Dead Presidents

Very successful purchase day at Best Buy. I took pics (because I am a proud papa), but it was with my cell and the ceiling light had to be on. Apologies in advance for out-of-focus shots and glares.



The box, pre-opening. So happy am I to have this at last.




Annnnnd that's what it looks like when you open it.




Two DVD's, a book, an envelope, and a folder. Sweet.




Two-disc JFK, starring Kevin Costner, Kevin Bacon, and Tommy Lee Jones in his Oscar-nominated role as Clay Shaw.




The Kennedys: America's Emerald Kings. Noice.




JFK book, featuring behind-the-scenes photos from the production.




Example: Gary Oldman as Lee Harvey Oswald.




Sweet pics that came in an envelope. Clockwise from Top Left: Kevin Costner as Jim Garrison, Gary Oldman as Lee Harvey Oswald, Donald Sutherland as X, Tommy Lee Jones as Clay Bertram, Walter Matthau, the chick who plays Oswald's wife.




The reverse of each pic: photo of actual people that inspires their respective characters, plus bios. Which is, you know, great.




Folder with presidential seal.




In the folder: pics on the left, documents on the right.




Seven photos that came in the folder. There's at least twenty of these. It's awesome.




Also in folder: correspondence to and from Kennedy himself.




Also, two-disc Nixon. I feel so accomplished.

Have You Never Been Impeached?

My life is full of planned projects that may or may not yield results. I suppose most everyone's is, but let's take some time to focus on me, shall we? Besides the film school stuff (two docs, an F2, an F3, thesis), besides the new drafts I should write (two), besides the screenplays I have in mind (three right now, and one beginning to work its way into an idea), there's one project in particular that I'm gravitating towards.

Hint: It's nothing to do with movies.

Hint 2: Okay, it does, but only insofar as adapting one goes.

Hint 3: Song and dance.

YesyesYES!

Yes, it is my dream to jump on the bandwagon and write a musical based upon a film. Now, friends and I have discussed this before. Will the success of the new Priscilla, Queen of the Desert musical inspire me to begin To Wong Foo: The Musical? Is it time to transfer Bullets Over Broadway to the stage? Should Ben and I finally get to work on Henry Fielding's Tom Jones, featuring songs made popular by Tom Jones? Eh, maybe.

But the one that really intrigues me. The one that gets my brain a-going. The one that makes me go, "YES! It is time!"

Oh, hell yes. So far, we have stage adaptations of cult classics, Razzie winners, and The Wedding Singer, but why oh why has no one written a musical based on a biopic yet? It just means combining two amazing things. Look, Broadway loves musical bios (The Sound of Music) as much as it loves a good movie musical (not the MGM kind). Hell, they love Nixon.

Tony AND Oscar noms? Frost/Nixon, you slut!

So all three elements are in place. They are tried and true formulas. This is just the next logical step. And you know who would agree? Richard Nixon. Don't believe me? See for yourself:

Aw yeah.

What is Nixon if not a theatre piece filmed for the cinemas? The acting, the music, the set design, the lighting, all of it screams "STAGE ME!" Even Oliver Stone decided to approach it as a Shakespearean melodrama. The beats are there; all one needs is to set the sequences to music, throw in a dance number...

Wait, it's already there? Now that's just eerie...

The only question is this: shall it be a musical or an opera? Because as a musical, it could be quite a diversion, even a treat. But as an opera with music by Philip Glass? Whew. The mind reels.

Although I did once have the idea of just basing some songs after ones that have already met with public approval:

"A place where nobody dared to go
The scandal we came to know
They call it Watergate..."

Too much?

What about you? Sound like a plan? What biopic would you like to see done as a musical, and how?