Yahoo just posted the movie poster for This is It, which says it all. Soon after Michael’s passing we were told that an enormous amount of footage had been filmed of Michael Jackson rehearsing for his comeback tour.
Sadly those concerts cannot happen now, but director Kenny Ortega (High School Musical, II and III) has taken the rehearsal material and edited the work into a theatrical presentation that’ll hit screens near the end of October.
Please note that Screenhead is sponsoring a Michael Jackson DVD giveaway here. It’s a tribute to Michael Jackson.
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Kenny Ortega, who made his fame directing each High School Musical for Disney, has reached an agreement with Chace Crawford of “Gossip Girl” to star in his Paramount Pictures’ remake of Footloose.
With Crawford on board to sing and dance, Kenny Ortega is set to direct the more mature and edgy version of the original 1980’s Footloose.
Variety reported that the project was put on hold when Zac Efron, who originally was to star in the remake, bowed out from making another musical so soon after High School Musical 3. Efron decided to instead sign on and star in The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud.
Crawford is a handsome young man, whom I am sure is musically talented as well. He definitely has that sparkle similar to Efron. Another interesting point in casting Crawford is that “Gossip Girl” draws a more mature audience, which will benefit the remake of Footloose.
Filming is schedule to begin in March, not all too soon.
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High School Musical 3 delivered a $42 million opening weekend and Paramount Pictures decided to fasttrack Footloose, as a Zack Efron and Kenny Ortega production next spring. Efron is set to star while Orteg
a directs and possibly choreography.
According to the Variety article, the studio has brought on Peter Sollect the director of Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist to rewrite the Jon Hartmere script.
Once Efron makes this deal he will be paid a mid-seven-figure salary and give him script approval. He is moving up in the business folks!
Ortega has been working on the development of Footloose for two years. It looks like his hard work is coming to fruition with the fasttrack of new songs that will complement some of the memorable original tunes of the Herb Ross-directed film.
The original Footloose wasn’t a musical. It’s screenwriter Dean Pitchford wrote lyrics for songs that included the Kenny Loggins title song as well as “Let’s Hear It for the Boy,” “Almost Paradise” and “Holding Out for a Hero.”
Variety reports that at least some of those tunes are expected to be in the new movie.
Footloose created one of the biggest-selling soundtracks of its time and made a star of Kevin Bacon.
With Efron already a star, the movie could set the stage for even more musicals on the big screen.
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