Printer Friendly - Daphne Rubin-Vega - Rent movie

Daphne Rubin-Vega - Rent movie
Posted by ray-andallthatjazz86 2012-12-19 22:23:30

Having the old cast members didn't help at all, but the director's vision was so so so bad that it ultimately didn't matter who was in the cast. Rubin-Vega dodged a bullet with this one.

Daphne Rubin-Vega - Rent movie
Posted by My Oh My 2012-12-19 22:39:06

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I know it's popular to say the original cast members in the film looked like they were just about ready to check into the local retirement home, and I admit to chuckling heartily at such commentary because it's clearly in jest and the wild exaggeration is so ridiculous, it's funny.

But every now and then someone marches into these threads with flat affect and announce, "The OLD cast didn't halp. Nuh, uh. They did not."

And I have to wonder, "Their idea of "old" is seriously looking like you're in your 30s?" "With the exception of Mimi, why do they think those roles are limited to spring chicken?"

"Do they really not get that the film version was an ADAPTATION of the stage musical? And that the actors being in their 30s, while their characters are of an undetermined age, does not make them 'too old' and their casting not somehow 'wrong'?"

"Don't they realize they are merely repeating things perceived to be popular, not offering a shred of support, and not knowing why they even repeated that in the first place?"

Nope. I suspect they don't.

OK, I'm officially nuts. Only you lot can make me begin to talk to myself on an internet message forum. *dies*

Daphne Rubin-Vega - Rent movie
Posted by Gothampc 2012-12-19 22:58:45

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But one of the criticisms of Rent was: "Stop your whining and get a job so that you can pay your rent!". If the characters are in their 20s, the audience can pass it off as youth trying to find their niche in life. If the characters look like they are in their 30s, the audience wonders when they are going to stop dancing on tables and get on with their life.

Daphne Rubin-Vega - Rent movie
Posted by Bettyboy72 2012-12-19 23:05:58

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I think RENT is about youth-young bohemians at a precipice in their life-people in their mid 30s look too old on screen.

Yes, they aren't the cast of Cocoon, however they read way to old to convey that sense of discovery, living versus dying and hope versus despair. The movie screen (and now HD cameras, video, and TVs) are unforgiving.

You need to hire young to get that believability on screen. They would have been better off peppering the cast with a few names (Timberlake, XTina, Britney, Pink, Kelly Clarkson) and some young newcomers to make it look fresh.

It was day old before it was even released. Pascal, who looks so fresh faced and youthful in person looked like he had a facelift in the movie (the long hair aged him) and Rapp looks so tired.

The casting and direction were so bad for such a wonderful musical that got killed as a film.

Daphne Rubin-Vega - Rent movie
Posted by luvtheEmcee 2012-12-19 23:15:38

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What year is it again?

Daphne Rubin-Vega - Rent movie
Posted by ray-andallthatjazz86 2012-12-20 00:22:37

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I should say I mean I old in the context of the show, not old in real life. They were just too old for their roles. The show has a sense of urgency that might appeal to all the ages but is specifically rooted in a 20s sort of mentality, the whole "finding yourself" process and "no day but today" mentality resonates with everyone but it comes from a sensibility that manifests itself very differently when you are older. The cast members from the original cast might have been able to capture that with a better director or if they had been better actors (I don't think Adam Pascal could be a good film actor regardless of the director or age), most of them look like they are at the age where most people are getting married, having kids, etc. I was 20 when that movie came out and I can say for me it never felt like those people were capturing people my age, it felt like older actors trying to capture people my age, much like Corey Monteith in GLEE.

Daphne Rubin-Vega - Rent movie
Posted by Jon 2012-12-20 07:09:20

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Her bio says "pending pregnancy". Does that mean they offered her the role, but she turned them down because she knew she was GOING TO BE pregnant?

Daphne Rubin-Vega - Rent movie
Posted by THDavis 2012-12-20 11:08:43

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This has the potential to sound terrible, but I think the idea of the characters being in their twenties (especially most in their young twenties) brings about a very heartbreaking angle of people very young in life who are dying and losing those very close to them. I'm not trying to say HIV/AIDS isn't heartbreaking at all ages, but I think that playing that angle at a very young age was meant to hit everybody as hard as possible into embracing the "No Day But Today" theme of the show.

Daphne Rubin-Vega - Rent movie
Posted by Gothampc 2012-12-20 12:08:40

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Also, as we grow older our perspective changes. We put more emphasis on having the need to accomplish something and less emphasis on just hanging around.

I remember watching the original Tales of the City when it first came out and thinking the characters were so interesting.

I recently rewatched it and was surprised how much I disliked the characters. Mouse is just hanging around looking for a sugar daddy not really putting any effort into finding a purpose in life. Mona quits a really good job and then wants to sponge off her rich model friend. Brian is educated as a lawyer but has crashed out of that career and just looking for his next lay. Mary Ann is the sensible one who finds a job and volunteers at a suicide hotline but all she gets is mocked as being the "square".

The characters in Tales of the City are much like in Rent where you just want to say "Do something with your life. Make it count!"

Daphne Rubin-Vega - Rent movie
Posted by luvtheEmcee 2012-12-20 13:16:14

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This has the potential to sound terrible, but I think the idea of the characters being in their twenties (especially most in their young twenties) brings about a very heartbreaking angle of people very young in life who are dying and losing those very close to them. I'm not trying to say HIV/AIDS isn't heartbreaking at all ages, but I think that playing that angle at a very young age was meant to hit everybody as hard as possible into embracing the "No Day But Today" theme of the show.

I don't understand how that sounds terrible. That's just the point - characters have always been meant to be young (20s, probably early 20s) and I have always found it that the younger the cast (within reason, I do not ever want to see teenagers doing Rent), the more heartbreaking the experience. Not that death from AIDS at ANY age isn't terrible and heartbreaking, of course, but the stories in Rent on the whole have a certain power to them when the cast is younger that they don't necessarily when they are older -- and I don't think that's JUST about loss and death, either.

That wasn't very articulate. Whatever.

Daphne Rubin-Vega - Rent movie
Posted by Broadwayboy2631 2012-12-20 13:40:52

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She's pretty open about the fact that, while she was sad to miss out, she thinks that she would have been laughable in the Rent movie. I, personally, think that, if she was age appropriate. She probably would have delivered one hell of a Mimi on screen. She's a great film actress, and probably would have benefited from... a little of sound mixing in the recording studio

Daphne Rubin-Vega - Rent movie
Posted by SporkGoddess 2012-12-20 15:54:29

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A lot of movie critics actually mentioned the cast being too old as one of the reasons that they disliked the film. They said that the whole anti-conventional attitude that you see in RENT is something that is expected in younger adults, but in people in their 30s like most of the cast was, it's irritating and you want to say "Just get a job already."

Daphne Rubin-Vega - Rent movie
Posted by darquegk 2012-12-20 16:46:09

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While I don't loathe the film like everyone else, and it was a major part of my high school years, I always see the stage show as about poor, young but promising artists, while the film is somewhat more tragic in its approach to them, playing them very clearly as failures who are NOT going to make anything of themselves. We root for them in the stage version, but in the film, I always saw it (and I saw the film before seeing a Broadway or tour production of RENT) as partially about coming to terms with the fact that they AREN'T special and never will be.

Daphne Rubin-Vega - Rent movie
Posted by g.d.e.l.g.i. 2012-12-20 17:00:44

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Somehow I still have the feeling that no one's going to like a film of Rent no matter who does it or how.

Daphne Rubin-Vega - Rent movie
Posted by ray-andallthatjazz86 2012-12-20 17:13:21

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That's because RENT is not that good of a musical in the first place, but there are ways in which the film could have been at least interesting or fun like the show.
Darquegk, I want to see the movie that you saw, that at least would have been a unique approach to the material, but I don't think Chris Columbus was interested in making this a tragic or complex story.

Daphne Rubin-Vega - Rent movie
Posted by My Oh My 2012-12-20 19:06:02

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Thanks y'all. For allowing yourselves be coaxed into supporting your arguments so that a musical theatre fanatic like yours truly could get more of something he just can't get enough of. =)

I agree. Which is why I also believe the film would have been more effective had it been shot shortly after the show premiered on Broadway with the original cast. This is a case of nuances and their power to make or break a work. Not that the actor's ages broke the film. It works but in a decidedly broken pattern.

The real mistep I feel is that the director, knowing the cast was well into their 30s, felt he should adapt the gritty, unsophisticated way of life depicted in the stage musical and make it more "settled" and sure of itself, like most of us 30-somethings can well relate to.

That was a huge mistep because you've got a bunch of 30-somethings at times behaving like 20-year olds, sometimes behaving like 30 year olds, sometimes demonstrating a maturity typical of their chosen lifestyles and other times feeling they were stuck in the middle of a situation that they were conveniently placed in, just as an excuse to make a movie about some show that opened a decade before.

I was overall satisfied somewhat after I saw it for the first time in the theater. And any major concerns were from my thoughts about the source material, which I had hoped would have been helped, in some way, in the film adaptation.

Daphne Rubin-Vega - Rent movie
Posted by luvtheEmcee 2012-12-20 19:25:02

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Rent obviously impacts people of all ages, but its place in the canon as a cultural phenomenon is highly dependent on its role as something that young people relate to. In a massive, fierce way. If the film deliberately went against that and tried to be more explicitly "for" 30-somethings, that might have been a mistake, too. It would have alienated a huge part its audience. I suppose in an ideal world there could have been a way to balance out the two, but I wonder how it might have achieved what you are suggesting without changing some of the writing.

stuck in the middle of a situation that they were conveniently placed in, just as an excuse to make a movie about some show that opened a decade before.

Sheesh, well, if you thought that was passé, I wonder what you think about Les Mis! Multiple decades! The horror!

Daphne Rubin-Vega - Rent movie
Posted by My Oh My 2012-12-20 20:08:57

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Yeah, but they didn't cast Lupone as Fantine and Ball as Marius in the film. Had they done that, I'd be writing dissertations about how much I love/hate the idea left and right. The love part would be love for the actors, obviously. The hate part, well, is fairly obvious, haha.

Daphne Rubin-Vega - Rent movie
Posted by luvtheEmcee 2012-12-20 20:26:07

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But to be fair, there's a just a little bit difference between 10 years and nearly 30 years.

Daphne Rubin-Vega - Rent movie
Posted by My Oh My 2012-12-20 20:34:19

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Oh! I agree and think those who claim seriously that the cast of Rent looked "old" are a bunch of shallow muthas who need to get their eyes checked, lol. They looked believably to be young still. Not late teens-young or even mid-20s young, but young enough. I agree that Roger's Farrah Fawcett 'do made him appear somewhat older. The incredibly short snippet in the film that has him in his own style at the time of Rent, looks a LOT better!

Daphne Rubin-Vega - Rent movie
Posted by luvtheEmcee 2012-12-20 20:37:38

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Well yeah. Did they look 21? No. But I didn't and I still don't think they looked that old. But frankly I'm sitting here typing this trying to figure out why we are even still HAVING this discussion.

Anyway, my point wasn't about the ages -- it was just that I thought it was odd you were pulling the "some show that debuted 10 years ago" about Rent (like "why bother making it?") when Les Mis is about to come out nearly 30 years after it debuted. Lots of movie musicals take a while to happen. So then to say you don't have the same problem because of the casting was kind of a non sequitur to me.

Daphne Rubin-Vega - Rent movie
Posted by Jordan Catalano 2012-12-20 20:45:22

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Gee Emcee, it seems like only YESTERDAY that it was 8 years ago and you and I were stalking the set having this EXACT same discussion.

Daphne Rubin-Vega - Rent movie
Posted by luvtheEmcee 2012-12-20 20:47:02

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Like I asked in my first post on this thread: what year is it again?

Daphne Rubin-Vega - Rent movie
Posted by My Oh My 2012-12-20 20:47:44

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Not what I meant. Sorry if it came across that way.

I just think it would've fared better had they made the film shortly after opening because then they could have employed the entire original cast at a more appropriate time where they wouldn't require director meddling and ultimately tarnishing what they made work so well on stage at the time.

I guess you could assume that my opinion then is that they shouldn't have bothered making it by the time they did. Just because you could assume that doesn't mean it's what I meant. You should have right out asked me "Are you saying the film shouldn't have been filmed at all, then? Based on their ages?"

To which I would respond, "NO MA'AM."

And save us from this unnecessary exchange. :)

Daphne Rubin-Vega - Rent movie
Posted by luvtheEmcee 2012-12-20 21:00:46

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Look, I loved the movie when I saw it, and I think that I needed to. I spent time on the set (invited; Jordan's joking), it was a really exciting time for me, but in hindsight, ultimately it could have been a lot better than it was.

The thing about what you're saying is that it seems like you think making the film was always contingent upon casting the original actors (or should have been, but if it was, it should have been made sooner). That wasn't the case. There were prior versions of the script and other directors attached and it was absolutely not always the intention to cast those actors. In fact that idea didn't come until relatively late in the game.

And I think the problems with the film as it is would not be fully (or even close to fully) solved by casting younger actors.

And fine, we could get into the argument about not making assumptions, but when you put something out there and you have the chance to edit it and tweak it to say exactly what you want to say, you have to take some responsibility for how it appears. It's a message board -- you're only as good as your words. It's only logical that people are going to "assume" you meant what it perfectly well looks like you meant; please don't blame others for your lack of clarity. That's just silly.

THAT being said, no, I did not think that this "Are you saying the film shouldn't have been filmed at all, then? Based on their ages?" was what you were saying. I thought you were saying the film should not have been made based on how long it had been. (What else is "just as an excuse to make a movie about some show that opened a decade before" supposed to mean?) You are the one who keeps conflating the amount of time with the age issue - not me (but I think now I see why, as I said above). So really, you could have spared me the blame and the mini-lecture on making assumptions.

Lordy!

Daphne Rubin-Vega - Rent movie
Posted by Gothampc 2012-12-20 21:15:28

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"Like I asked in my first post on this thread: what year is it again?"

Are you asking what year does Rent take place? The show never really makes it clear. The Tompkins Square Park riot took place in August 1988.

Daphne Rubin-Vega - Rent movie
Posted by luvtheEmcee 2012-12-20 21:16:50

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No no no no. Nevermind.

Daphne Rubin-Vega - Rent movie
Posted by My Oh My 2012-12-20 21:16:56

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Thanks for your detailed response and for supporting your argument!

Lordy, my posts are long enough. But I will do EVERYTHING in my power, from now on, to make sure I am not misinterpreted in the future.

The bottom line is I was misinterpreted because that isn't what I meant. Don't assume next time and ask. I left it there because I think my role in this is quite clear, but if it'll make you happier, then I will do my part by clarifying what I mean.

There.

On a somewhat related note, as for clarifying what I mean concisely?

Maybe next year.

Daphne Rubin-Vega - Rent movie
Posted by luvtheEmcee 2012-12-20 21:19:00

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Ha, I can challenge almost anyone to a tl;dr contest. And unfortunately I get way too easily sucked into them.

I didn't assume! I just spelled out that what you're accusing me of assuming is not even what I thought. You can scroll up. I'm not going to type it out again. This is totally ridiculous.

Daphne Rubin-Vega - Rent movie
Posted by My Oh My 2012-12-20 21:34:45

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Jesus, Mary, n' Joseph and the Saints! You're a nit-picky mofo! More nit-picky than me!

I love you!!!! XD

OK, OK, you did not assume. You just took what I said and responded to it. I was unaware I wasn't clear and, thus, allowed for the exchange to take place, in which I was confused and assumed I knew what you were talking about.

I coulda, shoulda, woulda stopped my cunfuzzlement, known exactly what you were discussing, and not assumed. Assumption is a crime, I assume, because you're avoiding it...like the plague! XD

We both had an evil hand in this. Me for my assuming I can read between the lines correctly every time, and you for assuming you play no role in this tragedy!! XD

The End.

Daphne Rubin-Vega - Rent movie
Posted by g.d.e.l.g.i. 2012-12-20 22:49:02

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Enrique, we've found you a man at last! xD

I once wrote my own screen edit of Rent, based on a blend of the Spike Lee draft (no, he didn't write it, Stephen Chbosky was still attached at the time, but the draft was written with the intention of Spike Lee directing) and the later Columbus version. I think it would be very interesting for some of the people in this thread to read. I had a younger cast in mind, and I really think if someone with a level head had taken what worked with both versions and put together a movie of that (look at that, I'm not even saying I did a great job; hi Namo :P), it might have been better.

(The password to the link is "rent" without quotes.)

Daphne Rubin-Vega - Rent movie
Posted by orangeskittles 2012-12-21 01:51:44

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^Is that the one with Jonathan Larson hanging out with the Rent characters?

Daphne Rubin-Vega - Rent movie
Posted by JuanValjean72 2012-12-21 08:24:09

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That's exactly what the director wanted. He wanted Justin Timberlake and the late Brittany Murphy but the producers and creative team refused to do that to the film, so they went with people who knew the show, score and characters already.