Renee As Judy Garland

Wow. That was a lot better than I was expecting. And that really is Renee singing.

Who plays Lorna?

Who plays blue?

DL fave Fenella Woolgar plays Margaret Hamilton.

Who plays Lorna’s molester?

OP you thought there wouldn't be an existing thread about this. How cute.

It's fine, r6. Relax, hon.

Shenshational!

Toward the end, the real Judy looked much worse.

Is Judy about Taylor Mac?

R6 I searched and there was no result, bitch!

DL search suxxxx!!!!!

Judy was one of the most talented singers ever. She also had a lot of pain and struggle throughout her life. Despite that, she had a good heart, which is hard to encounter in Hollywood. At a time when gay people were oppressed beyond belief, they identified with her struggles and she theirs.

Looks like this is another role where Renee scrunches her face up to an Oscar nomination!

Is there a cameo with Judy “Pills” Garland?

We are ashamed to admit that we found ourself strangely interested and watched the entire trailer.

Stinkfish

Not a Judy fan, but can't wait to this. I have a love of biopics.

We must arrange a viewing party for Dataloungers near and far!

I haven't heard a whisper about this movie. I hope Renee is good in this.

Bitch, please.

Judy's voice was incredible. I hope they don't ruin this by making it inferior. But damn Renee looks great as this.

Renee deserves a big comeback. She's a very good actress. But I don't think too many people are interested in Judy Garland. Nobody really knows who she was or how far she fell.

Judy loved gays so much, how many did she marry again?

[quote] And that really is Renee singing.

It took me half the preview to realize that.

This might very well be good!

I loved Renee in Nurse Betty.

I wasn't convinced by Reeeneee in this role.

Agreed. Cinematography looks great. Hope the movie is good.

Not a good idea to have a non-singer ape one of the greatest voices in entertainment. Try lip syncing.

Judy married 3 homosexuals. And one of them was a friend of ours in 1985-1995!

Stinkfish

[quote] Not a good idea to have a non-singer ape one of the greatest voices in entertainment. Try lip syncing.

I kinda liked the whispery quality. I think the conceit here is that it isn't supposed to be peak Judy. This is months before she died Judy, frail and on the edge.

She still had a voice.

Zellweger is a good actress, but there was not a moment in that trailer where she looked like Judy Garland or even suggested Judy Garland. She just looked like Renee Zellweger with more bad plastic surgery. Or maybe maybe she resembled Jim Bailey. I did not expect much from that trailer, which is exactly what I got.

If you're not going to recreate Judy Garland at least as well as Jim Bailey did it, why bother? Bleccch.

Miss Bailey was really horrible!

How could anyone even watch that?

Little known fact: “Maybe Maybe” wash the working title for “Maybe Shomeday”.

Zellweger doesn't even do as well as Lindon Warren.

Jiminy! Thish ish outrageousch!! Mama shang sho much better than thatch!

When my dog was sick and taking multiple pills every day I started calling her “Judy Pills”. When she’s whiny and neurotic I still refer to her as Judy Pills.

[quote] Not a good idea to have a non-singer ape one of the greatest voices in entertainment. Try lip syncing.

Sounds like a bad Bette Middler impression.

Sorry, one of the greatest voices ever cannot be watered down into a second rate imitation. The whole reason for Judy was her incredible talent. How can you leave that out? They should at least use her voice- with all the tech now available ought to be very doable.

Ummmm.... Yes.

R41 Just shows how they switched to Judy Davis way too early.

R41 that scene is disturbing cause she looks so old and is playing a fairly young Judy Garland.

Judy looked MUCH worse at the end than Renee does in the trailer.

R22 I don't know about that? There have been almost 20,000 views on the other trailer and many comments from some younger people who seem enthralled with Judy. Time will tell I suppose!?

Garland's voice was greatly diminished by her performances in United States in 1967. But she was not down and out yet. Not even close .

Still had it totally in 1964

I don't have a lot of interesting Judy G, but the trailer looked interesting, and a view of a time I don't know much about. And I think Renee looks great. I will see this. If it were someone else playing Judy -- Judy Davis, say -- I wouldn't have been interested.

^^ I meant to add that I really don't care if Renee sounds like or as good as Judy Garland. She sounds...close enough. If I wanted to hear Judy sing, I would listen to one of her albums. I will see this because I'm interested in the story, not the singing. As long as Renee sings it passably -- and it sounds like she does -- it doesn't matter if she is as great a singer.

I guess you're right, R49. Logically, since it portrays the end of her career when her voice was shot, it doesn't matter too much. We'll see.

Can't wait to see it, looks great and I love Renee

The Talk of the Town London show 1969....we spoke to a British eldersister who was in the audience and she said it was "like Gold dust", totally fabulous.

Stinkfish.

I will never get the Judy fascination. I want to see the film to get it!

I grew up in the 90s. Our gay hero was Cobain.

Too much chat with the audience, and the audio is terrible. Occasionally, she did surprise like with Once in my lifetime - the lyrics we're interesting.

[quote] ^^ I meant to add that I really don't care if Renee sounds like or as good as Judy Garland. She sounds...close enough. If I wanted to hear Judy sing, I would listen to one of her albums. I will see this because I'm interested in the story, not the singing. As long as Renee sings it passably -- and it sounds like she does -- it doesn't matter if she is as great a singer.

She sounds nothing like Garland. Its true that if we want to actually hear Garland; we can listen to her recordings. What is also true is that if we want to see her we can watch recorded footage. Instead of tuning in to see Renee Zellweger is Judy drag. We all know Judy's story and her singing voice plays a pivotal role in that story. Transforming Zellweger's appearance draws the viewer in but her singing voice has the opposite affect.

[quote] I grew up in the 90s. Our gay hero was Cobain.

No he wasn't.

Perhaps YOUR hero was Kurt Cobain, R54. His name was widely known outside the rock world.

The recording technology was not good r55,

Are you insane? The biggest rock star in the world was pro gay, pro women. At a time when that was not popular.

Now back to Judy...

Glad I watched "Be a Clown" above for the second song, "For Once in My Life," wonderful

Renee is much better than I thought she would be. I'll give this a try.

[quote]I grew up in the 90s. Our gay hero was Cobain.

I also grew up in the 90s and Cobain did nothing for me. I love Judy.

Yet again, Joey Luft brought to life on the silver screen! I for one cannot wait!

Renee should have played Kurt Cobain. He couldn't sing either.

I love you bitches.

I rescind my Cobain reference. He's my hero, but I realize he isn't for many on the DL.

I still can't wait to watch this.

My parents saw Judy at The Palace, the famous concert. Of the few things my mother saved, she saved the program, having written on it "October 1951". It's a special item for me.

As a teenager, I owned a record album of Judy's return to the Palace, around 1967. It's long gone, of course. Even as a kid I knew she sounded rough. She brought Joey and Lorna up to do "Together, Wherever We Go." I wonder if that recording is available anywhere.

looks good

Imagine the studio system (screwed up as it was) being your whole life and then having to go independent, get off the studio lot and do concerts. She still had great stamina and a still great (more mature ) voice. I’ve never before thought through the copyright issues - she didn’t write or co-write these songs but still could perform them as Judy numbers.

R12, you (or someone like you) posts these lovely words about Judy in every thread I’ve ever seen aboit her on DL. I should snark because it’s DL, but it’s nice.

I'm giving this the benefit of the doubt. Maybe Renee will be brilliant in it.

Oops!

At the ending of SOTR in OP's clip, Renee's natural dumb Baby Voice inflection creeps in. When she sings " . . . dreams really do come true," she clips short the "do," lyric, rather than singing it in Judy's luscious Alto. It's subtle, but it's there.

R71 I know what you mean. It sounds too contemporary.

Rufus Sewell plays Sid Luft.

^^ Oooooh! Loved Rufus Sewell in "Dark City"!

"And that really is Renee singing."

You mean it's NOT an ox being slaughtered?

R70 I'm brilliant and doubting that it will benefit from Renee.

More important, director Rupert Goold said of her performance, “I wasn’t looking for an impersonation of Judy Garland’s inimitable voice, but what I wanted was for Renee to make the songs her own and this she did to thrilling effect.” Sorry, no. If you’re doing a Judy biopic, you don’t get to “make the songs your own.” Either do Judy or get out.

It sounds faaaabulously ill-conceived!

It's only about the pathetic last few months of Garland's life. You don't need to be good singer to play that. Zellweger is an excellent and sometimes underrated actress. She'll be interesting regardless.

But Ms Davis was so damn good.

Shoo in for Best Actress. Poor Glenn.

^^ I'm in: It's now time for the DL "Sure, Jan" gif . . .

Looks to be a comic book movie for homosexuals.

Garland was scary. Long before my time, I've seen some of her best things thanks to DL. Here is one of her last performances. She's terrifying to behold, an addled disaster. Still the youtube comments say she sounds great! Garland fans are more devoted (deluded) than Elvis, Whitney, Cobain and Streisand fans combined!

[quote] Garland was scary. Long before my time, I've seen some of her best things thanks to DL. Here is one of her last performances. She's terrifying to behold, an addled disaster. Still the youtube comments say she sounds great! Garland fans are more devoted (deluded) than Elvis, Whitney, Cobain and Streisand fans combined!

Everyone knows how frail she was before she died. "Terrifying to behold" is an idiotic exaggeration. She looks frail, like she's in very poor health. Which she was. And I'm not sure that you can really judge the quality of her voice from that 1 minute of singing, not to mention its a duet.

^delusional^

R84 love Judy. She might well have been, as Sinatra said, IIRC, the greatest entertainer of the 20th century. But between her and Johnny, the NY pharmacies were probably out of stock.

I thought Rene looked more like Julie Andrews.

Bless you r61, that was the main reason for presenting the video, it shows the essence of Judy Garland.

The trailer looks good but it's not Judy Garland. Doesn't look or sound like her and Garland's voice was far too distinctive to make this work.

They'd be better off making the same picture about a fictional star and say it was based on some aspect of Judy's life. That would be a lot easier to sell, especially with Renee singing.

Yes, r90, a much better idea and one that would really work!

R90 kind of like "The Rose"?

[quote] Renee deserves a big comeback. She's a very good actress. But I don't think too many people are interested in Judy Garland. Nobody really knows who she was or how far she fell.

[quote] Renee should have played Kurt Cobain. He couldn't sing either.

[quote] It's only about the pathetic last few months of Garland's life. You don't need to be good singer to play that. Zellweger is an excellent and sometimes underrated actress. She'll be interesting regardless.

[quote] Garland was scary. Long before my time, I've seen some of her best things thanks to DL. Here is one of her last performances. She's terrifying to behold, an addled disaster. Still the youtube comments say she sounds great! Garland fans are more devoted (deluded) than Elvis, Whitney, Cobain and Streisand fans combined!

[quote] ^delusional^

Will it have the cum guzzling over the rainbow scene???

Rufus Sewell as Sid Luft? Rufus Sewell is hot as hell.

I hope this film makes a verrrrry big deal about Sid Luft being a nudist.

Does Ciara play Dionne Warwick?

Did Sid have sizemeat?

R85, she looks terrifying, you can't deny it. She has that look that sick old people get in their eyes when they know they don't have much time left. Plenty of people are upset by it, for obvious reasons.

I think it took serious balls to even ATTEMPT this role, and for that I wish Renee all the best-

I have always liked her.

Easy role for her, it’s no secret she’s hopped up on pills and liquor most of the time.

Zellweger looks much too young and healthy. For this role, they needed to grab an older actress really on her way out. Then the hair and make up would be real. A burnt out woman, a spent force, trying and failing to look younger and more vital. Zellweger looks like she just sprinted from yoga class.

I keep seeing squinty Renee not Judy but the sets costumes & palette are nice.

What is the audience for this?

Younger people won't even know who Judy Garland is. (And, no, people do not grow up watching The Wizard of Oz anymore.)

And older gay fans will be angry that their goddess's voice was not actually used.

Lol, Kurt Cobain is not a “gay hero”. He’s a “hero” to suburban straight white kids trying and failing to have an ironic sense of detachment from the world because of their “pain.”

Oh, well stated, R104. Nailed it.

I like Renee and think she could do this justice, she just shouldn’t be singing it. Even on her worst day, her deathbed, Judy had a great voice, period.

BTW, I used to see Renee all the time at my Equinox in NYC in the aughts. She is surprisingly not that short, but she’s VERY skinny, not unhealthily so. Super Pilates/yoga body.

[quote] I keep seeing squinty Renee not Judy but the sets costumes & palette are nice.

Anyone see that? I heard she was great.

r103 Young people know who Judy Garland is. You old people forget she starred in a film that is still seen by children in 2019 and played on TV a few times a year, The Wizard of Oz.

Its funny how you all think everyone worships Audrey Hepburn but think "no one knows" who Judy "Dorothy" Garland is.Her iconic role is bigger than anything Audrey ever did.

Anyone know why this is being released early and not held for Oscar season? I'm with the people who were pleasantly surprised by the trailer!

I haven't seen Me And My Shadows but was this comprehensive in charting Judy's life?

We haven't even heard her speak yet. She won't get a nomination if she can't get the voice right.

R111 I'm going by memory, but I think it did span Judy's life.

One great scene I recall distinctly is Judy Davis as Garland, working herself up as she makes her way onstage while the orchestra plays opening bars. Might have been Carnegie Hall. Gave me chills.

Here's the scene that gave me shivers (then and now). Starts around 13:00

[quote]Young people know who Judy Garland is. You old people forget she starred in a film that is still seen by children in 2019 and played on TV a few times a year, The Wizard of Oz.

who dis?

If the film is good, people will go. Not everyone thinks life started in 2000.

Young people likely *only* know her as Dorothy, not as one of the great popular singers of the 20th century. The elements of drug addiction and abuse in her story might resonate with them.

My parents would watch her TV show in the early sixties. I remember how much I hated her singing. Her terrible, harsh vibrato. As an adult, I think she sounded good at Carnegie Hall, but after that it was all downhill. Sad.

Is Renee STILL in shit business?

Carnegie Hall was an amazing performance. Note-perfect. Now when you buy the album on iTunes you can get outtakes, bits of chatter that are quite fun.

When I was a kid, watching The Wizard of Oz every year was a ritual. The network that ran it made it an event.

But people don't watch network TV that much anymore (and usually not live). And we live in a world with 1,200 channel and streaming choices.

The days of everyone gathering around to watch a movie from 70+ years ago are over.

So I think people are overestimating today's young people's exposure to Judy Garland, based on their own experience in a different TV world many years ago.

Every homosexual, young or old, knows who Judy is.

R124 is typing from the 1950s.

Wizard of Oz is an inescapable pop culture staple. Young people don't need to see the full movie to know about it.

Judy was never adopted as an icon by young women the way Audrey and Marilyn were.

I know Judy from both Wizard of Oz and A Star is Born. Great songs in both. She also originated Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas although her version was bested by Sinatra.

R127 because Judy was not a glamorous sex symbol. Many young women who like Audrey and Marilyn are attracted to the superficial personas of old movie stars and the belief that 'actually they were deep thinkers and misunderstood geniuses!'.

R129 Good point. All of those bogus inspirational quotes that float around the Internet from Audrey, Marilyn or Princess Diana.

I agree with R110. Wizard of Oz is the biggest movie of all time. Everyone watches it.

You can watch the complete tv movie with Judy Davis here...

Sorry. It’s just not Judy. It’s Renee trying to “do” Judy rather than be Judy.

Judy Davis was incredible.

The Wizard of Oz still gets watched. I work as a retail manager and that movie sells out all the time. Parents are always buying it for their kids.

Also, young adults and teens know her after A Star Is Born came out last year and all over the place were the comparisons to the Garland and Streisand versions.

So, DL, did anyone notice that (in the second to last picture) Joey's shirt is ... BLUE!

The version on YouTube has a few key scenes missing, ones that were cut from the broadcast version but are available on the DVD version. I think those added scenes give depth and richness to the story; however, the YouTube version is still quite watchable.

I hope they take out the line they have Liza say: "Mama died on the crapper, Lorna. The biggest, best star in all of Hollywood and you die taking a goddamn shit. Ain't fame something? Thank your lucky stars you've been spared any."

didnt no ole beeotch cood sing

R133, it’s a movie not a drag queen act. Renée is not supposed to sound, look, or sing EXACTLY like Garland to play her.

I liked the brief inclusion of an Eames lounge chair and ottoman, upholstered in white leather, in the trailer.

PR140, Thank you for noticing my incredible attention to detail when I was picking out formulaic, trite and not always period correct pieces when dressing & designing the set. Wait until you see the movie! Look for Judy and the “Fam” to cruise the Vegas Strip in Dan Tana’s ‘57 Chevy on their way to see Sammy Davis at The Aladdin in ‘76. It’s magic!

R12, do they pay you to post that in every thread about Judy Garland?

R10 that's funny. Not enough Broadway enthusiasts on here

The reviews for Renee from Telluride have been outstanding. She's definitely going to be nominated. The film, though, is getting mixed reviews.

It's selling out all pre-sales at TIFF.

The "Reneesance" is in full swing.

I generally like Renee but this is Renee playing Judy Davis, playing Judy Garland.

I hope this movie does not make Liza unhappy. Liza is a fabulous, kind person. A class act all the way.

Reviews are so-so

Vanilla

Yes, it's OBVIOUS that was Renee singing because it's fucking awful.