Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland

[xxhplinkxx]

Guess Who's Playing Judy Garland? You Get One Guess.

Before you start pulling your hair and ranting at the wind, let’s do this. Let’s just concede that a Judy Garland biopic was inevitable. Every great screen legend with an interesting backstory will inevitably get a movie made about him or her. For instance, there are two being made about Steve McQueen right now. Hollywood is running out of movies to remake, so they’re forced to start mining the lives of screen legends. Don’t worry: In 20 years, they’ll be making biopics of Robert Downey, Jr. and Heath Ledger, too. Probably Lindsay Lohan, as well.

So, with that out of the way, if you had to pick an actress in her 20s (who can also play her 30s and 40s) to play Judy Garland, who would you pick? You need a decent actress, somebody that can look the part, and who can sing (the biopic will be a musical). There really aren’t a lot of choices, are there? Blake Lively? Megan Fox? Amy Adams? No. No. No.

Anne Hathaway was really the only logical choice. And that’s who the Weinsteins cast to play Garland in an adaptation of Gerald Clarke’s Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland, which will be made into both a movie and a stage production, both starring Hathaway. Like the book, the productions will track Garland’s personal and professional life, from her days as a child star, through her turmoil with alcohol and drugs, up until the last days of her life.

[slave2moonlight]

Wasn't there one made for TV once? I don't recall who played her.

Well, the thought of Anne playing teen Judy is ridiculous to me. Anne is too scrawny and she really doesn't look like her to me.

I know they couldn't play her in her older years, but I would like to have seen one of the Panabaker sisters play young Judy, as I think they both look a little bit like her in her beautiful teen years (even if they're skinny too, they're not Hathaway skinny). I've always had a crush on teen Judy, since I was very little (Judy as Dorothy is the earliest live-action crush I can remember having, and the Panabakers are two current crushes of mine, ha). Anyway, don't know if I'll be watching this since everything I've heard about Judy's life makes me very sad.

[PeterPanfan]

Anne is a fantastic choice, and I'll most likely end up seeing both of these!

[Jack Skellington]

I like Anne, but I think Drew Barrymore is Judy Garland reincarnated.
But I guess Anne can act better.

[my chicken is infected]

Hathaway's a good actress, but in my mind, no one will ever replace Tammy Blanchard and Judy Davis as Judy in the TV miniseries. (Both won well-deserved Emmys for their performance in the miniseries as well.)

[xxhplinkxx]

Well, the thought of Anne playing teen Judy is ridiculous to me. Anne is too scrawny and she really doesn't look like her to me.

Anne has the acting chops, though.

And don't underestimate the power of movie make-up.


If this film is done right, it sounds like Anne might get another Oscar nod for this!

[Disney Duster]

Anne can gain weight, you know, as many actresses do for roles. Or a body suit. Or CGI, or other incredible Holywood tricks.

[Escapay]

Hathaway's a good actress, but in my mind, no one will ever replace Tammy Blanchard and Judy Davis as Judy in the TV miniseries. (Both won well-deserved Emmys for their performance in the miniseries as well.)

I remember that miniseries (Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows). I watched the first part for Tammy Blanchard (she used to play Drew Jacobs on "Guiding Light", and I often will check out a former soap actor in a new role) but it was so good I figured I might as well watch the second part. Judy Davis was amazing in the role. If only they'd put A Little Thing Called Murder on DVD. She portrayed Sante Kimes in a disturbingly likeable way, even if the lady did lots of various...unlikeable things (robbery, arson, slavery, murder, etc.).

I just checked Amazon and apparently the Judy Garland miniseries has been on DVD since 2002. Will probably rent it now just to remember what the whole thing was about.

As for news of Anne Hathaway as Judy Garland, it sounds doable and I can see her handling the role well.

Anyway, I'm also interested in the two biopics mentioned in the article that are being made for Mr. Cool himself, Steve McQueen (Bullitt, The Cincinnati Kid, The Great Escape, "Wanted: Dead or Alive", and I have to give a shout-out to Love With The Proper Stranger, his only film with Natalie Wood). It'd be cool if they got his grandson (Steven R. McQueen) to play a younger version of him in one of the films.

albert:

[slave2moonlight]

Anne can gain weight, you know, as many actresses do for roles. Or a body suit. Or CGI, or other incredible Holywood tricks.

Or they could go with an unknown who fits the part better (and I don't just mean physically). Frankly, there is nothing about Anne that makes me think she should play Judy.

[KubrickFan]

Anne can gain weight, you know, as many actresses do for roles. Or a body suit. Or CGI, or other incredible Holywood tricks.

Or they could go with an unknown who fits the part better (and I don't just mean physically). Frankly, there is nothing about Anne that makes me think she should play Judy.

I think they could better go with an actress who is really good than some unknown girl who might resemble her more.

[my chicken is infected]

Warning - the DVD of the miniseries is missing about 30 minutes of the film, or so I hear. I really don't understand why, but yeah. I need to find my videotape of the original ABC broadcast and get it recorded onto a DVD.

[Escapay]

Warning - the DVD of the miniseries is missing about 30 minutes of the film, or so I hear. I really don't understand why, but yeah. I need to find my videotape of the original ABC broadcast and get it recorded onto a DVD.

Is it really?

The running time on Amazon and a few other places says 170 minutes, which makes sense for a two-part miniseries. Nowadays miniseries parts usually only run 80-85 minutes in a two-hour timeslot, so it'd make sense for 170 minutes to be the running time.

Unless for some reason the timeslot was 2.5 hours or 3 hours for both parts, then 170 minutes would be wrong.

albert

[my chicken is infected]

Actually, some of the Amazon reviews are saying it's more like 10 minutes, but still, I'm just going to convert my VHS to DVD anyway. Lemme look it up on IMDB and read the boards.

[my chicken is infected]

Reading up on it on IMDB, the DVD has stuff cut out of it, but I think the Australian DVD is more complete. Also, it's said that a Special Edition 2-VHS set that was available for a limited time after the telecast is complete, and may even have scenes not shown on TV. I'm not totally sure. But I'm just going to do what I said earlier - copy my VHS to DVD.

[Escapay]

Hmm.

I checked Amazon.co.uk for the R2 version, and it says there that it only runs 134 minutes, but a PAL speed-up wouldn't turn 170 into 134, so it likely means stuff was cut out for the R2 version, which might be where some of the imdb complaints come from.

I then checked ezydvd.com.au for the R4 version, and it runs only 164 minutes, which makes more sense with PAL speed-up.

I'm very confused now.

Either way, I haven't seen the miniseries in years, so I likely wouldn't know what was cut, though now I'm rather disappointed if the VHS does contain stuff not on the DVD.

albert

[slave2moonlight]

Or they could go with an unknown who fits the part better (and I don't just mean physically). Frankly, there is nothing about Anne that makes me think she should play Judy.

I think they could better go with an actress who is really good than some unknown girl who might resemble her more.

You're all focusing on my comments about resemblance too much. I do think that is very important in a biopic, but that is not the only reason I don't see her as Judy, and there are a lot of unknown actresses who are very talented and could use a role like this that would also be more appropriate for the role. As usual, they just want to go with a big name.

[Disneykid]

I'm a huge Judy Garland fan and am also a fan of Anne Hathaway. So, needless to say, this casting makes me excited. I do think Anne's a good fit for the role. Are there unknowns who'd fit the bill better? I'm sure there are, but I'm happy with ths choice. In terms of well-known actresses, I can't think of anyone better suited for this role. There are times where I've noticed a bit of Judy in her, especially in Ella Enchanted. Personality-wise she's really more like Lucille Ball, but that's where acting comes in. This part will let her tackle both comedy and drama, a mix she doesn't get that often (she's usually playing either one extreme or the other). I wonder if, for the songs, they'll go the Selena route (dubbing with Judy's actual voice) or the Walk the Line route (letting the Anne sing herself).

Me and My Shadows was a great film, and both Tammy Blanchard and Judy Davis werre superb (even if they introduced Davis way too early in the film). I'm curious to see what sort of perspective the new biopic will have that Me and My Shadows didn't, since I thought the TV movie was pretty thorough. I just hope the feature is lengthy enough to be fulfilling. The worst thing that could happen is that they breeze through her life so quickly that it doesn't feel substantial. It needs to run over two hours for sure.

[PeterPanfan]

I'm willing to bet they'll let Anne sing. She has a fantastic voice that doesn't need to be put to waste. Even if she doesn't sing in the movie, she's definitly be singing in the show.

[SpringHeelJack]

Anne indeed has a wonderful voice, but it's not very Judy Garlandy. I'm a huge fanne (see what I did there?) but I'll be the first to say they have very different voices. Anne is much higher than Judy.

[slave2moonlight]

Anne indeed has a wonderful voice, but it's not very Judy Garlandy. I'm a huge fanne (see what I did there?) but I'll be the first to say they have very different voices. Anne is much higher than Judy.

I haven't heard Anne sing that I can remember, but this was something I was suspecting and I think this is crucial. It's yet another reason this casting does not fit, and it's sad because there ARE actresses out there with that kind of voice that have a lot of trouble getting work in musicals, because right now that "Disney Princess" voice is all the rage and has been for a while (drives my sister nuts, being a very Judy sounding singer, and is one of the reasons she decided to focus on film and starting a band in Austin as opposed to going to Broadway).