Movie Studio Draft-The Properties-Round 4

[Proyas]

Round 4

12:00 Countess Anna loves Aussie Dracula--
12:30 Rath/Brendan--
1:00 agent buckwald--
1:30 Sacrilicious Supersucker--
2:00 L7 Productions--
2:30 Anderson--
3:00 Proyas--
3:30 Ratty--

[S Nabors]

Miskatonic Films adds actor Colin Ferrell and Directors Terry Zwigoff and Tony Scott to it's roster.

[Anderson]

Fourth Wall Productions is proud to announce the signing of actress Ming Na-Wen, actress Angela Lansbury and composer John Williams.

[Jason P. Thompson]

L7 Productions announces that they have secured the rights to Kirosawa's Sanjuro.

[Proyas]

'Knowledge' Studios signs Tracey Walter, Alan Cumming and Thora Birch

[Ratty]

Detekka-Tive Bozo Pictures picks up the rights to Hanna-Barbara's cartoon, Hong Kong Phooey. You know . . . for kids!

[Countess Anna loves Aussie Dracula]

Five Youmas takes a bite into the musical "Dance of the Vampires", based on Roman Polanski's "Fearless Vampire Killers".

(Yes, that was obvious.)

[Rath/Brendan]

Anna, you do know that "Dance of the Vampires" sucks, right? I mean, like, really, really bad. Not even Big Jimmy Steinman could save that sucker.

Anyway, moving on...

Talesin Productions options THE WORD AND THE VOID TRILOGY (Running With the Demon, A Knight of the Word, and Angel Fire East) by author TERRY BROOKS.

[Countess Anna loves Aussie Dracula]

Well, millions of Germans and Austrians can't be wrong....

And I'm still blaming Michael Crawford for it's short-lived run. In fact, I'm not alone. Belle Pullman, a British girl, has shed some light on this on her site-
Tanz der Vampire is one of the most popular german musicals of recent times. The musical is based on a Roman Polanski film, "The Fearless Vampire Killers", which was titled in the german dubbing "Tanz der Vampire" - "Dance of the Vampires". The musical premiered in Vienna in 1997 (of which there is a near-complete double CD available, Steve Barton as the lead role Graf Von Krolock. It is to DIE for!) and has since played in various locations in germany, including Stuttgart and Hamburg.

In April 2004, I went on a family holiday to Germany, and we saw Tanz in Hamburg. It was AMAZING. I so want this show to come to london, the music is fantastic- I've not mentioned it yet, but the music is all by Jim Steinman, and includes a few already famous songs and melodies, notable "Total Eclipse of the Heart", which was originally written for a musical about Vampires that got shelved and the song recycled into the big hit everyone knows it as. But in the musical it is in its original setting, more or less.

"Dance of the Vampires" opened on Broadway late 2002, with Michael Crawford in the lead role. Originally Steve Barton was to have played Von Krolock in the english language cversion, and there are some demos around of him singing the english translations, but following his illness and tragic death, Steve Barton was replaced by Michael Crawford. Crawford initially seemed like very good casting- the role of Von Krolock is similar in many respects to the Phantom of the Opera, the role Crawford originated in 1986. However, after contracts were signed, Crawford insisted he was not going to play another character like the Phantom, as he didn't wish to be a caricature of himself. That's fair enough, but rather than take the obvious route and find a more appropriate actor, the producers allowed Crawford to completely re-write his part to suit himself! The Broadway show was completely unlike the german production. Jim Steinman himself left the project, and has been quoted as saying that his musical is running in germany, he did not recognise the broadway production as his show.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you see it, the broadway production died quickly- it was a flop of epic proportions. However, this does mean the chances of us seeing the full production staged in london are minimal. It's such a shame, as Tanz der Vampire is a wonderful show, it has drama, comedy, romance, great music, costumes, sets, plot. It has everything a great musical needs to be a success, as it has proved in germany. WHY can't we have it in london???
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Amen to that, girl. Thus, mine is how it SHOULD have been in the US.

[agent_buckwald]

Something Else Productions picks American Gods by Neil Gaiman