RENT Movie, set in 1985?- Page 2
RENT Movie, set in 1985?
#25re: RENT Movie, set in 1985?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 6:35pm
The funny thing is that in the context of that September draft, it ultimately wouldn't matter whether same-sex marriage existed or not because the characters never go through with it. 
Denmark legalized same-sex partnerships (which in that country, are virtually the same as marriage except in name, or so I hear) in 1989. AZT, life support and cell phones are probably a little more anachronistic.
BroadwayGirl107
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/26/03
#26re: RENT Movie, set in 1985?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 6:40pmWhat I don't get is why Cloumbus even put the gay marriage thing in there. He talks as though he's making some big statement for it when he barely even addresses the issue. If anything all it does is make the context for "Take Me or Leave Me" slightly more humorous. Updated On: 12/1/04 at 06:40 PM
#27re: RENT Movie, set in 1985?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 7:32pmThat's true. I don't think that many people would read the Joanne/Maureen subplot as an argument in favor of same-sex marriage, as Columbus seems to think they would. If anything, the subplot's conclusion would just confirm (for people opposed to marriage equality) what they already think: "homosexuals are just playing around; they're not serious about being that way." Of course, you could probably bet that people vehemently opposed to marriage equality would be unlikely to see the film in the first place...
BroadwayGirl107
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/26/03
#28re: RENT Movie, set in 1985?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 7:35pmWell, I doubt that that "subplot" would even bring about that reaction. The Angel-Collins relationship is not like that at all.
#29re: RENT Movie, set in 1985?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 7:35pmHow much you want to bet there will be organizations trying their best to stop people from seeing this movie?
"They're eating her and then they're going to eat me. OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!" -Troll 2
#30re: RENT Movie, set in 1985?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 7:51pm
LOL, well if the early buzz is bad, their protests will be for naught because only the most devoted fans will bother to see it. It's sort of like all the hoopla over Alexander. How funny was it to see all of the summer posts on IMDB about eunuchs and homosexuality, and now most people are just talking about what a disaster the film is?
"Well, I doubt that that "subplot" would even bring about that reaction. The Angel-Collins relationship is not like that at all."
People will find whatever messages in a film they want. God help us.
RyanDavis
Stand-by Joined: 8/2/04
#31re: RENT Movie, set in 1985?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 9:37pm
Yeah, AZT, Life Support, and Cell phone don't work with Christopher's date change...(wrote about extensively at www.stagespace.com)
Also, Joanne makes a reference to getting married in Hawaii, that wouldn't become an issue there until 1993....
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0875328.html
Ryan
grownupgroupie
Broadway Star Joined: 10/15/04
#32re: RENT Movie, set in 1985?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 9:42pm
This is ri-doculous.
"livin' in America...at the, um, close to the end but not really, of the millenium??"
No. In 1985, the only person anyone knew of with AIDS was Rock Hudson, it was very much ONLY a gay disease in the public perception. To say nothing of so many other pop culture references. I don't buy this--typo, preliminary script dicking around, whatever...there is NO WAY. Rent is inherently a work from the mid '90s. In the 80s noone even muttered the word millenium, AZT didn't exist, and...um, hello, CYBER? Virtual Reality? ATM Code? No one even called them ATMs in 1985 for heaven's sake, this is so not even happening, I don't buy it for a second. Whether it's in the script or not. The story would have to be FUNDAMENTALLY ALTERED.
BEKA531
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/4/04
#33re: RENT Movie, set in 1985?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 9:49pmgay marriage simply shouldn't be in the movie for one reason -- it's not what larson wanted. i know i never met him and i can't exactly speak for the dead, but larson spoke to us in his script - and gay marriage WASN'T in it. so why put it in the movie now? just because columbus wants it to be more modern? rent SHOULDN'T be modern! it should take place in the early 90's like it originally did.
BEKA531
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/4/04
iluvtheatertrash
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/9/04
#35re: RENT Movie, set in 1985?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 11:17pmAnyone know where I can read this script?
"I know now that theatre saved my life." - Susan Stroman
#36re: RENT Movie, set in 1985?
Posted: 12/1/04 at 11:21pmThis may seem random but someone earlier talked about who we'd like to see direct the film - my vote goes to Sam Mendes. BRILLIANT!
"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy."
-Charlie Manson
shaun3000
Swing Joined: 11/10/04
#37re: RENT Movie, set in 1985?
Posted: 12/2/04 at 3:12pm
spiderdj82 said, " How much you want to bet there will be organizations trying their best to stop people from seeing this movie?"
I bet there will be. When I saw it in NYC with my girlfriend, last year, the couple next to us were from Ohio. They said they wanted to see a show but had no idea what to see so someone recommended Rent to them. They had no idea what it was about. They didn't come back after intermission.
FabalaCohen
Broadway Star Joined: 10/30/04
#38re: RENT Movie, set in 1985?
Posted: 12/2/04 at 3:15pm
Yeah, I wrote a letter to the Arts editor in my local paper about some guy who did the same thing (he actually referred to the show as being on par with -I kid you not- "a junior high school production").
I say they're going to use Maureen and Joanne as their examples.
"During this performance, please feel free to let your cell phones and pagers ring willy-nilly. However, do remember that there are heavily-armed knights on stage and you might well be dragged up and impaled."
(Pre-curtain announcement at the new Broadway musical Monty Python's Spamalot)
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#39re: RENT Movie, set in 1985?
Posted: 12/2/04 at 4:39pmI don't know whether the director is trying to make it more time specific or not, but Larsen did take some liberties with the time period in Rent. Alphabet City was already on it's way toward gentrification. Wealthy people who had no creativity were moving there so that they could pretend to be bohemian. By the '90's there really weren't any starving artists living in abandoned buildings. There were no winoes peeing on people's stoops because Guiliani would have had them arrested. And the Life Cafe had already started its journey toward being yuppie-fied.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
grownupgroupie
Broadway Star Joined: 10/15/04
#40re: RENT Movie, set in 1985?
Posted: 12/2/04 at 4:41pmWell I still see winoes peeing on stoops. In 2004. Some things are a constant.
BroadwayGirl107
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/26/03
#42re: RENT Movie, set in 1985?
Posted: 12/2/04 at 4:43pmI think it's absurd that any changes would be made to the broadway production...well there have to be some...but changing the timeframe. I won't support the film if it doesn't reflect the composers vision.
"What the hell happened to you? You look like a Make-A-Wish Kid. You know, I just knew you were gonna bring shame on this new family of ours, and it just figures you had to go make yourself over into some heroin-shootin skate board chic on the only day E! could interview you!" - Cherry Cherry, on her daughter Mary Cherry
Type_A_Tiff
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/25/04
#43re: RENT Movie, set in 1985?
Posted: 12/2/04 at 4:48pm
I don't know if it's going to be Joanne and Maureen. It could also be Collins and Angel, since they're consistently committed to each other throughout and Angel needs medical help, etc. Joanne and Maureen's drama centres more around Maureen being a flirt than their inability to get spousal benefits.
"It's not always about you!!!" (But if you think I'm referring to you anyway, then I probably am.)
"Good luck returning my ass!" - Wilhemina Slater
"This is my breakfast, lunch and f***ing dinner right here. I'm not even f***in' joking." - Colin Farrell
"Good luck returning my ass!" - Wilhemina Slater
"This is my breakfast, lunch and f***ing dinner right here. I'm not even f***in' joking." - Colin Farrell
grownupgroupie
Broadway Star Joined: 10/15/04
#44re: RENT Movie, set in 1985?
Posted: 12/2/04 at 4:53pm
I think it could work for Collins and Angel if it had to work at all.
I can understand Larson taking some artistic license with time in terms of the world of that neighborhood being combined with the technological/health/state of the world of the mid-90s to create the "milieu" of RENT.
HOWEVER--I have a real problem with a film adaptation scrapping the clearly-defined world of the play. For the reasons I mentioned before--AIDS, the Internet, et al, the story is fundamentally altered and CAN NOT work at any point before when Larsen actually wrote/workshopped it. Until the early 90s, it was still called "the vax" and words like cyber and virtual-reality simply didn't exist in the common vernacular. And, as I mentioned, in 1985 AIDS was a TOTALLY different beast. These are elements which simply don't work in a mid-80s RENT. Period.
Otherwise, it becomes another adaptation of La Boeheme, and not of RENT.
Updated On: 12/2/04 at 04:53 PM
Type_A_Tiff
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/25/04
#45re: RENT Movie, set in 1985?
Posted: 12/2/04 at 4:57pmI agree, groupie.
"It's not always about you!!!" (But if you think I'm referring to you anyway, then I probably am.)
"Good luck returning my ass!" - Wilhemina Slater
"This is my breakfast, lunch and f***ing dinner right here. I'm not even f***in' joking." - Colin Farrell
"Good luck returning my ass!" - Wilhemina Slater
"This is my breakfast, lunch and f***ing dinner right here. I'm not even f***in' joking." - Colin Farrell
grownupgroupie
Broadway Star Joined: 10/15/04
#46re: RENT Movie, set in 1985?
Posted: 12/2/04 at 5:01pm
Thanks Tiff, word up, yo
Hope you've recovered from the worst date in the history of the western world!!
#47re: RENT Movie, set in 1985?
Posted: 12/2/04 at 5:48pmcan anyone send me the link to the script thru a PM or anything please?
"It is a curious thought, but it's only when you see people looking ridiculous that you realize just how much you love them."
#48re: RENT Movie, set in 1985?
Posted: 12/2/04 at 6:49pm
"And the Life Cafe had already started its journey toward being yuppie-fied."
That's an interesting point. Is this the restaurant that the screenplay called "upscale"? And if so, does that indicate that Columbus thinking of the Life Cafe as it was more recently?
Marquise
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/1/04
#49re: RENT Movie, set in 1985?
Posted: 12/2/04 at 7:08pm
Gothampc wrote:
"I don't know whether the director is trying to make it more time specific or not, but Larsen did take some liberties with the time period in Rent. Alphabet City was already on it's way toward gentrification. Wealthy people who had no creativity were moving there so that they could pretend to be bohemian. By the '90's there really weren't any starving artists living in abandoned buildings. There were no winoes peeing on people's stoops because Guiliani would have had them arrested. And the Life Cafe had already started its journey toward being yuppie-fied."
You make some very good points there Gotham. I always thought that RENT took place more closer to the late 1980s - early 1990s when that whole "street theatre" scene was it's peak. In the mid 1990s that whole scene was a dying breed and it would seem out of place for Maureen's character to be even doing it at that point in time.
Is the original broadway script ("book") time specific? Or was Larson just going for an amalgam of the bohemian East Village scene regardless of time period. Because I do remember at that point in time (1996) that the East Village scene was changing. The same thing was happening in Chelsea and Hell's Kitchen.
Updated On: 12/2/04 at 07:08 PM
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