Cinematical

I couldn't have been the only one that thought something was a little weird, when I heard that Ray Winstone was complaining about not being able to shoot the Sweeney Todd movie in London. Okay, well, let's step back a sec: actor Ray Winstone (you should know him from Sexy Beast) threw a bit of a fit at a press conference this week, in regards to the 2004 closing of a tax loophole that's had "a disasterous effect" on the British film industry. "It seems that when a man who wants to make lots of money finds a tax loophole to make films, the government doesn't like that," Winstone said. "[But] each time a film doesn't get made, 400-500 people are out of work - people who pay their taxes." He's primarily upset because his most recent film, Sweeney Todd, had to shoot in Romania instead of London. "It's about London and I want to make it here, but it would cost two or three times more to make it here. The money comes out of the country and goes somewhere else."

Okay, so, those are valid points about the inherent problems of government regulation on the film industry. But because I'm something of a nerd about musicals, as soon as I saw that the transplanted film was Sweeney Todd, I did a bit of a double-take.

 
Various versions of Stephen Sondheim's musical, which was itself based in part on a 1936 film, have been bouncing around Hollywood for ages. Most recently, Sam Mendes announced that he planned to direct a version, from a screenplay by John The Aviator Logan, and Broadway people have been gossipping that Russell Crowe might star. So is the Winstone project the same film? Or are there all of a sudden two seperate, competing Sweeney Todd movies?

From what I can tell, the answer to both questions is "no" - judging from various fragments, it looks like Winstone has shot a non-musical version of Sweeney and, at least according to the future-tense verbs in this piece, Mendes' version hasn't yet gone into production. But if I'm wrong, I'm sure there's a Broadway baby out there who will let me know ...

P.S.: This a great article about Sondheim, and his cinematic potential, by film critic Scott Foundas.