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Frank Sinatra biopic
🕑 Added 2024-04-19 01:14:49 +0000 UTCYa'll likely know I've been a massive Sinatra fan for over half my life, and was quite obsessed for a long time. I've been following the Scorsese biopic for many years now, knowing fully well it was a terrible idea from the onset. That you really can't cast a Frank Sinatra....very very very tricky thing to pull off, for a myriad of reasons. But I always figured that eventually, if the film did ever get made, that Leo would be the one to play him as a safe bet.. Truly I can't think of anyone who has more of an opposite energy to Frank Sinatra. To add insult to injury....Jennifer Lawrence as Ava Gardner??? You have got to be kidding me. I have a feeling Jennifer Lawrence has no clue who either of these people are, lol. Had she known anything about Gardner, she'd likely laugh at the thought of herself as consideration for the part. It's as if Scorsese doesn't even know who Ava Gardner is as well, or Frank for that matter. Ava was sexual volatility in the most dangerous way for Frank as a man. Very interesting stories about her in his bio. She must exude this dark power. Jennifer has none of that naturally. It's not who she is, and I don't think it's in her wheelhouse to create authentically. You need a Penelope Cruz type of sensuality. Most tone deaf casting I've heard in a long ass time.
I know this might be a controversial opinion...but I prefer Frank Sinatra as a cinematic actor to Leo any day. I'm not saying he has the range or talent of Leo but...from a cinematic perspective I think he's far more compelling through his subtlety and his ability to say less with more, rather than push all the viscera to the surface, like Leo does. Leo is the definition of pushing hard to create an emotional feeling through his work. Frank is the definition of pulling it back to create an emotional feeling in his music, as an actor, and as a persona. Charisma comes from effortlessness. That is Frank: the definition of cool, but vulnerable and wounded as the contradiction. I have never seen an effortless performance from Leo, where any of this mystery is possible to find in his eyes. Physically he's wrong, energy is wrong...everything here is wrong. Honestly...Cillian Murphy with all the weight loss, and the wardrobe as Oppenheimer...totally had the Sinatra vibes I was looking for. He is better suited.
Leo needs to work more with people like Tarantino, who understand the humor in his style, and add a self-awareness angle that was always missing. I think he needs to let go of Scorsese...which feels like someone puffing out their chest, and trying to make "important" cinema, rather than something from the heart...the way it did in the 1990s. That was Leo's best era. I think the Scorsese era ruined him, and turned him into someone making a "good career move," and not an emotional one. Sure it made him highly admired and respected by the academy/audiences by design. But I do not feel the roles themselves have ever clicked for me. But this is obviously just my opinion.
I'm working on a review for a Leo film, and I'll likely shoot it sometime this summer. So I suppose...Leo is very fresh on my mind. And said film utilizes him in all the wrong ways, yet again...and this time it was all the more obvious to me. Cillian Murphy is also in said film...and the difference in their performance quality was pretty glaring to me. One is trying just so hard, and the other is so natural. I'm sure you can now guess which film it is I'm reviewing lol...
Comments
Emerson B
It reminds me of one of my favorite Family Guy jokes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GswPO4QAWM
Deepfocuslens
Haha...well...he's Sinatra's son. There's no way he isnt.
Emerson B
They should’ve cast Ronan Farrow as Frank Sinatra
Matt C
I have no doubt of her acting abilities, and it's possible now that she's older she has the air of maturity needed to play a femme fatal, but if so it would be a very different role for her.
Henri J. Mertens
Her performance in Mockingjay Part 2 makes me think she’ll pull off a great Ava Gardner. Her wide range of emotions in that film surprised me
Henri J. Mertens
I like Frank Sinatra, but it’s funny, I’ve actually considered Leo to be the modern day version of Sinatra. Talented and good looking, but limited in range
Deepfocuslens
I agree with everything you say. This just feels very expected and the wrong direction for Scorsese. There's something about the whole meta obsession when closing out the career that is beginning to feel very labored from directors. Just look at Tarantino. He scrapped his entire movie critic project. Frankly...I'm glad. Felt too on the nose as a final project, even for him lol. Almost feels like a psyching out of ones-self. I do have some things to add about Leo, and perhaps it's getting too personal and judgmental about him. But it's an observation I notice. You mention how he cannot create a real masculinity, whereas someone like Frank just exudes it. Which is funny because...Frank was such a tiny guy. Around my height. And he was thin to the point of concern up until the early 60s. Yet he is more male charisma than Leo has ever been. I'll be honest with you...I think that many of Leo's film choices, and character choices, are likely rooted in masculine insecurity. Notice how so many of his roles feel very much like...what a 17-25 year old actor thinks he's supposed to do...before he's ever actually grown up and lived life a little bit. Look at nearly every role Leo has played since partnering with Scorsese. Hence why I use the phrase "puffing out the chest." There's this safe anti-hero template he lives in, that doesnt feel like it ever develops into something interesting with age. Leo is stuck at age 25 mentally I think, when he's nearly 50 years old. He's still playing roles of a 25 year old in Flower Moon, and trying very hard to create these masculine leading men in roles like Shutter Island, Inception, Gadsby, Departed, etc. But those roles are ultimately reductive in the writing, and again...feel like what a 21 year old thinks "being a man" is supposed to be. You can see this in Leo's lifestyle as well. He cannot date a woman under 25 it seems, and not only that...she must be a supermodel. I think this is interesting. It's not like he's just dating beautiful women because he's famous. They are always literal models. I think this shows a sense of how someone wishes to be perceived on the outside, but also someone who never grew up and found the mental maturation to explore his character beyond the visceral artifice. Stunted growth. But I also want to add that of course I dont know the man. And perhaps there are plenty of interesting women in his life none of us know about. But I'm just responding to what I see. People are welcome to do the same over me, and I wont stop you lol.
Deepfocuslens
Also I always find it funny how his MGM era they tried to make him seem like this innocent Catholic guy in every role. Lol
Deepfocuslens
I think he's great in Man with the Golden Arm. Though I'd have to think about my favorite role of his. Yes he's the best part of From Here to Eternity for me.
Deepfocuslens
yeah exactly. Lawrence was always girl next door
Bennett Oliver
After Killers of the Flower Moon and reading that article about how he only has so many movies left in him, I really hoped that Scorsese was done with this kind of movie. Not just anything having to do with the Mob, but any kind of East Coast subculture in that orbit. Yes, that includes the Rat Pack, or any crooner or lounge lizard from that era. I just think that, directly or indirectly, he’s done too many movies about these kinds of men. He’s said everything there is to be said about them, maybe even before his collaborations with De Niro ended. And no, DiCaprio is not ideal for the worlds Scorsese likes to explore. Putting aside the fact that he has no ability to convey subtext in a performance (a limitation you allude to in that you say his energy is all on the surface), he has no hardness to him, no granite quality. He might be able to play a scrapper, but he’s no tough guy. There’s no quality of an effortless, lived-in masculinity that guys back in those days simply had. DiCaprio has more of an aura of that of a frat boy, a callow man child, which is why the best role he ever did for Scorsese was Jordan Belfort in Wolf of Wall Street, who was exactly that. It was the foundation that made his performance in that film so inspired. The brokers were douchebags who thought they were goodfellas, and he and Jonah Hill were the ersatz frat boy version of De Niro and Pesci. Tarantino understood this quality about DiCaprio far better than Scorsese ever did, which is why he fares far better in Django Unchained and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. As for Lawrence as Ava Gardner…jfc, I won’t get into that. I haven’t seen too many Gardner films, but I remember her enough in The Killers to know it’s bad casting. Lawrence can convey a fierce strength, but she’s no femme fatale. Even when she puts on the airs of being one, you can see her acting. It’s a vibe she’s uneasy with. In the ‘90s, Scorsese had a Dean Martin biopic in the works. It was based on an in-depth biography that came out at that time and had a script he and his Goodfellas collaborator Nicholas Pileggi co-wrote. It was called Dino and it was going to be about his relationships with Jerry Lewis and the Rat Pack. He even had actors lined up for the roles. Here’s who he cast: Tom Hanks—Dean Martin John Travolta—Frank Sinatra Jim Carrey—Jerry Lewis Hugh Grant—Peter Lawford Adam Sandler—Joey Bishop Could you imagine Travolta as Sinatra? It would totally not work, but it would be so fun to watch. You’re right, Sinatra is near impossible to cast. Anyways, Scorsese never could get all the elements he needed together to make the movie, and by 2004 he abandoned the project. Maybe some things are better left unmade.
Stephen
Interesting. This makes me want to see more with Sinatra n Gardner. Only seen Sinatra in The Manchurian Candidate and that was awhile ago. Some Came Running I know is a big one and I've been meaning to get to. With Gardner I've only see her in The Killers n The Band Wagon. Honestly, this story along with news about his Jesus movie made me laugh yesterday in contrast to Tarantino cancelling his movie. Months of speculation about what it was about and who was going to be in it all for nothing...Back to the drawing board...Maybe we'll get Kill Bill 3 after all? Meanwhile Scorsese's got two more films lined including another Apple+ movie.
Wolfman Brandon
Sinatra was a great actor. I'm actually more a fan of his acting than his songs and I love several of his songs. Loved him with Gene Kelly in On The Town and he was probably the best part of From Here to Eternity which had a loaded cast. Though, it's been several years since I last saw The Man With the Golden Arm and I'm curious to see if his ability to effectively convey a self destructive character still holds up. Anyway, I'm tired of seeing these modern filmmakers making these bog standard biopics about legendary stars with little to no understanding of who they were as people. There'll probably never be another Coal Miner's Daughter or What's Love Got to Do With It.
Matt C
I have to read what you said again to respond better but when on earth was Jennifer Lawrence a femme fatal like Ava Gardner???
