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Wow, Renee Zellweger of all people is playing Judy Garland in a [late in life] biopic and she looks a lot like her

It is eerily good casting, even though it would never have occurred to me beforehand

I wonder if watching this film will be as dismaying and uncomfortable for me as all my experience with the late-in-life actual Judy Garland has been. A question I will probably never be able to answer.

I don’t think Zellweger looks much like Garland, she just doesn’t look much like herself there. Like Joan Crawford, Garland had a distinctive make-up style and look. Paint that face on actresses as different looking as Judy Davis and Zellweger and you’ll recognize Garland.

Pretty much everyone on social media disagrees with you, and for good cause. Seems like there is an unexpected deluge of people interested in this movie now-- it wouldn't surprise me if it secured theatrical distribution in the states

domino harvey wrote:Pretty much everyone on social media disagrees with you, and for good cause. Seems like there is an unexpected deluge of people interested in this movie now-- it wouldn't surprise me if it secured theatrical distribution in the states

The praise I've seen online has been very effusive too. Given all the horrible things Garland had to go through I think this could really work in this current climate. The man who directed this has a background in theater and I'm interested in seeing how that translates to screen.

Big Ben wrote:

domino harvey wrote:Pretty much everyone on social media disagrees with you, and for good cause. Seems like there is an unexpected deluge of people interested in this movie now-- it wouldn't surprise me if it secured theatrical distribution in the states

The praise I've seen online has been very effusive too. Given all the horrible things Garland had to go through I think this could really work in this current climate. The man who directed this has a background in theater and I'm interested in seeing how that translates to screen.

I'm interested to see it too, but Judy Davis nailed Garland's later days for me.

domino harvey wrote:Pretty much everyone on social media disagrees with you, and for good cause. Seems like there is an unexpected deluge of people interested in this movie now-- it wouldn't surprise me if it secured theatrical distribution in the states

Rather shockingly, I frequently disagree with social media.

I don't think it's necessary for an actor to resemble the celebrity or artist they play as long as the performance gets to the core of the character, instead of it just being an impersonation. This was not meant as no slur against Zellweger, who I think is a fine actress and I'm confident her performance nails it. I'm not excited about another decline-of-a-legend biopic though.

A couple of years ago I saw the musical play Through the Mill by Ray Rackham at the Southwark Playhouse, London which was the best addition to the Judy biographical canon I've seen. It took the production of the Judy Garland TV show as a framing device to then split off into three different timelines of Garland, played by three different actress, at three key moment of her career with he three Judys frequently interacting. It's a conceit which probably only works on the stage but it was hugely inventive and insightful and went far beyond the diva-porn of the type of biopic which I'm dreading here.

I agree with Lost Highway here, I'm not seeing much resemblance to Garland in that photo, and I also have a hard time imagining Zellweger can capture Garland's very distinctive speaking voice. I too, however, don't care much if the actor closely resembles the artist he or she is portraying as long as the performance is good. In addition to Judy Davis mentioned above, Tammy Blanchard portrayed the young Judy Garland in that same TV movie and (if memory serves me well) did a tremendous job.

Then of course, there's always Ariana Grande.

Someone on the AwardsWatch forum joked that this should be a Judy Tenuta biopic and actually, I think Zellweger would be inspired casting there too!

Shocked that Rufus Wainwright wasn't approached

domino harvey wrote:Someone on the AwardsWatch forum joked that this should be a Judy Tenuta biopic and actually, I think Zellweger would be inspired casting there too!

I would MUCH rather see that

Can anybody think of a movie star biopic, which actually was a great movie ? I feel they are bound to fail because there is a reason why these stars were singular icons. I get a case of the uncanny valley, even when the lead performance is very good. I feel the closest to a success was the recent Feud: Bette & Joan whose theme really was more the fate of ageing movie stars and because it had the scope of a mini-series, was able to go off on several tangents. But I can't think of many movies which even scrape by as good.

domino harvey wrote:The Aviator

This is the correct answer.

I must confess confusion over people's insistence that people be played by people who look exactly like them. You've just got to give it some wiggle room.

The problem is that Howard Hughes wasn't a "movie star" (as specified by "Lost Highway"), although I agree The Aviator is a good one. For me, three rock performers have received superb bio-pics (Ian Curtis with Control, Brian Wilson with Love & Mercy, and Bob Dylan with I'm Not There); the films succeed by either choosing a short period of time to cover (the former two) or by breaking the model completely by having multiple actors play the "idea" of the artist (the latter).

As to "movie star" bio-pics, I like the HBO film The Life and Death of Peter Sellers because of its surrealistic touches, but am coming up short with any others I thought were decent. Frances, maybe? I like Lenny as well even though Bruce was not a movie star.

Frances has a great performance, but the film itself isn't that hot

Yup, The Aviator isn’t about a movie star and personally I’m not a fan even if Cate Blanchett is pretty great as Hepburn. Frances is pure mythology and conforms to all the biopic cliches of making its subject into a martyr. The Frances Farmer episode of You Must Remember This did a great job of setting the story straight.

NABOB OF NOWHERE wrote: Wed Mar 21, 2018 4:19 pm Shocked that Rufus Wainwright wasn't approached

LOL
Brilliant! \:D/

Rufus is very underrated. That Rufus does Judy album is a gem. He's so much fun when he's inspired.

I know Rufus would probably sing better than Renee at least.

New trailer, now with talking and plot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ4mU3oQW3g

Oh dear. Who knew Judy Garland was so squinty?

That's actually helpful advice for watching the trailer

We'll see, of course, it's only a trailer and all. But is this really going to tell me anything that isn't common knowledge or obtainable on a wikipedia page? I don't know, there's just no reason for me, at least, to see this. Mileage will vary, and all. It just looks like a particularly desperate Oscar bid for RZ.

Oh my, another biopic produced by Wikipedia. These biopics get green lighted faster than a one Mississippi. Thank god for dead celebrities, with a few living exceptions, otherwise hollywood would be barren for ideas.

Zellweger’s comeback!?Nomination!? Sigh