For years now, Hollywood has snatched up the rights to everything under the sun, with hordes of possible adaptations constantly on the verge of production before taking a backseat to other projects. This isn’t so questionable a process when talking about a novel or a video game that hasn’t been released yet, where there is no built-in audience. But when it comes to an adaptation of Jersey Boys, the multi-Tony award winning hit Broadway musical, it seems counter-intuitive that we haven’t already seen an Oscar performance from it.
With Jon Favreau as director and a shift from Sony to Warner Bros., it looked like a fast track to success, but then the film went into turnaround, and only the crickets’ songs could be heard. But sources are telling The Hollywood Reporter that Clint Eastwood is finally postponing his troubled A Star is Born remake on purpose, and that is in talks with Warner Bros. and GK Films to step in as direct. Without confirmation, this is of course still just a rumor, so if it turns out to be false, we don’t want anyone crying, big girls or otherwise.
Jersey Boys tells the musical tale of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, from their rise to fame to their eventual split. It opened on Broadway in 2005 with music written by Bob Gaudio and lyrics by Bob Crewe. The film’s screenplay was written by John Logan (Skyfall).
The sources also said there were talks of the project moving over to Fox, but that bringing in Eastwood – whose last venture behind the camera was 2011’s middling J. Edgar - would keep the film in Warner Bros. hands. Whether this does indeed get made or not, it won’t stop the A Star is Born rumors, so let’s hope Jersey Boys and Eastwood walk like a man into theaters together.
