<p>I saw this movie for the umpteenth time on TCM last night. It truly is a wonderful movie comedy, with perfect casting.</p>
<p>I was wondering what the original stage play was like. Has anyone ever seen the play (obviously, a revival or some such)? Is it as witty as the movie? Is it still done? Does it hold up in the 21st Century?</p>
<p>It’s a wonderful play and yes, it’s still done! Last summer a friend worked on a production in London, staged at the Old Vic by Kevin Spacey. The wonderful Jennifer Ehle of Pride and Prejudice fame was in it along with Kevin and, by all accounts, a wonderful cast. The reviews were mixed but the run played to sold out houses every night. All of the friends I know who saw it thought it was great!</p>
<p>I haven’t seen the play, but yes, it is still done. I live near Ardrossan, the estate of the Scott family and Hope Montgomery Scott, upon whom the story is based. In fact, I’ll be attending a charity fundraising dinner there in a few weeks. It’s unbelievabley spectacular. You may find this article, from our local paper, of interest.
<a href=“http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=11129896&BRD=1676&PAG=461&dept_id=43790&rfi=6[/url]”>http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=11129896&BRD=1676&PAG=461&dept_id=43790&rfi=6</a></p>
<p>Thanks, driver, that was fascinating! I’ve also read that Philip Barry patterned Tracy in part after Katharine Hepburn herself. </p>
<p>It’s interesting that this was Jimmy Stewart’s only Oscar - he was wonderful, of course, but it’s not a long part and I think his performances were better (i.e., spectacularly good) in Anatomy of a Murder, Harvey, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and It’s a Wonderful Life. I think his best performance ever was in Vertigo, and he wasn’t even nominated for that one! </p>
<p>The musical version (High Society - 1954?) was staged on Broadway in 1998. I think the musical would be even more difficult to revive than Philadelphia Story. It wasn’t a great movie musical, but who’s going to forget the way Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Louis Armstrong sound?</p>
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<p>Or how awkward Bing looked “pitching woo” to Grace Kelly given the age difference.</p>
<p>One of my guilty pleasures is to wonder how the original version could be remade today. Not in the crimes against humanity way that the Adam Sandler version of “Mr Deeds Goes to Town” was slaughtered, but simply an updating in the modern era of paparazzi and the celebrity rich.</p>
<p>Casting would be tough though, particularly the Jimmy Stewart role.</p>
<p>I didn’t try to replace the original actors, I tried to cast it using actors of today. For instance, Brad Pitt is no Cary Grant, but I think he could play the aristocratic, smart-aleck type. There are a couple I just couldn’t think of actors to play the part.</p>
<p>C.K. Dexter Haven - Brad Pitt (Cary Grant)
Tracy Lord - Cameron Diaz (Katharine Hepburn)
Macualy Connor - Matt Damon (James Stewart)
Liz Embrie -
George Kittredge -
Uncle Willie - Kenneth Branaugh
Seth Lord - George Clooney</p>
<p>How would you ever be able to pay this group? I do think it would be a fun movie set.</p>
<p>I would use line item veto power on the Cameron Diaz nomination. Don’t care if she ever makes another movie.</p>
<p>Have you seen her in the movie “In Her Shoes” with Toni Collette and Shirley McLaine?</p>
<p>It changed my view of her abilities.</p>
<p>UMDAD, I agree with you about “In Her Shoes”. I enjoyed that movie very much and Cameron Diaz proved that she does indeed have ‘acting chops’. </p>
<p>Strick, Bing may, indeed, have looked awkward but off-screen, he was just one of many Hollywood actors that Grace was involved with prior to Prince Rainier. She always did like those older men. :)</p>
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<p>Then there’s hope for many of us here. However, I still have to say “yuck”.</p>
<p>No offense, UMDAD, but if I owned the movie rights to this, neither Affleck nor Damon need apply for any roles in the movie.</p>
<p>There in lies the problem. Actors who have a deft hand at comedy in an age where Hollywood only knows how to do over the top slapstick.</p>
<p>There are, however a couple of actors in the previous generation that might do, they’re just too old for the parts.</p>
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That’s a fascinating thought I hadn’t even considered–and probably true. Hepburn and Scott were close in age, came from similar backgrounds, and may well have even crossed paths when Hepburn was attending Bryn Mawr College, on the Main Line. Hepburn was known to be a guest at the Merion Cricket Club with various beaus, and the Scotts were surely members there. In any event, Hepburn certainly knew the type of person she was playing quite well.</p>
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UMDAD, I haven’t been able to think about anything else all night! Of course, Grant, Hepburn, and Stewart were each totally unique and therefore irreplaceable. With Bogart and Garbo, they probably constitute the 5 most indelible film stars of all time. But I’ve been torturing myself trying to cast a remake:</p>
<p>I think the easiest part to cast might be Macauley Connor - it seems more open to interpretation than the other two leading roles. John Cusack would have been perfect a few years ago.</p>
<p>Cary Grant is my favorite movie star and that’s that. No one is going to offer the same blend of wit, elegance, and authority he had. Thinking of actors who project something of the same ease on the screen, I come up with Leonardo diCaprio - I think he’d do something interesting with the part of Dexter. I can see Brad Pitt in the part, too, but he’s always seemed a bit uneasy onscreen, to me at least.</p>
<p>Tracy Lord - she might be a few years too old for it, but I think Naomi Watts would be terrific (then again, what CAN’T she do?).</p>
<p>Does anyone else remember the dreadful remake of “Sabrina” with Harrison Ford and Greg Kinnear a few years ago?</p>