COMPOSER-lyricist Cole Porter died in 1964, but Hollywood producer Irwin Winkler sees Porter's music speaking to this and future generations. ``I grew up listening to Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald interpreting Porter's songs. They followed artists such as Ethel Merman, Fred Astaire and Bob Hope. Bing Crosby performed a lot of Porter. New artists have sung his songs. ``It seems to me each generation finds something significant in his songs,'' Winkler says. The Porter biopic he's directed, De-Lovely, starring Kevin Kline as the composer and Ashley Judd as his socialite wife, Linda, features well-known performers of today -- Robbie Williams, Diana Krall, Sheryl Crow and Allanis Morisette among them -- offering new interpretations of Porter standards such as Night and Day, Begin the Beguine, Let's Misbehave, I Get A Kick out of You and the title song, It's De-Lovely. ``It seemed an ideal way to link the generations, as we know that De-Lovely will have most appeal for the middle-aged audience who grew up knowing his songs,'' Winkler says. He's been in Australia promoting the film in Sydney and Melbourne while Kline has been in Tokyo. Winkler, 73, a former manager for bands such as Crosby, Stills and Nash and performers such as Jodie Mitchell, established himself as a key Hollywood producer (the original Rocky through to Rocky V and GoodFellas ) in the 1970s before trying his hand as a director with titles such as The Net, Guilty by Suspicion and 2001's Life as a House (starring Kline). ``One of my favourite films is High Society with Porter's music and Crosby, Sinatra and Grace Kelly. ``I had an opportunity to meet with the Cole Porter estate and they said they'd welcome a new movie about Porter's life with no restrictions and we were free to present his life our way,'' he says. Winkler says an earlier Porter biopic, Night and Day, made in 1946 starring Cary Grant, had sanitised Porter's life, (omitting any mention of his bisexuality), and Porter himself had not particularly enjoyed it. He said Kline was an obvious choice to play the composer, as he had sung on Broadway, had won Tony awards for his work there, and was a skilled pianist who had studied composition. Jay Cocks, former film and music reviewer for Time magazine was invited to write the screenplay, and it all came together. Winkler was thrilled by the contribution of Australian stage star Caroline O'Connor, who sings one of Porter's evergreens, Anything Goes, in the movie. ``I'd seen her work in Moulin Rouge and was very impressed, and she was in London when we were filming and she got the job,'' he says. One day was allocated for the scene, filmed in London's Old Vic Theatre, with O'Connor bringing an Ethel Merman-style delivery to her version of the song. ``A lot of people don't know who Cole Porter is, but you mention a song title he wrote, and they know instantly,'' he says.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Music links generations
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