Film and TV news and reviews
Only two months ago, a large question mark hung over the fate of Ridley Scott’s All The Money In The World. We all know why and we all know what happened next. Rather than have his film shelved, the director reverted to his original choice of Christopher Plummer to play billionaire J Paul Getty and re-shot his scenes in just six weeks.
Comments closedThe trailer for The Greatest Showman goes out of its way to convince you that it’s not a musical, and that it is, in fact, an uplifting let’s-do-the-show-right-here biopic of 19th century circus impresario P.T. Barnum. However, a musical it most emphatically is, while its biographical details have received something of a revisionist tweak.
The feature debut of Australian director Michael Gracey (who has a background in commercials and music videos), The Greatest Showman stars Hugh Jackman as Phineas Taylor Barnum, a dreamer from an impoverished background who’s determined to make a name for himself. After marrying childhood sweetheart Charity (Michelle Williams) against her wealthy parents’ wishes, Phineas swindles himself a bank loan and opens a Museum of Oddities in New York, recruiting the likes of bearded lady Lettie Lutz (Keala Settle), diminutive Tom Thumb (Sam Humphrey) and mixed-race trapeze artist Anne Wheeler (Zendaya).
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