Day 23 - Another Famous Julie/Julia

Day 23.

As much as I enjoy shutting myself off from the outside world and living exclusively in my little Julie & Julia bubble, I will occasionally make my way to the surface world to see what's going on in the news. Unfortunately, a side effect of this project has resulted in me only being able to pay attention to news involving people named Julie and/or Julia. So screw you, Obama tax cuts--there are some news stories that simply can't be ignored. Julie Taymor is one of those stories.

"Yo, what up? I'm Julie Taymor."

You may not be familiar with her name just yet, but you should know that Julie Taymor is a theater/opera/movie director with such impressive works as Across the Universe and the stage adaptation of The Lion King already under her belt.

Oh, and she's also a crazy person.

Could a sane person think this up? I think not.

Allow me to explain--Julie Taymor is the woman behind the doomed-from-the-very-beginning Broadway musical, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. Yes, that is correct, a stage adaptation of America's favorite web-slinging superhero. Seems logical, no? Let's follow the train of thought that went behind the creation of this thing:

1. Someone (Julie Taymor) decided that making a musical out of Spider-Man was a good idea.
2. Someone (Bono of U2) decided that writing the music to this Spider-Man musical was a good idea.
3. Some people (dumb investors) agreed that a Spider-Man musical was a good idea and proceeded to invest $65 million of their hard-earned cash into said good idea.
4. Everyone else realized that this was the worst idea ever.

Uhhhhh... Spider-Man?

So far, the production has been plagued by financial delays and actor injuries, as many of the flying stunts involve crazy harnesses and multiple aerial cable rigs. This actually sounds pretty cool, until you realize that this musical will most definitely kill somebody. Yesterday, tragedy befell the production yet again, when Christopher Tierney, the actor playing Spider-Man, fell 30 feet headfirst into a pit and broke his ribs. Oh, and did I mention that the musical is still in previews? It has not even officially began its Broadway run and it has already hospitalized 4 people. Good job, Julie Taymor.

And she shows no signs of slowing down. Originally, the musical's previews were planned to resume tonight, but then somebody finally stepped in and stopped this insane woman, who is apparently hellbent on killing her entire cast.

In addition to premeditated murder, Julie Taymor is also guilty of making a film adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest this year.

Russell Brand in The Tempest. Again, makes a ton of sense.

 

Oh, Julie Taymor. You just seem to have a knack for making things that no actual person would want to see.

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Julie & Julia Quote of the Day: "Someone is going to publish your book."