"['Damn Yankees' will be] a big, movie-star movie," the Mets fan explained of the flick, remembering a time when he had to sell himself to the producers. "I said, 'Listen, there may be writer/directors out there who know more about musicals ... there may be writer/directors out there who know more about baseball, but I guarantee you, there is no writer/director out there that knows more about musicals and more about baseball and hates the Yankees as much as I do.'"
'"If a character like Joe Hardy — who's the character in 'Damn Yankees' — sprung out of nowhere and was hitting 70 home runs in a season, who would not think immediately 'steroids'?" said writer/director Todd Graff, who has cast Gyllenhaal in the Tab Hunter role of a baseball fan who sells his soul to become the greatest player. "So [steroids] is not even a side character for us; it's our main character. No one is going to think, 'Oh, it's because he made a deal with the devil!' They'd think, 'He's juicing!'"
"The original was about the Washington Senators, who obviously don't exist anymore," Graff said of one major update that will undoubtedly please the fans of a Chicago team that has gone 102 years without a championship. "Now, the most obvious candidate is the Cubs. It is going to be set now, and my whole pitch was that it should feel like 'Jerry McGuire' with songs," Graff explained. "It should really feel like the real world of a major sports franchise and what would happen with this fantastical goofy, funny idea of a baseball fanatic who sold his soul to Jim Carrey as the devil in order to be turned into a 20-year-old Joe Mauer."'
'Graff is planning to hold on to only a handful of the original songs and having new ones composed — including one possibly about, yep, steroids. "There will definitely be about five or six new songs," Graff revealed. "[We'll keep] some of the originals, but we'll jettison some of the originals, and we'll write some more new stuff." For fans of the original, however, don't worry: The sexy, signature tune "Whatever Lola Wants" isn't going anywhere. "It'll be in there," he assured, saying he's currently looking to cast his Lola. One thing that won't be in the new "Damn Yankees," however, is Bob Fosse's famed choreography. "I think it'd be a mistake [to keep that]," Graff said. "They did that in 'Chicago,' so it's been done. His stuff was brilliant, his sensibility was very hard-edged and cynical, and I think what we're going for is more of a muscular, athletic, youthful, sexy movie. We're going to be less brittle, less razzle-dazzly and aim to knock your socks off with the athleticism."'
'Graff is rewriting the script to get it ready for production — and to help get in the right state of mind, he's heading to a spring rite of passage shared by thousands of other die-hard fans. "I'm going to spring training; that will affect the way I write it," he said. "I'm going to Tempe to watch the Cubs spring training, hang out and talk to everybody. I'm going to soak it all up, get all the details right, the behind-the-curtain stuff, which is going to be kind of awesome."' Source.
So, what to say about all of that? It's great news to get an update and it is clearly going to be a big film. I'm also pleased to hear that there will be new songs, as well as old favourites, plus athletic choreography. However, while this is undoubtedly a filmmaker who loves baseball and musicals in equal measure (no doubt a good thing for a musical about baseball), I rather hope that he remembers to make this film appeal to those of us who know as much about baseball as we do about sumo wrestling and thought cubs were something lions had.
I want this film to travel well. I fear that watching Jake Gyllenhaal leap around a baseball stadium while singing a song about steroids might not do it. I'm counting on other dimensions - Lola may provide it. But who to cast? Anne Hathaway has been suggested. Emily Blunt? She's another. How about Rachel McAdams?! Much as I long to hear Jake sing, on reflection, I think the Joe Namath movie may have more to offer. Todd! Prove me wrong!
I am sure that many of you will disagree with me and so I look forward to hearing your views.
Many thanks again to IHJ for these stunners!
