Annie

Tenacious, self-assured, and persistently positive, Annie – the iconic character whose relentlessly optimistic search for a family has inspired generations – comes to the big screen with a contemporary vision in Columbia Pictures’ comedy, Annie.

Perhaps the film's most spectacular location was 4 World Trade Center, a state-of-the-art skyscraper where the production filmed the interiors of Stacks' luxurious penthouse apartment.

Perhaps the film’s most spectacular location was 4 World Trade Center, a state-of-the-art skyscraper where the production filmed the interiors of Stacks’ luxurious penthouse apartment.

Director / Producer / Screenwriter Will Gluck combines a love of music, enduring characters, and a modern setting, teaming with producers James Lassiter, Jada Pinkett Smith & Will Smith, Caleeb Pinkett, and Shawn “JAY Z” Carter, Laurence “Jay” Brown, and Tyran “Ty Ty” Smith to capture the magic of a character who has moved audiences from comics to the stage to television to film.

Director, writer and producer Will Gluck says that in approaching a new vision for Annie – the classic show that won seven Tony Awards on Broadway and went on to become a heartfelt movie classic for 1980s kids who are now parents themselves – he was excited by the chance to work on a film that captures the magic of family. Working with a classic is no easy task, but it’s one that Gluck, along with the producers, approached with equal parts respect and excitement. “Annie has never gone out of style,” Gluck says.

In their vision for the film, Gluck and the producers wanted to put an updated, contemporary spin on the classic Broadway classic. Rather than set the film in the 1930s, “Annie” is set in the present day and the heroine is a 2014 kid in every possible way. Leading the way, as Annie, is Quvenzhané Wallis, who set a record as the youngest person ever nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award®. So the filmmakers have put a thoroughly contemporary spin on these characters – and in so doing, they cast the roles with bright, all-star company of actors, including Jamie Foxx, Rose Byrne, , and Cameron Diaz.

Production designer Marcia Hinds worked closely with Will Gluck, a Manhattan native, to find the film’s locations. From Harlem to Washington Heights to the Upper West Side, from the Guggenheim Museum on 5th Avenue to the modernistic buildings of John Jay College of Criminal Justice on Tenth Avenue, the filmmakers took advantage of everything New York had to offer. Annie sings “Tomorrow” on a lively strip of Lexington Avenue, between 115th and 117th Streets in East Harlem, while the East Side Community School on East 12th Street downtown filled in for Annie’s Harlem school.

Cannavale and Diaz rehearsed the dance for three months, on and off: immediately prior to starring in Annie, was in Boston, working on another film, so dance rehearsals were worked around her schedule. Cannavale, choreographer Zachary Woodlee and assistant choreographer Brittany Parks traveled from New York to rehearse with the actress. “She’d finished a 12-hour day on another film, and then we hit it,” says Cannavale.

MoreMovieDetails

All Posts
0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Share this article: Annie

Facebook
LinkedIn
WhatsApp
Pinterest
Email

MORE TOPICS

Yves Saint Laurent

In January 1958, Yves Saint Laurent (Pierre Niney) – aged merely 21 – was unexpectedly called upon to oversee the legendary Paris fashion house established by recently deceased Christian Dior. All eyes turned to this assistant as he presented his first collection for Dior and instantly ascended to the heights of haute couture’s elite class.

Barney's Version is the picaresque and touching story of the politically incorrect, fully lived life of the impulsive, irascible and fearlessly blunt Barney Panofsky.

Barney’s Version

From producer Robert Lantos, Barney’s Version is a film based on Mordecai Richler’s prize-winning comic novel with Paul Giamatti in the title role. Filming took place in Montreal, the Laurentians, Rome and New York. Barney Panofsky (Paul Giamatti) is a seemingly ordinary man who lives an extraordinary life. Barney’s candid confessional spans four decades and two continents, and includes three wives (Rosamund Pike, Minnie Driver and Rachelle Lefevre), one outrageous father (Dustin Hoffman) and a charmingly dissolute best friend (Scott Speedman).

Luc Besson has been criticized as the most Hollywood of French filmakers

Luc Besson

Luc Besson ( born 18 March 1959) is a French film director, writer, and producer. He is the creator of EuropaCorp film company. He has been involved with over 50 films, spanning 26 years, as writer, director, and/or producer.

Laugh Masters: The Influence of Actors in Comedy

The influence of comedic actors on comedy and societal norms are interweaved, shaping the way we perceive and respond to humor. They challenge societal conventions, push boundaries, and even aid in coping with life’s complexities.

The film even had the support of a former De La Salle player himself, Maurice Jones Drew, who has a cameo in the film.

When the Game Stands Tall

Like all the greatest sports stories, the true-life tale of the man known as “Coach Lad” and his De La Salle Spartans was about reaching for the limits of human achievement.

Gnoméo & Juliette sont deux nains de jardin issus de familles en conflit depuis des années, les Montague & Les Capulet

Gnomeo and Juliet

Gnomeo and Juliet is a upcoming CGI animated film produced by Starz Animation released under the Touchstone banner that is based on William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet. This film’s two main characters are voiced by James McAvoy and Emily Blunt. Several songs within the film are performed by Elton John