Cate Blanchett will be Margo Channing
Friday, April 28, 2017 at 2:45PM by Murtada
Fasten your seat belts, 2018 is gonna be a glorious year. At least for London theatergoers. Cate Blanchett will star as Margo Channing in a stage adaption of All About Eve (1950). Eve, which originally starred Bette Davis as Margo, is the ultimate backstage rivalry story. Margo is the big star fighting her huge ego as well as ageism as she tries to survive being upstaged by the young ingenue Eve, who starts as her biggest fan and assistant. Blanchett playing Margo is very meta. Forget that she already played Katharine Hepburn and now gets a chance to play her similarly lauded contemporary's most famous part...
Cate is also a great stage star (most recently on Broadway in The Present) playing a great stage star. Of course Margo was reaching an impasse in her career after turning 40. On the other hand Blanchett, at 47, seems to be coming to even greater success as an actress, both on stage and screen. This is just one of the many projects that will make 2018 another big year for her.
This staging will be adapted and directed by the internationally acclaimed Ivo van Hove, recently on Broadway with minimalist interpretations of two Arthur Miller classics, View from the Bridge and The Crucible. He has now moved on to staging film adaptations. Jude Law currently stars in his staging of Visconti’s Obsession in London. Before Eve makes it to the boards in the spring of 2018, Bryan Cranston will star in his adaptation of Network, also in London.
Now who plays Eve? Could it be Saoirse Ronan who starred in Van Hove’s The Crucible on Broadway and was Blanchett’s antagonist in Hanna (2011)? Perhaps a rematch with her co-star from The Maids Elizabeth Debicki, who some in the press keep trying to sell as the next Blanchett -- as if there could ever be two Cates! Maybe get Lupita Nyong’o, who announced herself as a Broadway star last year with Eclipsed? We certainly would like to see these two share a stage other than Oscar’s; they won on the same night 3 years ago. Would it be too odd for this story to be the reunion of Carol and Therese (Rooney Mara)? It too involves a lot of glamorous cigarette smoking!
Londoners, have you started queuing for tickets yet?
Reader Comments (35)
O M G !!!!!!!
Going to London in 2018 for sure!!
Blanchett is Meryl's Eve.
Favorite character of all time played by a top 5 favorite actress. I die.
Lupita Nyongo as Eve is a brilliant idea and a good example of the kind of creative casting that film/tv/theater should try more of. Diversity doesn't have to only mean waiting for projects that explicitly require actors of color.
This has made me so excited. There is no way I will miss this. Thank God, London is only a few hours away.
Blanchett will kill in this. Just kill. So much so they might do a remake of the movie because of her.
They didn't use the opportunity with Streetcar after the smashing 2009 success, but now, I'd say it's more likely. Her star has only risen higher since then.
Yavor: Blue Jasmine, anyone?
YEEES! I want dates, I'm booking my ticket to London.
I would love to see Kate Winslet as Eve.
I know. To old. but let me dream with the KCates on the stage together, okay?!
Saiorse Ronan Will be amazing. As Carey Mulligan.
I feel no one can duplicate Davis's take on Margo Channing. It WAS her life... although if anyone can do justice to the role, Cate is a good actress to fill the shoes. I did not care for her as Hepburn in the Aviator... but still.
I think Ronan would be an excellent Eve.
We are going to England this summer so we will miss her time in the theater.
A few months ago I would have said "Don't mess with such a classic!" But after witnessing the endearing homage paid to Davis and Crawford in Feud, well, I say "Go for it!" My vote is 100% with Saoirse Ronan as Eve. Whoever plays Bill should be in his late 30s, that is, a full 10 years younger than Blanchett. But who will it be? And Karen? And Birdie? OMG! Birdie! Wouldn't Madeline Kahn or Eileen Brennan have been great as Birdie? When I saw Brennan in At Long Last Love I thought she was the best thing to happen to a kitchen after Thelma Ritter in All About Eve or The Mating Season for that matter!
Wow, seriously no mention of Lauren Bacall? Margo Channing onstage (in Applause) was the defining role of her career.
I think Lucy Boynton would be great as Eve, too.
London, 2018, got it.
Hey Nathaniel--would love to see your thoughts on Little Foxes with Linney and Nixon? Dying to know if it's worth the drive and hundreds of dollars.
It's a perfect movie with a perfect script- nobody can improve it
Andrew Garfield as Bill? Julia Stiles as Karen? Since we're conjecturing with film actors who have stage experience.
I would love to fly out to London just to see Cate Blanchett do some actressing. But as for who should play Eve, how about Gugu Mbatha-Raw? It'd be soooo amazing to see her act opposite Queen Cate
To be perfectly honest. I find this casting a little bit off. Yes, Cate is extraordinary, but... I dunno, I feel like I can already hear her line-readings and they are loud and over the top. Much like Meryl in film versions of plays (August, anybody?) she's not always the best choice just because she's one of the best. So much power of Bette's performance comes from her own history and if my memory serves she plays a lot quieter than one might think. It's a role that can read theatrical and I worry Cate will really take it there and not rein it in. This would have been a great role for a comeback performance. It just comes off as lazy, albeit smart for attention and ticket sales.
This is amazing news, go for it Cate! If only I lived in London. Saoirse would be my choice for Eve.
Let's cast!
Margo Channing- Cate Blanchett
Eve Harrington- Billie Piper
Addison DeWitt- Hugo Weaving
Birdie Coonan- Dorothy Atkinson
Karen Richards- Essie Davis
Bill Simpson- Sean Harris
Lloyd Richards- Chris Cooper
She will make this a performance to be remembered! Just lime Streetcar. Hail the Great Cate!
I'd rather watch the movie. This "idea" seems like a waste of a lot of talent.
It's worth noting that All About Eve itself was based on a short story by Mary Orr entitled "The Wisdom of Eve", which she adapted into a play of the same name in 1964. This play was produced Off Broadway in 1979, after All About Eve's musical adaptation, Applause, premiered on Broadway with Lauren Bacall as Margo. So the original property has had quite a life!
Claire Foley as Eve, would be great!!!
Ian McKellen as Addison Dewitt. ♥♥♥♥
Oh geez. I wish I had money. Or at least enough money to fly to London to see this production. Hopefully it gets filmed for National Theatre Live.
Jon: Ian McKellan as Addison DeWitt is a great idea. I also like Huge Weaving. Who would play Miss Caswell, hmmm...
(Lightbulb over head) How about Anne Hathaway as Eve? I think that could be fascinating, what with much of the public having certain *feelings* about Hathaway.
Yaasss Rob...I'm on the Hathaway train with you!
@Rob
Yes for Hathaway! Yes for McKellen!
Put Kate Winslet as Karen Richards!
Imelda Staunton as Birdie Coonan!
Jows; Sean Harris is even 3 years older than Cate! Unless they eliminate Margo's obsession with age and the fact that Bill was 8 years younger then her, then I don't see that as a good match. Claire Foy as Eve and Hugo Weaving or Ian McKellan as Addison are good choices.
Mess, I legit thought Sean Harris was younger, lol. Ginger power.
Cate was fantastic on Broadway in The Present. Will definitely fly to London from New York as its my school's Spring Break. Cate was charismatic & entertaining. A great reason to visit London for the very 1st time.
Margo Channing- Cate Blanchett
Eve Harrington- Saoirse Ronan
Addison DeWitt- Ralph Fiennes
Birdie Coonan- Kate Winslet
Karen Richards- Glenn Close
Bill Simpson- Christian Bale
Lloyd Richards- Liam Neeson
Miss Casswell - Margot Robbie
@Manuel
AWESOME!!!! *-*