Printer Friendly - New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by jacobsnchz14 2013-02-18 13:35:29
Do you have any idea what youll be writing or directing next?
LaGRAVENESE: No. I have a little indie film that Im trying to put together, which is a musical. Its all sung, so its already written. Its called The Last Five Years, which was an off-Broadway musical a few years ago, and its actually going to be off-Broadway again in April. Its just with two characters and its all sung, about a young man and young woman in their 20?s who meet, fall in love, get married and break up, all in the span of five years. All of her songs start at the end of their relationship and go to the beginning, and all of his songs start at the beginning and go to the end. So, in the end when shes saying goodbye to their first date, hes saying goodbye to their marriage. And in the beginning, shes getting the letter saying theyve broken up, and then the next song is five years earlier and hes just made love to her and hes never loved anybody more. It goes back and forth like that. Its not sung dialogue. Theyre songs, and each one has a monologue that tells the story. Its a great little piece . I dont know if its going to work, but its something I want to try. Anna Kendrick is attached to play the girl, and Im looking for the guy now. Its like a $2 million budget. Its really tiny and small. It will be shot on digital with a 22-day schedule. Its a really small thing. So, well see.
http://collider.com/richard-la-gravenese-beautiful-creatures-interview/
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by Jordan Catalano 2013-02-18 13:37:54
Exciting!
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by Wynbish 2013-02-18 14:04:48
Love this show
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by tazber 2013-02-18 14:09:59
Me too!
I think it could be a wonderful film if handled well.
JRB may be a jerk but I do love his work.
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by Wynbish 2013-02-18 14:13:13
Joseph Gordon-Levitt would be great with Anna (as they were in 50/50)
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by thespian geek 2013-02-18 14:20:13
Honestly, I thought she and Skylar Astin had fantastic chemistry together in Pitch Perfect and I think he'd be a GREAT Jamie.
Jeremy Jordan would be a pretty solid choice (in my opinion) as well.
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by Jordan Catalano 2013-02-18 14:33:44
I think Skylar comes off a little too young for Jamie. I love him, though!
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by darquegk 2013-02-18 14:37:52
Interesting that he describes keeping the monologues as part of the structure, as opposed to dialogue. I would assume it would be songs and scenes in nonlinear time, but he seems to want this to be a rather faithful translation.
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by Owen22 2013-02-18 14:38:12
This would be great if there was ONE song in the entire score that I actually liked. And I loved the original cast but have listened to that recording ONCE. Such drivel.
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by Jordan Catalano 2013-02-18 14:42:43
Thanks for sharing!
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by Wynbish 2013-02-18 14:47:18
For me, there's not one song I do not like. The melody Jamie sings when he sings, "I could never rescue you/All you ever wanted" will give me chills on the thousandth time I listen it.
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by tazber 2013-02-18 14:49:58
I love every note of the score.
Hard to choose a favorite, but "If I Didn't Believe In You" is probably it.
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by thespian geek 2013-02-18 14:51:05
Isn't Jamie supposed to be about 23-28 through the course of the story? I think Skylar reads the appropriate age. Hmm.
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by OperaBwayLover 2013-02-18 14:55:59
This is exciting! I'm not familiar with this musical, but several of my fellow theatre-loving friends have RAVED about the score, so I guess it's no time like the present to give it a listen. 
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by Wynbish 2013-02-18 14:59:43
Spoilerish: Did anyone, the first time they heard/saw it, think that Jamie was the "bad"/"wrong" one in the divorce?
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by Kelly2 2013-02-18 15:02:12
Wynbish, I've always felt more sympathy for Cathy than Jamie and felt he was more in the wrong.
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by Wynbish 2013-02-18 15:03:43
^ That was my feeling leaving the show and finishing the recording, but that feeling did not start, for me, until "If I Didn't Believe in You".
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by Jon 2013-02-18 15:12:37
Jamie is a bit of a douchebag. Jamie IS Jason Robert Brown, so, in fact, JRB wrote a musical saying, "I'm a bit of a douchebag and I admit it!"
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by Jordan Catalano 2013-02-18 15:13:21
To me, this musical is kind of like DOUBT. It depends on who's playing the roles and how they're done that determines who is the "guiltier" one.
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by thespian geek 2013-02-18 15:16:13
Jamie's a bit of a douchebag, but Cathy's also kind of on the selfish, unsupportive side... so it evens out a little to me. I'd love to see a version where I'm torn on who I should feel more sympathetic for (like Jordan said, it definitely comes down to actor portrayal I think).
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by Jordan Catalano 2013-02-18 15:18:15
That said, Kendrick can come across as very "hard" so she'll need to be careful and directed well as to not come off as bitch in this. But I love her and can't wait to see this.
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by LYLS3637 2013-02-18 15:22:10
I had always thought Jamie was the one more "in the wrong"... until I watched the bootleg on youtube and read the full libretto. In some of the bits of dialogue, Cathy's jealousy is on full display. She's completely envious of his success but, instead, masks it in accusations of infidelity. It makes Jamie's line of "Then I keep making conscious, deliberate mistakes" all the more meaningful.
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by Wynbish 2013-02-18 15:25:12
She's completely envious of his success
And he saw that in her. "I will not lose because you can't win"
I think Anna, who can read as "bitchy", and a softer Jamie would be interesting and would bait the audience like I was. And then, the glass shatters. Nobody needs to know, my ass!
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by HenryTDobson 2013-02-18 15:36:28
I agree completely! At first I found Cathy to be whiny and jealous, and Jamie came off as the more likeable character. Then he cheated on her, and my entire perspective changed. It really is a great piece of theater, it'll be interesting to see how it adapts into a movie. It's sortof similar to 500 Days of Summer.
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by SporkGoddess 2013-02-18 15:41:16
Spoilerish: Did anyone, the first time they heard/saw it, think that Jamie was the "bad"/"wrong" one in the divorce?
Jamie's a total asshole and almost entirely in the wrong as far as I'm concerned. If you actually think about where each song fits in a linear sequence, Cathy has every right to be jealous and angry with Jamie when you consider how he's treating her (going to parties where he flirts with other women in front of her, and often ditching her to be at said parties). He even admits that he's tempted right after they get married, when they're both (supposedly) happy.
Not to mention that everything Jamie says is always about himself--about his career, how Cathy is making him feel, what Cathy does for him. Ugh.
Sorry, I really hate Jamie in case you can't tell.
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by Wynbish 2013-02-18 15:44:17
Out of curiosity, did the "Jamie is a douche and asshole and yuck" thought happen before Next Ten Minutes? The show opens with her saying that he left her, but then he is so nice and fun and Schmuel!
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by SporkGoddess 2013-02-18 16:02:08
Well, it wasn't actually something that I realized right away. Like I said, the reversed timelines make it difficult to realize what exactly happened--when Cathy is struggling and complaining and acting like she's jealous, that's when Jamie is starting to get annoyed and philander, which makes sense. But then I realized that Cathy's stuff was at the beginning of the relationship, and Jamie was the one who encouraged her to try acting full-time and he still chose to marry her.
Then, when Cathy starts acting "shrewish" again is when she's responding to how Jamie is treating her--not even staying with her on her birthday so he can go to yet another party where he openly flirts with women in front of her, and where people treat Cathy like she's some sort of accessory of Jamie's (how does it feel to be with such a talented writer?) And you also get some idea that Jamie ignores her a lot when he's writing, which is understandable but would also put a strain on most relationships.
"If I Didn't Believe in You" is a great example of this. Jamie thinks that Cathy doesn't want to go to a party with him because she is resentful and jealous of his success, and feels bad about her lack of success. But we also know from Cathy (and Jamie) what happens at these parties, and it's enough to make most women upset. But instead of acknowledging that, Jamie just goes "Oh, well, I shouldn't have to be unsuccessful just because you are."
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by theatergeek3 2013-02-18 19:27:13
I'm super excited for this movie! I LOVE Anna Kendrick! What about Darren Criss as Jamie? He is AWESOME! :)
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by ClumsyDude15 2013-02-18 20:25:07
Can we not with Darren being in everything? He's great and I'm a fan, but he's not right for every single musical project that comes along. Example - this.
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by SporkGoddess 2013-02-18 20:28:34
Darren Criss is not a good enough singer imo.
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by kieranbec 2013-02-18 20:48:49
Thank you ClumsyDude.
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by Jordan Catalano 2013-02-18 21:10:49
Just to be clear, Matt Morrison is te only person from GLEE who woul even be remotely "age appropriate" for this.
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by ray-andallthatjazz86 2013-02-18 21:15:25
Darren Criss is not a good enough singer imo.
And even worse of an actor, so imagine a movie where he's just doing both at the same time throughout the entire thing! No, thank you.
Gordon-Levitt would be good but pretty expected, IMO. I'd love for them to land a surprising choice, a young Ewan McGregor would have been so good.
I have a love-hate relationship with this show, I find Jamie to be such an insanely unlikable character (I know and cannot stand that type of person in real life) that it almost ruins the entire thing for me, especially because it always comes off as Jason Robert Brown kind of painting himself as an ass-hole but in that way that it seems like he loves it. It's just so pretentious. However, I kind of love the Cathy character (or her songs at least) in spite of how hard Brown tries to make her somewhat dimwitted and pathetic at certain points. Kendrick is exactly the kind of actress who can milk the role, ground it, and still make it funny. I'm very curious about the end result.
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by ClumsyDude15 2013-02-18 21:48:11
Darren has a good voice for what he's good at - his own music, Glee covers, etc. Broadway scores do the boy's voice no favors, and despite his best efforts, he wasn't the best vocally in How to Succeed. I'm a big fan of him, don't get me wrong, but I just don't understand why just because it's a musical and it's current his name is always one of the first to jump out.
Gordon Levitt seems like a good fit, especially if it's meant to have a sort of indie feel to it. I'm not sure if anyone's seen the video of him singing Les Mis back in the day, but Ben Platt has some great pipes on him, and I think he has a decent look for it.
There's a world outside of Darren Criss, tweeners. Shocking, I know.
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by kieranbec 2013-02-18 22:06:44
I know that he's technically too old for the role, (but he can read younger) but this would be an excellent screen debut for Gavin Creel.
New Details for LAST FIVE YEARS Film
Posted by Jon 2013-02-18 22:15:30
In "Moving Too Fast", Jamie sings, "All this and more, before 24..."
He has to look 23 at the start of the story.
