Here We Go Again, Y'all -- Lenny Kravitz as Hendrix???
Mix
http://www.bravewords.com/news/36104
(QUOTE)
LENNY KRAVITZ In Talks To Play JIMI HENDRIX In Biopic
2005-11-29 09:49:02
FoxNews.com (www.foxnews.com) has issued the following report from Roger
Friedman:
You read it here first: LENNY KRAVITZ is now in talks to play JIMI HENDRIX
in a biopic of the most famous guitarist in rock history.
Sources tell me that Kravitz has secured the dramatic rights to Hendrix's
music through his estate, and that his plan is to make his acting debut with
the independent film.
Lee Daniels, who directed the forthcoming Shadowboxer and produced Monster's
Ball, is said to be the producer/director involved.
Kravitz is a natural to play Hendrix, from his look to his musical ability.
And he may have the acting gene since his mother, the late Roxie Roker, was
a star of The Jeffersons on TV in the 1970s.
One thing the producers might have to do during post-production is eliminate
Lenny's many trademark tattoos. This is a lesson for all you kids out there
getting tats: one day you may not want them. They're not easy to eliminate.
So now we've had biopics of RAY CHARLES and JOHNNY CASH, and this new
Hendrix movie. Plus, of course, TINA TURNER and JERRY LEE LEWIS in recent
years. What's next?
How about JACKIE WILSON, SAM COOKE and MARVIN GAYE? And how about Mary
Wilson's Dreamgirl autobiography about THE SUPREMES? Now, that's a story
people would line up to hear. Instead, they may have to settle for the
musical Dreamgirls being turned into an upcoming film. (UNQUOTE)
*************************************************
I think Lenny's about the sixth or seventh cat "in talks" to portray Hendrix
in a bio-film. The frightening thing to me is that this one seems to have
at least tentative EH approval, and at least music clearance. There's very
little about Kravitz that's Hendrix-like, IMO, other than that he has long
hair at times and mimics his style of dress at times, and plays rock guitar.
...So to speak. Musically, I find him of fleetingly passing interest and I
always bristle when I hear folks say "Y'know, the first time I heard 'Are
You Going My Way', I thought I was listening to a new Hendrix song." Okay,
okay -- I'd have been even more frightened to have that dude from Outkast,
or worse still, L. L. Cool J. portray Hendrix. That would have been Wood
Harris times 10! Yikes!!!!
I was talking to a friend of mine the other day. He's a 32-year-old White
dude who was never exposed to Ray Charles in any real way, other than
hearing "Hit The Road, Jack" on the radio and seeing the "You Got The Right
One, Baby" commercial he did for Pepsi-Cola on TV. The death of Warren
Zevon meant to him what the death of Jimi Hendrix meant to me. He was
bummed out for weeks. Anyway, he told he that he saw _Ray_ on DVD and he
declared it to be one of the best bad movies ever made. After he pointed
out certain things about certain scenes and plot-lines/threads, I could kind
of see why he felt that way, although we did agree that Foxx' portrayal was
Oscar-worthy.
I can't for the life of me see Kravitz as Hendrix unless I'm able to suspend
my concepts of what I know to be true about Hendrix and what I know to be
true about Lenny Kravitz. I didn't really have to do that with _Ray_
because Jamie Foxx' portrayal of him was so nearly perfect, even if the film
wasn't. I've seen footage of Joaquin Phoenix' Johnny Cash from _I Walk The
Line_, and I didn't buy it for a second. I hear it's a good film, but it's
a bandwagon thing. Success breeds repetition of similar themes in hopes of
more or similar success until the teat finally dries out, and I really don't
believe this is the right time for a Hendrix film starring Lenny Kravitz,
Prince, LL Cool J., Andre3000 or anyone else.
I think they should cast an unknown as Hendrix, but they won't. Yeah, look
at old burnt-out Superman. They're casting an unknown to take over the
Christopher Reeve part in _Superman Returns_ (6/30/06 in the US). As Jimi
himself would almost certainly have said, let one circus pass through town
before bringing on the next thing -- but never be part of the parade.
If Lenny gets the gig, he's going to have to ACT. And even if he's a
spot-on Hendrix, EH approval of the screenplay doesn't bode well for those
of us who have come to know and understand Jimi over the years.
ZIG
I think Andre3000 looks more like Jimi than anyone else in music or
movie land, but his voice doesn't match at all. Kravitz can at least
come close when it comes to the voice, stage moves, and playing. He
never lived up to his hype as the second coming of Jimi, and probably
won't nail it in this role either, but that just goes to show...
What's scary about this is that they seem to have acquired the music
rights - what on earth did they agree to in order to get Janie's
signature on that one? We can assume then that certain aspects of the
story will be missing: no drunken/gambling/"Here's a dollar" Al, none
of Jimi's alcohol driven outbursts, and possibly even no depiction of
drug use whatsoever.
With the sucess of 'Ray' and the heavy promotion we're seeing for 'Walk
the Line', it's obvious that Hollywood is in the mood to greenlight
movie biopics of musicians, and since they seem to have acquired the
music rights, it's very likely that this one will make it to the big
screen. No matter what it looks like, it'll be interesting...
-ZIG
axis in ladyland
announcement at this link---
//.......What's scary about this is that they seem to have acquired the
music
> rights.......//
Downright chilling, in fact.
Mad Dog
>Musically, I find him of fleetingly passing interest and I
>always bristle when I hear folks say "Y'know, the first time I heard 'Are
>You Going My Way', I thought I was listening to a new Hendrix song."
I heard that from a radio DJ and told him that was proof he didn't know much
about Jimi's music.
>I've seen footage of Joaquin Phoenix' Johnny Cash from _I Walk The
>Line_, and I didn't buy it for a second. I hear it's a good film, but it's
>a bandwagon thing.
I'm not so convinced. Timing-wise, I can see that angle, but I read that Walk
was underway before Ray hit the theaters. Anyway, I've seen Walk and it is very
good. Comparing it to Ray is apples and oranges. About the only common ground
is that both were trendsetters and both were addicts. In terms of the task
presented to an actor in attempting to portray the two, I see huge differences.
Ray Charles, maybe because he was blind, developed very specific body language
that nearly always seemed to be a part of his communication. Fox did a damn
fine job of acting the part IMO.
In the case of Cash, the man was a bit of an enigma - he changed so much over
the years and some of the body language changes were subtle. But if you study
Cash, you'll notice that eye contact was a key to his communication. Phoenix
didn't always get it right, but the times he did, it was spooky. The production
style of Walk worked pretty well for the Cash story. The biggest shortcoming to
the movie was also one of its key strengths and that was its limited timespan.
Walk ends right at the point that Johnny came to understand what his life could
be. In a way, that was appropriate because you could look at the rest as
filler, but that's shortsighted in my opinion. I have to look at his entire
life because he was such a rock of Gibralter to the very end, all the while
managing to understand what was going on around him. Walk just left out too
much for the historian in me - I wanted to see Johnny piss on Chet Atkins party
cake - I like some of Atkin's music, but it was real and important history. I
wanted to see Johnny tell Richard Nixon that he didn't write Okie from Meskogee
and then sing the Ballad of Ira Hayes for him. And I wanted to see Johnny
recording Rusty Cage with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Don't tell me
there's gonna be a sequel...
>I think they should cast an unknown as Hendrix, but they won't.
Regardless, with all the control EH has, there is little chance of a movie
coming out that really will tell Jimi's story. I don't know how you could
possibly get someone to act that part. Faking the blues is not trivial. Faking
the creative perspective, intellegence and independent thought processes of Jimi
would seem to be impossible. Where could we find such a gem?
>If Lenny gets the gig, he's going to have to ACT. And even if he's a
>spot-on Hendrix, EH approval of the screenplay doesn't bode well for those
>of us who have come to know and understand Jimi over the years.
Sad but true.
axis in ladyland
coming out that really will tell Jimi's story.....//
Or a book.
cherokeemist
HORRIFIED!!!!!!!!
Lenny Kravitz playin Jimi!!!!!!??????
HA, i laugh in the face of that!
I dont believe for one minute that ANYONE could play the part of jimi
well, and if they did find someone i believe it would take years to find
anyone who could even possibly do Jimi any Credit whatsoever, let alone
have the Impact of the MAN.
Once again EH seems to have been driven by one thing IMO - MONEY!!! and
lots of it!
Poor Jimi , only his true fans { like us} who have spent years listening
to his message really get what he was all about { and after 20+ years as a
fan ,im still learning more about him}, and most fans i speak to are very
disappointed about the ANTICS of Janie and EH.
lETS FACE IT PEOPLE , IT WILL BE A SHAM AND PEOPLE WHO DONT KNOW ANYTHING
ABOUT JIMI WILL TREAT IT AS GOSPEL.
Ask yourself this ..... How will they explain the suspicious circumstances
surrounding his death?
Probably by saying that he was out of it and took secanol to sleep and
choked ,
i dont believe that story for one minute.
Rest in peace James .
Elmo' 7#9
Mutually beneficial.
Was it Charles Shaar Murray that awarded Lenny the title of
"Least Funky Black Jew" ?
Elmo' 7#9
Mix
suspect, now that you mention it, since they gave serial "thumbs down" to
film treatments ever since they acquired the rights.
Could... oh, I don't know... let's just say, for the sake of argument, ummm,
Cross' book, for example, may have caused EH to implement the nuclear option
of unabashed, unapologetic historical revisionism? What? They're going to
cast the guy who played "Fat Albert" as Buddy Miles and portray him as an
evil (litigious), stage-hogging snake in the grass as opposed to a
benevolent, stage-hogging snake in the grass? Or will the Band Of Gypsys
even have a drummer at all? Or will "Hendrix" have ever played with the
Band Of Gypsys at all?
The "circle the wagons" ploy following Cross' _RFOM_ just didn't resonate,
even among the faithful. Using Cox in an attempt to discredit the author's
researched assertions fell completely flat. Clearly he wanted to defend his
friend's memory (he says Jimi was the "best friend he ever had", even though
there was a dearth of their association between 1962[?] and 1969).
So...why not make that movie and give up the musical rights in order to, as
Kramer would say, set the record straight, a la EH? Hell, they wouldn't
even have to cast anyone to portray Al Hendrix -- just cut in that Dorian
Harewood footage from the Showtime movie. "Son, you seem to be playing a
right-handed guitar left-handed", and then it's off to Monterey!, because
nothing ever occurred before that event or since, until Monterey. He was
never a paratrooper, because that meant he'd have to get a haircut, and he
was far too original for that. After Monterey, all of the shows were
maddeningly successful, and they all got along well. But by 1969, Noel
tired of the road and the money and fame and all that, and hankered for the
simple pleasures of performing acoustic music in British pubs. Their
parting was amicable, and he was welcome to return to the group whenever he
wanted to, and remained on the payroll. But! There was a villain, as there
is in every Hollywood movie. This one has the face of Mike Jeffrey. He has
devised a scheme to use Jimi's music to disrupt households and turn the
young against the old, the better to steal their toys and candy, and he has
built a machine that causes parents to hate the music. He develops a ray
gun. A few things happen, culminating in Jimi placing his body in between
the ray gun and the children. He saves the world, but he dies. Score by
Danny Elfman.
"axis in ladyland" <animall...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1133372743.5...@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
Tom K
"Mix" <nospamdo...@home.com> skrev i en meddelelse
news:gYTjf.134970$Hs.1...@tornado.ohiordc.rr.com...
*You* might just end up on their payroll, what with the impressive
"plotchops" on display here ;-)
Mix
there was an explosion.
"Tom K" <tomkri...@webspeed.dk> wrote in message
news:439017b4$0$193$edfa...@dread16.news.tele.dk...
Tom K
> Yes. That, my friend, is a Hollywood movie. Oh, and I almost forgot --
> there was an explosion.
>
box11
the wrong end of a slasher's weapon of choice.
:o)
"Tom K" <tomkri...@webspeed.dk> wrote in message
news:43918691$0$108$edfa...@dread16.news.tele.dk...
Mix
practitioner of Judaism than Sammy Davis, Jr.?!? That's a tall order.
Okay, quiet as it's kept, I once bobbed my head to "Let Love Rule", but the
guy's got no core. There's nothing fundamentally musical about him that
isn't derivative or doesn't shamelessly bite from someone else's style. He
can't decide whether he wants to be Hendrix, Prince, the Beatles or the
Guess Who, and he disserves them all by failing to take a position and going
with it. And it's only when he invokes the style of others that anyone
really notices him.
Yeah, I was completely floored during my exchanges with colleagues at work
over the past couple of days when I mentioned that Kravitz might play a big
screen Hendrix. The reactions were, to a person, thoroughly negative. A
lady friend of mine finds him "sexy" and traveled from Dayton, Ohio to
Wisconsin overnight just to see him play. And she believed Kravitz would be
a *horrible* Jimi Hendrix. Another friend of mine found the concept
hilarious and remains solidly in the Andre3000 camp. He also suggested that
there's no way that Prince would accept the "Little Richard" role, as has
been suggested in this NG and in other venues. I agree. Prince has shown
himself to be far too egotistical to play anyone other than himself or his
own devised alter-egos in his own films, and he certainly wouldn't
participate in any project where his name was lower in the billing than
Lenny Kravitz, or a supporting actor in a film starring Lenny Kravitz in the
title role. Yeah, I know the role wasn't offered to him -- in fact, to be
truthful, no role has been offered to anyone, not even Kravitz -- although
they did extend the music rights for a project that would involve him. That
in itself is unprecedented. Look at how many horrible films about Jimi made
already that would have still been horrible *with* music rights.
I suggested to them that Michael Keaton might be a choice to play Jimi, and
they still favored him over Kravitz. Nothing scientific about my poll,
though. Even non-Hendrix fans are against the casting of Kravitz in the
role of Jimi Hendrix. Even non-Kravitz fans are opposed to the casting of
Kravitz as Hendrix. Kravitz fans are about 50-50. Kravitz is the least of
my problem with this project. I don't trust EH to be objective or truthful.
"Elmo' 7#9" <elmo_ma...@hotNOSPAMmail.com> wrote in message
news:3kFjf.4367$Y7....@newsfe3-win.ntli.net...
axis in ladyland
http://www.allhiphop.com/rumors/?ID=891
SORRY LENNY! THE HENDRIXES GOT THIS!
Well, Jimi's family, as headed by Janie Hendrix has set that Lenny
Kravitz rumor straight. I really did think it was true. I believe they
want to get the job done right. In a statement, they told me, "We
appreciate the enthusiasm that has been expressed for a dramatic film
biography of Jimi Hendrix, however, the Hendrix family, through
Experience Hendrix, has long planned a very significant documentary
feature for release within the next year. Details about that project
will be revealed in the near future. This timetable precludes the
possibility of producing a Jimi Hendrix bio feature at this time." I
think that shuts that down, right? Maybe in future, after they get the
documentary out of the way, some of the contenders like Lenny or Andre
3000 may be considered for a biography.
Mix
snuk)
I generally don't "shout", and I hope you'll forgive this one exception as
an expression my exuberance and great relief that this train wreck has been
averted.
When we discussed this earlier (months ago), I (among a few others) was a
proponent of a documentary versus a dramatic theatrical film, since the role
of Jimi would be so difficult, if not impossible, to cast. And I'm not
saying that just because I'm a fan. I'm also saying that because Hendrix
was such a complex and conflicted individual that it would take as much time
as an average Hollywood flick would take just to get into his psyche and
early development. That would set the table for a sequel -- starving in
alleys, then 1966 England through the Isle Of Fehmarn and everything that
happened in between is more than enough grist for another film unto itself.
September 17th through 2005 is another movie altogether. Maybe Hendrix can
be a Hollywood franchise like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings (not). But
you can't spend less time on one or the other and adequately tell his story
in a 2-to-3-hour formula grind. Of course, Hollywood would completely
forego the first option. They'd show him being rescued from the alleys by
Chandler, intercut flashbacks from his childhood in Seattle, et al, use the
death of his mother as the single transforming episode in his life as though
that were the ultimate truth. Maybe I should see _I Walk The Line_ to get a
sense of what so riled up the Johnny Cash purists and certain members of his
family to use as an example of what I mean and frankly am struggling to say.
I've never seen a good Elvis Presley movie that had actors. I've enjoyed
scenes from certain of them, but generally I found them to be more
unintended parodies than anything else. Sort of like Wood Harris' Hendrix.
One of the best "music" films I saw in recent years that involved an actor
was a produced-for-cable flick about MC Hammer. And I hated Hammer's
"music". Val Kilmer was a much better Jim Morrison than he was a Batman,
but to tell the truth, I didn't understand Morrison any better after having
seen _The Doors_.
I'm pleased the EH decided to go with a documentary. A theatrical release
would be cool, but probably not likely. I remember when _AFAJH_ came out
back in 1972. They showed it in only one theatre in NYC -- on 42nd St,
across from the porn movie houses that I hear aren't there anymore. There
couldn't have been more than 50 patrons in the theatre at that showing, and
none of us bought popcorn, so it was a big loss. The _Beatles Anthology_
got a TV special before they rolled out the DVD set. EH will do the token
theatre thing as they did with _Blue Wild Angel_ and _Woodstock_ (redux) in
a groovy city somewhere just so it can't be called a direct-to-video, but it
probably won't be shown anywhere near your mall multiplex. As I said before
a while back, EH produced an excellent documentary for VH-1 that they've
been running during Black History Month since at least 2002 and I've been
trying to get my hands on it. I think my only complaint about it was that
they used "VC(SR)" from Woodstock at the end. Not my favorite. But I hope
this is it, and I hope they flesh it out more with additional footage, and I
hope that Leon, if he's mentioned at all, doesn't get slammed too badly.
"axis in ladyland" <animall...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1133901460....@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
Mix
I think the Kravitz story to Fox News was floated as a trial balloon by EH
operatives to see how folks would react. You know, "market research". And
the reaction was largely negative. Kravitz appeared in at least one EH
video (Fillmore East, if I recall correctly), and all he had to say about
Jimi is that when he hit that long single note during "Machine Gun", he had
to go away from the room or take a nap or something. It was a quite glowing
testimonial, if memory serves. I'll fetch it from the basement if I have
to.
ZIG
I. Al/Lucille early days - Bag o' Nails/Sgt. Pepper
II. Monterey - Sept 17th
III. Sept. 18th - present
Mix
movie/cable miniseries won't be made for years. I, for one, will be dead
from old age by then. But it will be relegated to a screen treatment at
some point.
There are some downsides to the documentary format, though, in that so much
will be missed, for lack of footage and only anecdotal accounts. Here's
what you won't see in EH's documentary (other than Jimi's family
relationships, Army service, et al):
Noel taking an ass-beating by Hendrix and the destruction of a hotel
suite before Hendrix' arrest in Scandinavia.
The utter chaos of the Electric Ladyland sessions.
That thing that happened in Toronto. The court transcript is very funny
in places, and not all of the humor is provided by Hendrix..
Monika Dannemann preparing Jimi's alleged final fish sammich (was it
mayonnaise...?)
Billy Cox' meltdown, Buddy being "cashiered" following the aborted
Madison Square Garden gig.
The New York "kidnapping" and "rescue".
Eva Sundqvist and Diane Carpenter.
Leon.
The catfight between Kathy Etchingham and Monika Dannemann, and Monika's
suicide.
Devon.
There really is too much story for a movie, but at least we won't have to
watch some hack in a bad Afro wig, Lenny or otherwise, trying to wrap a bow
around this story and lay claim to having figured him out. At least not
now. Too many of us know what is true and what isn't.
"ZIG" <zig...@gmail.com> wrote in message
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