NEWS: Will Smith Brings Back the Sun!

According to BBC News, a new remake of ANNIE will start filming in NYC in Spring, 2013. 

Will Smith is producing the film & his daughter Willow Smith is playing the title role. 

Jay-Z is altering the original musical score & Emma Thompson is adapting the screenplay.  

I like ANNIE. I’m usually not a fan of kiddie-musicals (or kids in musicals), but ANNIE holds a stronger, stranger appeal than the traditional token kiddie-show. It has quality music that requires strong singers who can incorporate equally strong acting abilities, unique but eternally interpretable characters, genuinely funny moments that appeal to any age group (with the occasional veiled joke that only rings right-on with adults), the incorporation of historical content as opposed to the setting only serving as a backdrop, & the powerful appeal of nostalgia. Speaking of nostalgia, ANNIE has served as a gateway show for several of our current cinematic starlets (Sarah Jessica Parker, Alyssa Milano, Cynthia Nixon, Andrea McArdle, & Molly Ringwald). Also, I’m a sucker for the artistic styling that ANNIE demands: the ragtag tenement style costumes contrasted against newly-blossoming technology in a nation struggling against the world & themselves. There is a tremendous potential for arts, angles, & architecture in the setting of this musical & I am excited to see how that potential will be explored on the big-screen in this newest adaptation. 

[Hopefully, this movie will surpass the sub-par efforts of Rob Marshall's 1999 attempt at a TV remake. Despite the seeming potential of it’s all-star cast (Alan Cumming, Kathy Bates, Kristen Chenoweth, Victor Garber, Audra McDonald, & even a cameo by Broadway's original Annie Andrea McArdle), this movie was a hands-down flop. It would have been bad enough if it had been an original film, but it seemed even worse considering it was inevitably compared to the beloved classic from which it was inspired. This adaptation needs to learn from it's predecessors' mistakes: no one is interested in a cheesy movie from childhood being translated into a cheesy, contemporary movie.] 

Will Smith has proven himself as a smart producer in the film arena (having produced over 20 films), but he has recently applied his eye for production to musical theatre. Will & Jada Smith (along with Jay-Z) were also co-producers of FELA!, which I saw in the spring at Chicago’s Oriental Theatre & loved it. It was fresh, energetic, informative, & entirely different than any musical I‘d ever seen…overall, a great musical & a smart investment. (Plus, he produced a remake of The Karate Kid for his son Jaden, so it’s only fair that Willow gets her own title role in a remake). Not that I think this is a bad casting choice. She’s grown up in the limelight, so she will be a confident/capable as an iconic central character. More importantly, the girl can sing. She’s released a few videos & has something of a successful singing career; her music is nothing exceptional, but the raw vocal talent is there & I’m predicting an awesome rendition of TOMORROW. 

I’ve long loved Emma Thompson’s presence in female-friendly period pieces, both as an actress in films like Much Ado About Nothing & the screenwriter for Sense & Sensibility [side-note: her upcoming movie EFFIE looks GREAT]; she has also recently conquered the quirky-kiddie genre with the Nanny McPhee movies. She is insightful, quippy, clever, and I have never been disappointed with any art she’s brought to the table. She recently said, “I have been writing the script for nearly three years; it’s exciting. In the autumn, we get to go to L.A. to work with Willow and work on more of the script…Jay-Z has already started working on the music.” Her excitement regarding this project & her teammates only reiterates the faith I have in her screenplay. Jay-Z clearly has a Midas-like touch when it comes to choosing projects & executing innovative ideas. He’s already reworked “It’s the Hard Knock Life” into the song “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)” & I loved his reimagining of such a familiar number. Hopefully, this video is a preview of what’s in store for us: