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RENT (the musical) (1 Viewer)

PatrickL

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OK, I have to admit that, except for the few months when Spike Lee was attached to direct, I wasn't keen on seeing "RENT" adapted for the big screen. The trailer has me hoping that maybe it will work as a movie after all.

RENT trailer
 

Holadem

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Yeah, I saw it front of Sith, beautiful stuff.

Unfortunately, I enjoyed that trailer more than the friggin show. A huge dissapointment, seeing how I have wanted to see it for years now.

The trailer conveyed everything I was expecting to feel from the show and didn't. The joie de vivre in the middle of adversity. The show was ALL adversity... didn't convey the hopeful tones very well at all to me.

Maybe I just had crappy performers? Dunno.

--
H
 

Michael Reuben

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It's a good trailer, but I'm keeping my expectations low. So much depends on whether the script found a way to integrate the songs into a convincing narrative (as Bill Condon did with Chicago).

That's too bad. It's there in the music, but the performance has to bring it out. If you saw it recently on Broadway, I wouldn't be surprised if the performances were somewhat anemic. That tends to happen with long-running shows.

I saw it about eight years ago, not with the original cast but with a terrific group, and there are moments I can still remember as if it were last week.

M.
 

ThomasC

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Thanks for the link. Very good trailer, looking forward to it.
 

David Williams

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I've never seen the musical, but have listened to the soundtrack. Funnily enough, the only song I cared for was the one used in the trailer. The trailer definitely looks solid and I'm geared up to like this movie... maybe the music will be better on a second listen. :emoji_thumbsup:
 

Michael Reuben

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The trailer seems to have been removed from the site. Maybe the site didn't clear the rights.

M.
 

Abby_B

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Disappointed that I missed seeing the trailer. RENT is one of my favorite musicals. Love the music and have seen it twice, once with an amazing cast and once with a decent one. The cast does add a lot to the experience. I do think most of the music stands on its own too...
 

Mikel_Cooperman

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They're filming this here in San Francisco but have yet to see any location filming. I look forward to seeing the trailer.
 

Sean Laughter

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I was a total RENT-head at the time this show first premiered, had the whole thing memorized and everything. Nowadays, listening to the album the tone sounds a bit too, I'm not sure how to say, "90's adolescent whiney" I suppose. Not like horrendously, but it borders there at moments, I still love the show though, I guess it's just a perspective change coming with time and age.
 

Adam Lenhardt

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I don't care what people say, I like Chris Columbus movies. That trailer was great. If he was trying to escape the Harry Potter shadow, he succeeded.
 

Adam Lenhardt

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Also notable is that with the exception of Rosario Dawson and the "Wonderfalls" chick, the main cast is composed entirely of Rent stage veterans, most I believe from the original run.
 

Sean Laughter

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Yeah, everyone except the original Mimi (Daphne Rubin-Vega) and Joanne (Fredi Walker) is from the original broadway cast (well, maybe not like the chorus members, but in terms of the main characters).

I am pretty dissapointed Daphne Rubin-Vega isn't doing Mimi; did she turn it down, was she busy, did they not want her? Does anyone know. She's like the quintissential Mimi so it is somewhat dissapointing.
 

Michael Reuben

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I don't have any inside knowledge, but I suspect this is yet another case of Hollywood passing up a terrific stage actress in favor of someone with a certain "look". For another example, see Bebe Neuwirth and Velma Kelly (not that Catherine Z-J didn't do a fine job).

M.
 

Sean Laughter

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That's what I'd expect as well Michael. I remember reading some letter-to-the-editor that Chris Columbus wrote to Entertainment Weekly after they ran some story about the film where he said he met with the cast to make sure they could still realistically play people within the characters' age ranges.

Looking at Vega's official site I think it's pretty clear she's not able to pull off a 19 year old anymore (though I'd argue Adam Pascal can't pull off the age of his character either). I'm not sure the age of the characters is really that important in the piece anyway, and I think the only real mention of age is a single line in a song where Mimi says she's 19.
 

Adam Lenhardt

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Some samples from the movie soundtrack are available here:
[url=http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/rent/audioplayer/]http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/rent/audioplayer/[/url]
Having heard the original broadway cast recording a gazillion times, it's very disconcerting to hear the same material so different. Other songs, like "Light My Candle" are surprisingly similiar. Rosario Dawson has a singing voice that's a little more pure and thus possessing a little less character. But otherwise, it's almost verbatim, just different enough to be creepy. "Life Support" is a very different take on the solo, but then the refrain is the same." Rosario Dawson doesn't have quite the projection for "Out Tonight" but that may be the compression of the site, too.
 

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