--- In [email protected], Sal Sunshine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On Mar 3, 2007, at 5:14 PM, authfriend wrote: > > > > >> And also, he couldn't > >> sing, so it's really not clear why they picked him for > >> WSS in the first place. > > > > It was all going to be dubbed anyway (except for Rita > > Moreno), so they must not have thought that mattered. > > Evidently not. But the big question is, why? In a musical, > one would think singing ability would matter, as well as > acting. They did that for at least some of the other musicals > of that period, and IMO it really detracted from the quality.
Well, it matters on stage, but dubbing is so easy it pretty much removes that limitation in film. Thing is that in just about *every* musical film the songs are dubbed, even if the stars do their own singing. Apparently Natalie Wood was told she'd be doing her own singing and actually recorded the songs, but then they pulled a fast one and hired Marnie Nixon to do them instead, and Wood was crushed. > > The big problem, I thought, was that he didn't have > > the tough-guy chops. He could do dewy-eyed lover OK. > > The complexity of that particular role was probably not the best > vehicle for a newcomer. > > And he was a complete newbie at the time, right, kind of > picked almost at random. I think he was as much surprised > he got the role as anyone else. Just checked on IMDB. He'd done a bunch of films and TV, starting in TV when he was 11; his film debut was at the age of 15 in "Indiscretion of an American Wife," played Peter in the 1959 "Diary of Anne Frank." He'd done a lot of work but not much of importance. No idea how he was cast. > There was an article a long time ago, can't remember where > it appeared, that expounded on how eagerly-awaited WSS had > been, and how in the years since, most of its leading lights > had fared poorly, one way or another. You know, that's true. Natalie Wood was about the only one who continued doing big stuff, but then she had quite a track record already. She made some of her best films after WSS but then kind of petered out in the '70s. I was always a big fan of hers. No great actress, but she could carry a film just on her sincerity.
