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Posted by Faye Bell on February 23, 2007 at 15:49:39:
Hugh Jackman Eyed for 'Gone With the Wind' Broadway Role
Thursday, February 22, 2007
By Roger Friedman from Fox News
'Gone With the Wind' Remake;'Dreamgirls' Lawsuit Avoided; Pre-Oscar Partying; Hollywood Swinging
'Gone With the Wind' Musical Coming
Get ready: A musical based on Margaret Mitchell’s novel “Gone with the Wind” is being prepared for Broadway.
I’m told that a group of producers have secured the rights from the Mitchell estate and are proceeding toward a 2008 production. The big desired star to play Rhett Butler: Hugh Jackman.
I’m also told that producers are interested in Jill Pace, an American actress who co-starred in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Woman in White,” to play Scarlett O’Hara. Pace, a popular up-and-comer, is said to resemble Vivien Leigh. The show would have its birth in London’s West End.
As it’s planned now, this version of “Gone with the Wind” will adhere to the novel more than the well-known film, still considered the all-time box office champ based on adjusted figures from 1939.
That means that this “GWTW” will be a little darker than remembered, with the story told through the eyes of the slaves at Tara.
“If you remember, Scarlett is really left with the slaves, and they become her family,” a production insider says. “That will be more of the emphasis of the story, with Rhett more of a darker, more complicated character.”
“Gone with the Wind” has somehow avoided being turned into a musical all these many years. There have been parodies — think Carol Burnett — and recently a play about the casting of the movie, but until now the Mitchell estate has never allowed this prized possession to be set to music.