Sam Neill, Dustin Hoffman, and More Join the Feature Comedy MR. SHAW GOES TO HOLLYWOOD
A new feature comedy set in 1933 Hollywood in development titled Mr. Shaw Goes To Hollywood with director Simon Callow (Four Weddings And A Funeral) at the helm, and it has a hell of a great cast.
The movie will star Dustin Hoffman (Rain Man), Sam Neill (Jurassic Park), Eileen Atkins (The Crown), Derek Jacobi (Gladiator), Aidan Turner (The Hobbit), and Roger Allam (Endeavour). Mr. Shaw Goes to Hollywood tells the story of what might have happened before the world came to know the play in its guise as a musical, My Fair Lady.
The story will chart how “celebrated playwright, George Bernard Shaw (Jacobi), visited Hollywood with his formidable wife, Charlotte (Atkins). The idea of turning Shaw’s most successful play, Pygmalion, into a film was a hot topic of conversation as the great and the good of Hollywood vied for his attention, desperate to be part of the next big motion picture. How would the Irish-born writer and social reformer rub along with the Hollywood elite and, perhaps more importantly, did he have any intention of selling the rights to his beloved story to a film studio in the first place?”
Hoffman is set to take on the role of legendary studio boss Louis B Mayer, co-founder of MGM. Turner will play Clark Gable, and Neill will play William Randolph Hearst.
The script from the film comes from Mark Saltzman (Sesame Street) who previously wrote a play of the same name. The director of the movie said in a statement:
“Hollywood in 1933 was at the very height of its power, reaching untold millions of cinemagoers across the world, gobbling up the greatest writers, directors and actors, and as often as not spitting them out again. It was a world both stylish and savage, ruthlessly controlled by the studio bosses, among whom Louis B Mayer (Hoffman) was the arch-manipulator. Mark Saltzman’s sparkling screenplay shows us what happens when such a man encounters someone whose work he wants but whose wealth and fame make him unbiddable. Perhaps the greatest celebrity of his time, GBS (Jacobi) runs rings round Hollywood, compelling some of the most legendary figures of movie history to confront themselves and the reality of their situations. We see the brutal truth of what lies behind the elegant, witty surface; it is a spectacle both delicious and sobering.”
Producer Jo Podmore added:
“Such clever, cunning and satirical work is a rare find these days. We are hugely fortunate to have attracted some of the industry’s finest and most decorated acting talents to work alongside Simon’s famous sharp wit. All of which will create a uniquely dazzling and entertaining movie; bringing to life the glamour, charm, back-stabbing and double-dealing of Hollywood’s Golden Age.”
I love stories about the golden age of Hollywood, and this one is going to make a great movie, especially with talent like this involved!
Source: Deadline