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Jennifer Lopez Having Trouble Getting 'Carmen' Project Funded
01/03/2006 4:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
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Jennifer Lopez is reportedly having trouble getting a backer for a film musical based on the George Bizet opera Carmen. According to the New York Daily News, investors aren't willing to put up the $50 million needed for the project, even though Ray director Taylor Hackford was tapped to direct the film. Hackford said Thursday (December 29), "Carmen is on its last legs. Studios are so frightened at the moment that they are looking for outside money."
Hackford thinks that there's a lot of fear in Hollywood because so many films aren't doing well at the box office. But, he also admits that studio heads think audiences won't accept JLo as the legendary vixen who is murdered by her jilted lover. He said, "[Carmen] is not a sweet, nice girl. This is a piece about a criminal. We want to do a tough, hard version, but Hollywood thinks the audience [for Jennifer Lopez] is 13-year-old girls. ...It has an ending that Hollywood does not like to make."
MTV did a musical special based on the opera called Carmen - A Hip Hopera in 2001. It starred Beyonce Knowles in the title role opposite Mekhi Phifer, Mos Def, and Joy Bryant.
Lopez will be in Puerto Rico this month filming El Cantante, which stars her husband, Marc Anthony.
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