Has Guy Ritchie finally realized that pulling off crime-heist films no longer pays the artistic, or commercial, dividends it once did and changing his tune?
Ok, sure, he switched it up a tiny bit with “Sherlock Holmes,” an escapist action comedy, with a bit of a mystery center to it and there’s not really one gangster caught in some kind of a convoluted, triangulated caper plot, fine.
But if the U.K. tabloid press is to be believed (hey, they were correct about Ritchie wanting Russell Crowe for the Watson role initially), Ritchie really could be switching gears.
Apparently studios are desperate to cash-in on the unexpected windfall that was the super successful, “Mamma Mia,” so now Ritchie’s apparently been given the greenlight to remake the 1955 musical,”Guys & Dolls” that starred Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Jean Simmons and Vivian Blaine. Let’s not forget it was helmed by the great writer-director Joseph L. Mankiewicz (“All About Eve,” “No Way Out,” “The Philadelphia Story”).
The idea is to use longtime buddy Jason Statham (“Revolver,” “Snatch,” “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels”). “He had been throwing ideas around with Jason Statham about writing their own musical. They were joking that it would be a cross between Worzel Gummidge and Bullitt,” says a source.
The original is essentially about a strapped-for-cash New York gambler (Sinatra) who desperately takes on an impossible bet (precipitated by Brando) to take a difficult female missionary to Havana, but of course the two fall for each other. The bet also has its own hidden motives, which of course are twists that might appeal to the filmmaker. Plus the underworld gambling scene isn’t one entirely unknown to him. Apparently Ritchie’s biggest dilemma is whether to take the story out of New York and place it into familiar London or not.
Total BS or just sorta BS? The only thing going for it is that this rumor — and that’s what it is so far — seems to have legs and we spotted it during Cannes, but never got around to it. Then again, it might just be Chinese whispers doing their thing, but truthfully, action-y directors on paper make for good musical directors because of their sense of dynamic rhythm. We’re sure his constituents don’t want to see this, but as far as we’re concerned, we hope this is true because it would be a nice breath of fresh air.