Movie Musings: Disney and More

Rob Marshall: Movie-Musical/Theatre Magician

Throughout the history of Hollywood, incredibly skilled directors have created movie-musicals that are considered classics including Victor Fleming’s The Wizard of Oz (1939), George Cukor’s My Fair Lady (1964), and Robert Wise’s The Sound of Music (1965). However, few directors have the unique skill of making a movie-musical that makes you feel as though you’re watching a Broadway show, rather than a movie. Rob Marshall is one such example of a director who falls into that category.

Originally, it was “all Broadway” for Marshall, who began his career as a dancer, performing in various Broadway shows, including the original company of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats. Unfortunately, a herniated disc while performing in Cats ended his dancing career. After recovering, he decided to become a choreographer and then director. He received his first Best Choreography Tony Award Nomination, collaborating with Vincent Paterson on the musical based on the 1985 film of the same name, Kiss of the Spiderwoman. Next came Tony Nominations for choreographing the 1993 revival of the musical She Loves Me and the 1994 revival of the musical Damn Yankees. He received his 4th and 5th Tony Nomination for Best Choreography and Best Director for the 1998 revival of Cabaret, sharing the honors with Sam Mendes. He received another nomination the very next year for choreographing a musical entitled Little Me.

Marshall transitioned from Broadway into Hollywood when he was hired by by CBS to choreograph the made-for-television movie-musical Mrs. Santa Clause starring Angela Lansbury. And he was hired by ABC to direct the third made-for-television film adaptation of Rodger’s and Hammerstein’s Cinderella starring Whitney Houston, which reunited him with “Yankees,” star Victor Garber. He was then re-hired by ABC to not only be the choreographer, but also the director of their next TV musical, Annie (1999), reuniting him with “Cabaret” star Alan Cumming and, again, with Victor Garber. (Cumming won a Tony Award for his performance as the Emcee in Cabaret under Marshall’s direction). He initially did not want to direct “Annie,” simply because he had only wanted to do the choreography, but he was ultimately persuaded to do both. The film’s success earned him the job of directing and choreographing Chicago (2002), for Mirimax Studios. He would go on to receive an Academy Award Nomination for Best Director for the film. Though he lost that award to Roman Polanski for The Pianist (2002), “Chicago,” went on to receive 6 Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actress for Catherine Zeta-Jones for her performance as Velma Kelly and Best Motion Picture of 2002.  

Marshall’s next film was Columbia Pictures’ Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) which garnered 3 Academy Awards, including Best Cinematography for Dion Beebe, who had also been Marshall’s cinematographer on “Chicago,” and had received a previous nomination for his work. His film after that was the Weinstein Company’s Nine (2009), which like “Chicago,” was also based on a Broadway musical of the same name. He choreographed, co-produced, and directed “Nine.” 

He was hired by Disney to direct Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011), the 4th film in the franchise, reuniting him with “Nine,” star Penelope Cruz. (Cruz received an Academy Award Nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Carla in “Nine.”). Disney re-hired him in 2014 to co-produce and direct their film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods. The film received 3 Academy Award Nominations, including Best Supporting Actress for Meryl Streep for her performance as the Witch and Best Costume Design for Colleen Atwood who won 2 Academy Awards for designing the costumes for “Chicago,” and “Memoirs of a Geisha,” and received another nomination for her work on “Nine.” 

Rob Marshall is currently attached to direct a “Mary Poppins,” motion-picture sequel for Disney, which is to be released in 2018, which will reunite him with “Into the Woods,” star Emily Blunt in the title role, cinematographer Dion Beebe, and costume designer Colleen Atwood, as well as “Chicago,” Art Directors John Myhre and Gordon Sim and “On Stranger Tides,” editor Wyatt Smith.

Looking back on all of Rob Marshall’s work, each of his movies have been hits for their production/distribution companies, but more interestingly, they are full of a diverse group of stage and screen performers who did some of their best work under his direction. The look and feel created by his incredibly talented creative teams, and his own personal skills of choreographing and directing, makes his work comes to life in such an astonishing way, that it looks more like live theatre than it does a motion picture.