Jake Gyllenhaal will be visiting 'Fun Home'
Saturday, January 4, 2020 at 8:00PM 
Gyllenhaal with Tesori in 2018
Thankfully the box office failure of Cats hasn’t put the kibosh on green lighting musicals for the big screen. The latest Broadway sensation to get the big screen treatment will be Fun Home, based on illustrator Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoir about her bittersweet relationship with her father. Yes that’s the Bechdel of the Bechdel test. Jake Gyllenhaal will produce and star as Bruce Bechdel, the role that won Michael Cerveris a Tony for best actor in a musical- one of 5 Tonys Fun Home won in 2015. The part is multi faceted as the elder Bechdel is a closeted conflicted gay man and the musical charts not only his daughter’s queer awakening but also his messy relationship with her and with his wife.
Sydney Lucas as Small alison with Cerveris on Broadway
I loved this show on Broadway and I'm excited to see a film adaptation, but with reservations about this casting. I hope Gyllenhaal can give it the pathos and depth it needs while not relying on the tics that have become a trademark of his performances since Prisoners (2013). On the other hand he has proven himself to be adept at musicals having starred in Sundays in the Park With George on Broadway and Little Shop of Horrors off Broadway. He will be taking Sunday to London next May.
Fun Home featured lyrics by Lisa Kron and music by Jeanine Tesori (Caroline or Change). On stage the part of Alison is played by three actresses at different ages but we don’t know if the movie would follow the same plan. Sydney Lucas was senastional on Broadway as the youngest Alison. That character gets the showstopping number, Ring of Keys. Another great part is that of the mother Helen Bechdel for which Judy Kuhn was Tony nominated. The Daily Mail which broke the news - Baz Bamigboye is reliable on theater and theater to film adaptations - credits Sam Gold, who directed the Broadway production, as the director but no news yet of who’s writing the adaptation.
Have you got your Ring of Keys ready for this?
Reader Comments (14)
I'm sure he'll be fine. Great, even. But man I've always earmarked this role for Patrick Wilson for the film adaptation. Imagine.
now cast spidertwink as roy - their instagram gaybaiting will go into overdrive
This sounds promising- but what I really want to see Jake in "Sunday in the Park With George" the film which is the musical Tom Hooper should have made instead of the misbegotten "Cats"
I have some fears. Not sure how this translates into a movie. Worried about the casting. Has Sam Gold directed a film?
Maybe I just have Cerveris’ inimitable performance stuck in my head, but I think Gyllenhaal reads too young for this right now.
I loved "Fun Home" when I saw it, and agree that "Ring of Keys" is the best song. I'm glad they're making a movie out of it, and I am definitely interested.
I think Gyllenhaal will do ok to good. He's a good singer in comparison to some other famous actors given movie musical roles recently, but not that great. Watch his version of "Finishing the Hat" and then Mandy Patinkin's and see what I mean.
Seems we're never ever going to get musicals with the right cast and the right director.
YES TIMES INFINITY! It is time for Jack to get his Oscar and the world’s attention to his star ability again. Plus, he is such a great singer, further proof that he should have been in Marriage Story. Period.
The Helen role truly is amazing in this. I could see someone like Cate Blanchett doing amazing in it (given Kuhn’s performance), but I don’t know that she can sing and she wouldn’t be a match for Jake.
Amy Adams could work, but her singing voice might not be quite right for this. Michelle Williams could be good too, but her singing voice can be wispy and she’s already done this before. If they went without a movie star, I’d be curious to see what Block could do. She feels like she’s not a match for Jake in all the right ways.
Anne Hathaway for the wife please... :-)
I LOVED the Broadway show. I agree with Libby that Jake reads too young for the role--that was my very first thought when I read this. That said, I'm glad that they are taking at a stab at turning this into a film.
I just hope they don't fuck this up - musical adaptations very often prove difficult to translate successfully to the big screen (and I love the show so much). I do think JG seems perhaps too young to play Bruce Bechdel, but he might well pull it off. As to the suggestion of Anne Hathaway above, my feeling is no: she's not only too young, she's just not right for the part. Helen Bechdel was not a winsome type of person, and Hathaway is winsome to beat the band, bless her.
Loved the graphic novel, loved the show, have been a Bechdel fangirl for close to twenty years. Yes yes yes but DON'T FUCK IT UP.
I had been thinking Toni Collette, but I think others are correct. It's got to be Anne Hathaway.