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Moviefone finally has the Rent trailer featuring “Seasons of Love” and so far, the film seems to successfully conceal San Francisco. As Gothamist previously reported, Director Chris Columbus opted to film the majority of the East Village musical in San Francisco and the exterior shots in New York (a pity Revolution Studios, of Gigli fame, didn’t wait for the opening of Brooklyn's new $118 million Steiner Studios). Anthony Rapp, who plays Mark Cohen, wrote that despite New York’s strict filming rules, Rent's crew did a “great job” disguising the city:
Chris and our production designer Howard and our cinematographer Stephen have all dedicated themselves to defying anyone to recognize that the entire film wasn't shot in NYC. We shall see, but from everything I've seen so far, I think they've done a great job. At any rate, the bottom line is that the East Village has changed so much from when Rent takes place that even when we did shoot there, Howard had to make adjustments to the buildings to make them look authentic to the time of the film.
"Dedicated to defying anyone?" Sounds like a challenge! Mark your calendars: November 11th, the day we watch Rent to look for clues the film was shot in the Golden Gate City. Maybe we’ll even sponsor an “I Spy” contest.
As for the R-rated film’s progress, it seems many of the Broadway musical’s fans are quite upset over the adaptation’s latest news. Rumor has it the script left out key songs, including “One Song Glory," in favor of more dialogue because Columbus claims he "couldn’t do it as a straightforward opera." In addition, Columbus (who brought us such classics as Adventures in Babysitting and The Goonies) added a new plot line – gay marriage:
“It speaks about having tolerance for all kinds of people and it talks about the fact that two gay people can be in love and deserve to be married. It’s one thing we deal with in the movie that wasn’t in the play, the concept of gay marriage… I could be shooting myself in the foot in terms of box office, I don’t care…”
This StageSpace diary makes an interesting point that Rent is not a 2004 era piece; it depicts life in the mid-90’s, when gay marriage wasn't as big an issue and didn’t gain much notice till the late 90’s, 2000. However, Columbus promises fans he understands the musical’s material and that we certainly “don’t have to worry about grit” because he knows the streets: he lived in a loft with mice (which somehow inspired Gremlins). Gothamist remains optimistic that maybe the film won’t suck, but the more we read about Columbus and Revolution Studios, the more we think we should just visit TKTS or just rent Team America for "Lease."
You can find out more about Rent by visiting the Rent blog, which features video entries from cast and crew members.
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um, gothamist has called ny the big apple and bostown beantown before. not such a big deal. many use those terms.
dont be a dick
Great piece as always. Just an FYI: I've read the original shooting script, and in that version, "One Song Glory" is prominently featured...I'd be incredibly surprised, seeing its prominence in the script, that they could cut it out. There are some sung-dialogue moments that have been turned into regular-dialogue moments, but it makes complete sense in the context of the script.
The gay marriage thing? Well, I'm not sure that it's as much a deviation as people think...more of a suggestion than a wacky wrong turn. I think it's perfectly in keeping with Johnathan's intent.
According to the Rent Blog, as of May 16:
So far we've shot the entirety of only a few songs: the Angel and Collins version of "I'll Cover You," Light My Candle," "Life Support," "One Song Glory," "Today 4 U," "Seasons of Love," and the Mark and Roger fight in "Goodbye Love."
Actually, behind your back, New Yorkers call San Francisco "Dullsville" or "The City Six Months Behind" so you should be happy the worst she did was call it "The Golden Gate City".
Re: the gay marriage "thing" not being so important in the mid-90s --- not true. At least within the GLBT community. I know, because my partner and I were married in one of the first outdoor, mass-marriages performed in SF in the 90s, by Rev. Cecil Williams. The movement for gay marriage had already started, it's only that nobody listened at that point. I don't think it's such a stretch to consider that the same thing was happening in NYC.
I was also able to watch some of the filming done out here (at the cemetery in Oakland, and in the alley) and I can't imagine anyone noticing the difference.