A Little off key
Musical not a stretch for Eastwood
NEW YORK — Who knew a pop music biopic would make Clint Eastwood’s day?
Apparently, the former Dirty Harry did. Previously, he directed a film about country music (Honkytonk Man) and another one focusing on jazz great Charlie Parker (Bird).
It turns out a film version of the Four Seasons jukebox musical Jersey Boys wasn’t that much of a stretch for the 84-year-old, but it did take a series of coincidental events for him to get the gig.
“It’s a weird chronology how this came about,” said a smiling Eastwood at a Manhattan hotel. “I had been entertaining the idea of doing a remake of A Star is Born (with Beyoncé) from a modern-day standpoint when (Jersey Boys) came along.”
Unlike the screenplay for A Star is Born, the director decided Jersey Boys was ready to shoot. “So the studio asked me, ‘Would I do Jersey Boys and put the other one aside?’ and I said, ‘Yes.’”
Eastwood’s movie digs deeper into the early days of the Italian-American Jersey street kids who form a singing group and then struggle to make it, until they are helped by a local mobster (Christopher Walken) after they hire a songwriter and find a producer.
The collaboration leads to a string of hits, (Sherry, Walk Like a Man, and Rag Doll among them) that made the Four Seasons a bestselling 1960s pop group, but not without some serious consequences.
In other words, the Oscar-winning filmmaker puts the musical in the key of life with the musical performances inserted into the action as part of the narrative.
“I didn’t think it was too much of a challenge,” Eastwood said.
“I just opened it up and gave the story a certain amount of realism.”
Wisely, Eastwood hired actors familiar with the musical.
John Lloyd Young, for instance, reprises his Tonywinning role of Four Seasons singer Frankie Valli.
Playing bass player Nick Massi is Canadian actor Michael Lomenta, who defined the part in the Jersey Boys touring company. Erich Bergen, as songwriter Bob Gaudio, refined his portrayal in the touring company and the Los Angeles and Las Vegas productions. Only Vincent Piazza, who plays tough guy singer-guitarist Tommy DeVito, was new to the production.
Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice wrote the script after winning a Tony for the Jersey Boys book, so Eastwood made sure they were involved in the filming process. The play’s original musical director Ron Melrose and choreographer Sergio Trujillo also became part of the Eastwood team. So were Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio.
“The group came together so well,” the director said. “Experience is something you just can’t buy.”
And the movie newcomers, who make up the main cast members, return the compliment, describing the director’s set as organized but informal with a one-for-all mentality.
Young, especially, was impressed with Eastwood’s casual presence despite his iconic status.
“What I learned from Mr. Eastwood,” Bergen said, “is to cut the crap.”
Whether he’s in front of the camera or behind it, Eastwood knows what matters.
“Casting a film is one of the most important things next to writing,” he said. “If you do it properly, everything takes place easily.”
Thanks to a suggestion by Bergen, Eastwood even shows up in a Jersey Boys scene when Bergen’s Gaudio watches a young Eastwood on TV as Rowdy Yates in the western Rawhide. “You’re talking about my Hitchcock moment,” said a smiling Eastwood, referring to the director who made cameo appearances in many of his movies.
Meanwhile, Eastwood, the actor, director and producer has been enjoying an eclectic phase in his career underscored by a series of very different films over the past few years. Those include the J. Edgar Hoover biopic J Edgar; the ghost story Hereafter; the political drama Invictus; and the social studies profile Gran Torino.
But Jersey Boys might be one of his proudest accomplishments, although you would never know it by his passive response to a positive Jersey Boys reaction from preview audiences.
“I always have this expression that I’d rather be lucky than good,” said Eastwood.
“I got this (Jersey Boys) family together like this and that’s why I feel very lucky.”