Stars proposed for Evita
“DON’T CRY FOR ME, Argentina!” sings the leading character in “Evita,” the Tim Rice-Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, still a hit on Broadway and all over the world.
“Evita’s” progress from the stage to the big screen has been rocky and uphill, even more difficult than Eva Peron’s rise from poverty to power in the 40s. As you know, every actress who can croak out a note has wanted to do the movie version.
Well, here’s the latest. We could be seeing Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta with their names above the title when “Evita” becomes a film! Robert Stigwood, who owns the property, is negotiating with the popular costars of his other big hit, “Grease,” and he desperately wants Olivia as Eva and John as the revolutionary commentator, Che Guevera.
This twosome would make big box office and also earn astronomical salaries. (They are already set to make relative fortunes from 20th Century-Fox for a non-musical movie they plan to do a remake of the old British classic, “Stairway to Heaven.” In this one, Oliver Reed will play the devil to their young couple who wind up in heaven by mistake and are sent back to earth to complete the plot. Travolta is to get $3 million for this and Newton-John is set to earn $1.5 million. So try to imagine what they could ask for to star in “Evita!”)
The effort to make “Evita” into a movie already has been considerable, full of sound and fury signifying nothing.
At first, the eccentric Ken Russell was to direct and he wanted and tested Liza Minnelli and announced she was “it.”
But Tim Rice rebelled; he has always insisted his lady friend, Elaine Paige, who created the role on the London stage, should star in the movie. With Paige in place, Herb Ross was to direct. But nothing happened and speculation is that Stigwood can’t get “Evita” produced with a movie unknown in the lead.
Also, if Stigwood can lure real biggies, like John and Olivia, then Elaine can drop out with no loss of face. I think that’s just what’s happening.