Kevin Spacey and Kevin Kline were both approached to star in Chicago
In a new interview, director Rob Marshall reveals that he considered both Kevins for the role of Billy Flynn, which ultimately went to Richard Gere
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We… want… Kevin? In a new interview celebrating the Academy Award-winning movie musical Chicago’s 20th anniversary, director Rob Marshall reveals that there were a few other potential actors for the central role of suave and self-interested lawyer Billy Flynn—and both of them were named Kevin.
“I remember speaking to Kevin Kline and Kevin Spacey — all the Kevins — about Billy Flynn,” Marshall tells The Hollywood Reporter’s Ryan Gajewski.
According to Marshall, Spacey ended up focusing on Bobby Darin’s 2004 film Beyond The Sea, and Kline “wasn’t quite sure” about taking on Chicago. As Marshall elucidates, this wasn’t the era of a big-budget, two-part Wicked adaptation. In the early aughts, not as many in the industry were sold on the idea of a movie musical.
“The truth is, a lot of people were reticent about doing a musical,” Marshall shares. “It’s a very cynical musical, too, in many ways. It’s very hard for people to see it as a film.”
However, despite considering both Kevins, Marshall says that right from the jump it was “very clear to him” that Richard Gere was “the one” for the role. Gere ended up receiving a Golden Globe for Best Actor for his performance, his only Golden Globe win. (Avoiding Spacey specifically seems like a real bullet dodge—however you feel about separating art from artist, it’s hard to imagine finding completely unabashed joy today in a Spacey movie produced by Harvey Weinstein.)
“I always believe that in a perfect world, you don’t even have to make a decision about actors,” Marshall explains. “The actor themselves, if they’re right for the role, they claim it as theirs, and that’s what Richard Gere did.”
20 Comments
Well, he made the right choice. Richard Gere is perfect in that role.
He did well, and Marshall did a good job shooting around Gere’s limitations (as well as Zellwegger’s and Zeta-Jones’s). But I’ve seen Billy Flynn on stage played by someone who can sing and dance (Taye Diggs) and that makes it pretty hard to agree that Gere’s performance is perfect.
Oh, man. That’s really cool. I’d love to see Taye Diggs do Billy Flynn. I can imagine it pretty clearly. I’m sure it was fantastic. Obviously, a ton of people have excelled at the role on the stage over the years. I’ve heard that Michael C Hall, Louis Gosset Jr, and Billy Zane were all really killer in the role, as well. I just thought that Richard Gere worked really well for that film version with that cast.
Gere’s great for all the moments when Flynn has to go from warm and friendly to completely cold-blooded in a blink of an eye. I was also ready for the idea that Gere would be speak-singing his role, but for some reason I had it in my head that maybe Gere was one of those actors who had a dance background—I have memories of a lot of dancing in his younger roles—so I expected him to actually be able to do some real hoofing in Chicago and was disappointed. And Diggs is so good at that sinuous Fosse dancing (I bet Hall kicks ass at that as well) and Diggs is actually in the movie, just in a smaller role.
True story—I once met Billy Zane in a Tower Records in NYC back when he was starring in Chicago on Broadway. He was dressed like he just stepped out of the stage and into the record store to buy a CD while someone else was doing their number.
I’ll add that he was very nice when I asked him, ‘hey, aren’t you Billy Zane?’
He might have been less nice if you’d asked him if he was Billy Crystal…
If I was him I’d look around startled and say “Billy Zane? Where?!”
My Billy Zane story is similar, but it was 1996, so he wore a mask and a purple jumpsuit.
Always felt he would’ve made a great Lex Luthor.
Shoulda got kevin pollak
I will never watch this film. There are always lame Best Picture winners, and this is one of them. The US was still reeling from the attacks on 9/11, and was about to be the bad guy and invade Iraq, and this movie beat [fill in the blank]. People still watch Gangs of New York. People still talk about the survivor’s guilt portrayed in The Pianist. The Two Towers is the best Rings film. And Stephen Spielberg delivered two of his better films in 2002. It was a weak year in cinema, but Chicago perplexes me.
His nickname isn’t Kevin “DeKline” for nothing. Notorious for turning down a bunch of roles over the years.
I thought you were making a really lame joke. Then I looked it up.
If I was married to Phoebe Cates I wouldn’t want to leave home much either.
People seem to really like Chicago. I found the movie underwhelming and forgettable.
I feel like it’s one of the best movie musical adaptations we’ve had. They keep (in my opinion) fucking up the Sondheim ones by cutting a bunch of songs and casting people who can’t really handle the part (I generally like Helena Bonham Carter, but I couldn’t understand a word of her patter in Sweeney Todd). Granted Sondheim is generally a harder lift than Kander and Ebb, but they cast people who didn’t feel overmatched by what they were asked to do.
neat.
Kline would have been wonderful, but Gere was OK.
“I remember speaking to Kevin Kline and Kevin Spacey – all the Kevins.” – Rob Marshall“Am I a fucking joke to you?” – Kevin Pollak