Glitter and be Green
French actress and Bond Girl Eva Green (Casino Royale) is in talks to star as Maria Callas in a biopic from Italy’s DeAngelis Group (DAP) and British producer partner Future Films. The project will be co-produced by Swarovski, “whose bling was often worn by the iconic opera star on stage and off.” [Hollywood Reporter]
Isn’t there another Callas biopic in the works? What happened to “Master Class”? My feeling—enough already! (The Fanny Ardant/Zeffirelli pic was gruesome enough.)
There’s a new Martin Sherman play about Onassis opening in London in September with my mate Anna (who was Marta in Sam Mendes’ production of COMPANY) as Callas.
Why do they insist on picking people who look nothing like Maria Callas and have no connection to opera? Wouldn’t it make sense to pick an opera singer?
Here’s my suggestion…..
Monsita Caballe
“Wouldn’t it make sense to pick an opera singer?”
By that logic, every ‘actor’ character in opera should be played by an actor. Adriana, Clairon…
tinney – I thought Fanny Ardant looked quite convincing
in the Zeff. Callas movie, didn’t you?
But Fanny Ardant has great legs — which the blessed Maria did not.
Fanny Ardant can act fat legs.
In fact, she can do anything except speak – she has the most annoying pretentious drawling voice.
Yes, I liked Fanny Ardant.
One doesn’t HAVE to be an opera singer to portrary Callas but there are a great many who could do her justice. I guess my point was that we’ve picked so many actresses to portray her that WHY NOT have an actual opera singer give her a go? I wonder who would be brave enough. hmmmm
And really, what would an opera singer (especially Caballe) bring to a film about Callas? Yes, herlip synch efforts would be spot-on but what else would she bring to a film about Callas? The important thing is to have an actress who understands Callas and who appreciates her special gifts and her place in the operatic universe and 1950s/60s society.
I suppose the same thing that an actress would. I was implying that Caballe might be able to act. What will Eva Green bring to the role of Callas? We’ve seen actresses with very impressive credentials stink at portraying her. I suppose I was just picking Caballe b/c she bore an uncanny resemblance to her not b/c she might be able to act but who says she cant’? Who the hell knows.
She is always known as Montserrat Martí, not Caballé — she’s the daughter of Bernabé Martí and Montserrat Caballé. Nicknamed Montsita.
There is nobody that could be picked to play Callas without having a good part of the opera crowd outraged. (With the exception of Lindsay Lohan, who would have been perfect. PERFECT!!!! Please hollywood, make this happen. Oh the outrage here would be hysterical. )
Green does have a striking femininity to her, a certain elegance and grace, there’s something enigmatic about her, and it looks like there is depth (or something) going on beneath the surface. Those traits are probably more important than an exact matching physical appearance.
I just hoped we’re spared the usual hollywood propaganda of how Ms. Green “spent months” (months!!!) studying voice and sings many of the parts. Emily Watson horrifically holding the bow while mashing the strings in the previews of “Jackie and Hillary” kept me from seeing that film. Hearing Ms. Green sing would probably have a similar effect.
It could be a decent movie. Probably won’t be, but they have great material to work with.
Swarovski will be the star.
That’s a shame, Hillary and Jackie is a great movie.
And Emily Watson was devastatingly good in it.
Perhaps it was a great movie, but it is a perfect example of why these “biographic films” are really ghastly – the first thing that gets discarded are the facts ( or the truth)
It is particularly painful to those who actually knew the subject involved. I don’t think a good Callas film can be made for another 100 years – nobody can capture her essence and to even try is futile. Documentaries are the only way to go, and even then the editor’s subjectivity ( intentional or not) can cause problems.
Don’t get me started on Oppenheimer, Bohr and Heisenberg
Green isn’t just a Bond girl, but if you look at some of the movies within her filmography you’ll learn that she is a *spectacular* actress with real range. Check out “The Dreamers” where she is stunning. Remember, the point of these movies isn’t for someone to clone Maria Callas. Vince Vaughn didn’t much look like Johnny Cash, Jamie Foxx isn’t exactly a Ray Charles lookalike and no one mistook Barbra Streisand for Fanny Brice. The point of these movies is (to paraphrase Pauline Kael) to show us why the originals were so luminous in the first place. And for that you need someone who pops on screen, not someone with a great vocal technique. What we wanted from Vaughn wasn’t perfect Cash renditions, we needed “tortured, sexy, complicated, stoic, addict” and who better than Vince Vaughn. The same is true of a Maria Callas biopic where we will need vulnerability, frailty, pride, ego, fierce intelligence, abandon, pride and neediness. That’s all. No look alikes, just great acting.
Excellent points, Neophyte.
We want someone to capture the essence, not do a Rich Little job of mimicry. Mirren was wonderful as the Queen, although she’d never be mistaken for her physically.
Wasn’t it Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash, although, now that you mention it, Vince might have been OK.
Who better than Vince Vaughn? Hmmmm maybe Joaquin Phoenix who actually starred in the movie.
not exactly classified information….
I met a woman at a restaurant last week, a relative of a friend, who looked eerily like Callas, ca. 1965. I showed her pictures of Callas on my phone and she agreed. She had never heard of Callas.
This french actress, pretty but–yuch–doesn’t look like Maria. Maybe with makeup and a fat suit! Green looks more like Piper Laurie than Callas! But, if she were a good actress, it could work–I guess.
Voci di guerra!
Is it me or does this Eva Green look an awful lot like Nicole Kidman?
Anyway, I’m quite happy to have another Callas film out there. Callas Forever was mostly bad, though Fanny Ardant was wonderful.
It’s you, because she doesn’t look anything like Nicole (either before or after the, um, cosmetic enhancements)
Not even in this pic?
http://www.nicewallpapers.info/pics/Celebrities/nicole-kidman/nicole-kidman_9.jpg
What about this pic?
(Clita, how did you do that with teh Bond image?)
http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.nicewallpapers.info/pics/Celebrities/nicole-kidman/nicole-kidman_9.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.nicewallpapers.info/nicole-kidman-8.html&usg=__QML7iUI6gudZ0P_9Qv-tHt60AGc=&h=768&w=1024&sz=33&hl=en&start=39&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=CXughhdMTbPyAM:&tbnh=113&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dnicole%2Bkidman%26start%3D20%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26ndsp%3D20%26tbs%3Disch:1
Picture of Green and Craig = Callas and Onassis LOL
I’m sure there are many actresses who… beach… daniel… craig…wet.
Daniel…balls getting hit with rope knot…me kissing them and making them feel better
And I think there are two actresses who resemble her while being of totally different ethnic backgrounds. Marina Sirtis from Star Trek:Next Generation, and Necar Zadegan, who played Dalia Hassan on the final season of 24.
Sanford ; I read on a film website where the delicate English were saved by the censors :from most of that Bond ‘balls hanging through the bottom of the chair and getting hit with knotted rope’ scene. It was drastically cut. My, their sweet peaches and cream complexions must blush, if they saw the full scene.! We know for a fact, they cannot even stand the summer sun on their rock pebble ‘for sand’ beaches. A 90degree F temperature is a drop dead temperature to them! Sh#t!!!!
What you ‘read on a film website’, Harry was, so to speak, bollocks.
amerjacquino; I know of many films where the P.C English censor is too twee to allow the delicate English to see the full force of violence or sex depicted if one directly compares identical the same scenes from a English DVD version of some film with another from other places. In many cases, it is a snip here, a snip there. I.E: Other counties had noticeably longer theatrical versions of Basic Instinct, Last Tango in Paris and the classic ‘I Want to Live even back i the late 50′s ….the English had not the climatic scene in it at all! So stop coming on like an expert in that field too, and yours bollocks … I return in greater measure.
Next you will be claiming your wilting English Rose’ can stand 45 degree C heat. I wonder where??????
Harry, you can witter on as much as you like. The rope knot torture scene in Casino Royale was not censored in any way for British audiences. Has the nationality of the novelist, actor and two of the screenwriters concerned escaped your notice? Your prejudice makes you credulous.
Nicole has ruined herself with the face stuff. She is beginning to look like Cher, imo.
What’s amazing about Nicole’s face work is that it doesn’t look that freaky in person. Even before all of the work she posessed a preternatural, other-worldly quality.
Agreed. She should have allowed herself to age gracefully. You can’t be a young blonde bombshell for 30 years!
Perhaps those other facial ‘botox blow ups’ like Mickey Rourke might be a better choice or that Joyce Wilderstein… the ‘tigress’ lady. Maria was captioned the ‘tigress’ once.
An actress playing Callas doesn’t have to look anything like her but it would be nice to have someone with a little more exotic looks. I know big named pretty faces sell tickets but Eva Green looks so white bread.