That Dusty Movie Thing....Again....

[mssdusty]

GOOD THINKING THERE DANDY


MARY

[Cardiff Bluesgirl]

there isnt enough money in it I dont think. lots of stage shows that are more current seem to get pulled at the moment. I think her audiences would be small so you need small venues and then the production costs would prob. be too much. they tried to get finance recently from "Dragons Den" entrepeneurs, but they couldnt prove the financial returns would be enough.

[jeffery]

Yep ! R.I.P. Dusty... we'll stick to the performance videos.

[allherfaces]

there isnt enough money in it I dont think. lots of stage shows that are more current seem to get pulled at the moment. I think her audiences would be small so you need small venues and then the production costs would prob. be too much. they tried to get finance recently from "Dragons Den" entrepeneurs, but they couldnt prove the financial returns would be enough.

But what about a UK produced film?

[jeffery]

Our friends are right...people who have the finances to back such a movie are interested in return... and want to see an expressed interest. Something would have to happen to really explode interest in a distant star like Dusty.

[Michael Muccino]

Some pretty good posts on this thread. Yes, I feel that nothing is gained from a movie just exploiting Dusty's sexuality, and not emphasizing her music, career and life. People not familiar with Dusty should receive a positive first impression.

Michael

[SteveQ]

Let’s face it, if they do make this movie, they will want a box office hit (can’t really blame anyone for that!) and go for the whole sensational lesbian angle-one day there will probably be a film about Amy Winehouse and it won’t be about her brilliant music. (Well I think she‘s brilliant anyway!.) The one song they would probably feature in full is ’Rehab’. Then again, they might surprise me.
All we can do is boycott the film, en masse and make it known as much as possible, that we aren’t happy because doesn’t portray the true Dusty that we know and love. It doesn’t really pay to get too upset about these things that are totally out of our control.
Good grief-is this me getting old and wise or just old?

[Sweetbaby]

I'd suggest it's prematurissimo to talk about a boycott at this point. Have there been any box office hits with lesbian love story plots? If the producers of a Dusty biopic had their eye on the almighty dollar I think they'd go for the feel good factor & emphasize Dusty's triumphs rather than attempt to appeal to the public's prurient interest. My understanding is that Lady Sings the Blues presented a Marie Antoinette-farmyard version of Billie Holliday's life & while What's Love Got to Do With It didn't scrimp on the abuse - I hope Tina didn't have it any worse than that! - the publicity for the film didn't emphasize the depiction of Tina's suffering but rather her overcoming it: "This summer one film will make you feel like you can take on the world!" That's the message film makers think will pack theaters.

Kristin's career direction up til now has been pretty squeaky clean & I think that must reflect her wishes. Obviously she hopes to stretch herself playing Dusty but I don't think she's particularly hankering to reinvent herself as a soft porn queen. Rather I think she's misjudged the effect attendant on her issuing a statement regarding who she'd like to play her lover in a Dusty biopic. Or perhaps being fans of Dusty's we're inclined to read a bit more into Kristin's statement than the general public would. I wouldn't want the focus of a Dusty biopic to be on her sexuality but I don't think that strand of Dusty's life fabric should be totally absent either. My understanding is that the Oz musical starring Tamsin Carroll had Dini Hines play a composite character to provide Dusty with a love interest & all the feedback I've read about that production has been positive.

BTW I personally don't think Kristin's Dusty biopic will ever get made. It's been five years since Kristin announced her Dusty biopic project & rather than progressing it seems to be unraveling with time, with the director & studio announced as attached to the project having dropped out. But I hope I'm wrong as most of the statements Kristin's made about her Dusty biopic project suggests her intent is to showcase Dusty as an icon of Pop music's most exciting era.

[SteveQ]

Thanks sweetbaby (I do like that name). Perhaps I was being too cynical and got it wrong. As is usually the case with me, I have only just caught up with this thread. I haven’t been around on LTD very long and don’t seem to get much chance to keep up with it all. From what you said, it does seem unlikely that the film will be made, but hopefully, it will be one day and it will show Kirstin ,as Dusty in all her glory,-and as has already been discussed here, lip synching to Dusty’s recordings rather than singing them. Also hopefully then it will be shown on the major Cinema circuits, such as Odeon and Vue, rather than going straight to DVD. Even after 5 years on the bank burner, it still may come together yet. If I gave the impression that I though the lesbian angle should be ignored, I didn’t mean to. That is all part of what she is. I just didn’t want to be the one big selling point of the film. I honestly don’t know if there have been any box office successes on that theme, but there certainly have been a few successful British tv series such as “Oranges are not the only fruit “

[Sweetbaby]

No I don't think anyone here's suggested a Dusty biopic should duck the matter of her sexuality. I'm just saying that Kristin's having referenced the casting of Dusty's lover doesn't mean Dusty's sexuality would be more than one of several relevant factors dealt with in a Dusty biopic & not its focal point. I wanted to clarify: my last post didn't mean to equate a same-sex love element with substance abuse & domestic violence. Rather these are three issues which could conceivably lend themselves to lurid treatment from film-makers & my point was that mainstream film-makers don't seem to want to deal with these issues in a lurid manner. There has been a North American TV series built around same-sex female relationships: The L Word, but it seems any form of gay element in a cinematic release limits its box office appeal. Even Brokeback Mountain didn't have the numbers you'd expect from a film of that profile. So I personally can't see anyone filming Dusty's life story playing up the sexual aspect in hopes of bigger box office returns.