Not So Crazy

If  Hollywood is going to adapt Broadway musicals, they might as well be classic Broadway musicals.  And you can't get much more classic than Guys And Dolls.  So this is interesting news at Deadline Hollywood:

At long last, 20th Century Fox has closed the movie rights to Guys And Dolls, and the studio will soon start the process of developing a remake of the stage and movie classic for what Fox hopes will be a killer pairing of Channing Tatum and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the roles made famous by Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando. There is no writer or director yet, but those guys are interested.

1.  Casting is always the big question.  Do you go with names or Broadway stars who are known quantities when it comes to singing and dancing?  Generally, the answer is names.  Sometimes they can sing and dance, too, though I'm not sure about Tatum and Gordon-Levitt.  Actually, they don't need to be all that great if they can handle the acting (another open question), since the part of Nathan Detroit was created for Sam Levene, who couldn't dance and sang even worse (so they gave his numbers to his henchmen), while Sky Masterson has to sing but not really dance, suiting original lead Robert Alda.

2.  The headline and first paragraph seem to imply Tatum is up for Sinatra's role of Nathan Detroit and Gordon-Levitt is up for Brando's role of Sky Masterson, but that can't be right.  Masterson is the hunky romantic lead, Detroit is the jittery comic lead.  (Guys And Dolls is a rare show where two main couples share equally in the spotlight.) Certainly Tatum will play Masterson if he plays anything.

3.  "Roles made famous by Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando"? More accurate would be "roles made famous by a huge Broadway hit and almost destroyed in a so-so movie by Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando, especially Frank Sinatra."

4. Okay, so we got the guys.  Now let's get some dolls who can really sing--there are already names like Anne Hathaway or Anna Kendrick who have proved themselves.