it is about a relationship, it’s also about the growth and the progression of an artist.
She starts in this very big, larger than life, spectacle, pop world with songs like “Church’. Slowly as the film goes on, she breaks down to a very simple unproduced version of herself with ‘On My Way’, which ends up being the song that kind of puts her on the map in a new way.
MF: How did you select which songs to present as a spectacle, via social media, in a recording studio, etc?
KC: That ties into the selection of the songs. Where she is at the top of the film, she is this big, famous pop star who’s marrying another big famous pop star, and they’re known for this very flashy kind of radio hit, which is ‘Marry Me’, and then when her world explodes, she has to build back up. It was about finding each song in the sequence that went along with that emotional journey.
One of the most exciting moments for me was during my first time meeting Jennifer. She started singing a song that’s not actually in the movie, but a song called ‘Unlove You’ that had originally been scripted in the film. She was singing along to a Bluetooth and the Bluetooth dropped out and she kept singing and I was four feet away from her. I’ve always known how talented she is and what a good singer she is, but seeing it like that, an acapella Jennifer Lopez in a room singing. It brought tears to my eyes. I got chills. I thought oh my god, if we can bring even a tiny bit of that into the film I think we will have succeeded.
So I always knew that we were working towards this moment where she sits and sings unaccompanied, and she sings for real in the room and we don’t mess with it. It was all moving towards that point of just stripped down and raw Jennifer Lopez.
MF: Earlier you mentioned fashion. Her character has a lot of looks, from the stage spectacle to the wedding dress to her casual walking around New York City style. How did you develop them?
KC: One of the most important things to me was that these concerts feel 100% real. So, to that end, from a lighting standpoint, from a set design standpoint, from a costume standpoint, we actually brought in her concert team for those sequences.
So when she performs ‘Church,’ that was a collaboration between me and the costume designer, Caroline Duncan, but also Rob Zangardi, who does all her costumes for her shows. It was a real collaboration. When you have Jennifer Lopez and her music team, part of your job is to get out of the way and let them do their thing. Where I would weigh in is when it affected the story emotionally.
When you look at ‘Church,’ that is when she’s at the height of this very spectacle driven kind of flashy persona. It was really important to capture the authenticity of the concerts. In terms of her fashion throughout, she obviously has such a great sense of what looks good on her, so it was conversations about where she is in the story. How do these costumes reflect the emotional trajectory? Then let her and her team do their thing.
(L to R) Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson in ‘Marry Me’
MF: There’s a stark difference visually between her world and Charlie (Owen Wilson)’s world. Can you talk about that?
KC: One of the motifs that we played with throughout is that she lives in a world that is up high, it’s in the clouds. It’s in the sparkly city lights. You look at her apartment, it’s on the 40th floor. She’s on a private jet. Even when she goes to the press conference, her car is parked on the rooftop. That was something that was scripted in an underground garage, and my cinematographer Florian Ballhaus, and I were like no, we always want her to be up high.
On the other end of the spectrum, we have Charlie who lives in a ground floor apartment. His classroom is on the ground floor of his Brooklyn school. We were constantly playing with this high-low dynamic. She’s always on a stage and he’s down below. That was a huge part of the visual language of the film, with him always looking up at her and she’s looking down at him.
Then we flip it at the very end of the film. She comes into the theater and he’s up on the stage for the first time. When she holds up the sign, she’s down below. It’s really about them having influenced each other’s worlds, and changed each other.
MF: One moment that really struck me because it’s one of my favorite poets, is when we meet Kat she reads from Keats for possible wedding vows, and then later Charlie also loves Keats. Was that always in the script?
KC: Every film I have made has a sliver of classical poetry because it’s something that I love to sneak in. Especially in popular films, I just like to bring in a little of that poetry and romanticism. Keats was a Romantic poet, so to bring that in was important to me. It wasn’t originally scripted that way. But it was also a way of setting up the difference between Kat Valdez and Bastian (Maluma).
For her this is a really romantic venture. She is pouring her whole heart and soul into it. But for him, he’s very young. He’s very famous. It seems like a great press opportunity. It’s not that he doesn’t love her, and that he’s callous, but they are coming at it from different times in their life and from different points of view. I think poetry is a very simple and straightforward way of showing that difference between where they are in their lives.
MF: Both Kat and Charlie have been divorced before. Marriage and remarriage is a classic trope in screwball romantic comedies. Are there any romantic comedies that inspired you while making this film?
KC: Oh, definitely. You can see throughout the film that instead of shying away from the tropes and the cliches we lean into them. There’s a reason that Michelle Buteau opens and closes the jewelry box when Jennifer reaches for it.
KC: There’s a reason he’s holding up a sign or she’s running through the airport. It’s funny, I keep getting asked, is the rom com dead? I always say the rom com is the most sustaining genre that exists in cinema. When you look back at Charlie Chaplin. Those are rom coms. When you look at the musicals of the 30s and 40s, and 50s. Those are rom coms.
When you look at the 80s and 90s, and 2000s. It is a very enduring genre. We wanted to really play into that and say, yes, we’re coming from a tradition of rom com and we embrace it, and we love it. Some of my favorites are ‘When Harry Met Sally. . .’ and ‘Notting Hill’. I think there’s a lot of comparisons between ‘Notting Hill’ and this movie, and I love that and I welcome that.
MF: Why do you think romantic comedies are so enduring?
KC: I think they’re hopeful. I think that they make people happy. I’m always a little shocked by the way that they’re spoken of like they’re lesser than. Because the truth is they are geared towards women, but I think men also love them. In my experience, it’s a very universal genre. Then you add the music that we have in this film, and it becomes not just a rom com, but also kind of a concert experience. I’m really hoping that’s part of what brings people to the theaters. The combination of the glamour, the style, and the genre. It’s about love and it is about hope. It’s as simple as that.
With ‘Marry Me’ you also get to watch songs performed in their entirety, which is something that was also really important to me. A lot of music movies show a snippet, 15 seconds, you just get the sense of the song. I went into it saying no, we have to play out the entire song every single time that we can, because it’s such a fundamental part of who Kat Valdez is, and wanting to draw the audience in that way and really show full performances is something that I think sets this movie apart.
MF: What do you hope people take away when they’re done watching this film?
KC: One of the things that always struck me about the film is that we live in a society that is very fixated on being famous, and on getting lots of followers. I would say that there is an obsession with it that is probably a little bit unhealthy. There’s something about this film where we’re peeling back the curtain, and we’re saying you do pay a price for living in the spotlight the way that Kat Valdez does. It was very important to me that we ended the film on the simplest scene of them sitting on a couch in sweatpants, watching TV with their family.
Originally in the script, it had ended on another big wedding. I really wanted to strip us away from big romantic gestures. Because the truth is life, in its simplicity, is something that we should and can be striving for. It doesn’t all have to be striving to be in the spotlight. So I hope that people walk away and feel like they had a little bit of an escape, but also that they can be happy with a simpler life.
‘Marry Me’ debuts in theaters and streaming on Peacock February 11, 2022.
