De-Lovely Article

[kc12286]

I thought you guys might enjoy this article. I got this from the AIM news ticker.

CANNES, France (AP) - Could it get more de-lovely? Sheryl Crow, Elvis Costello, Alanis Morissette, Natalie Cole and Diana Krall are among singers belting out Cole Porter tunes in a film biography of the composer.

``De-Lovely,'' starring Kevin Kline and Ashley Judd, is the closing film Saturday night at the Cannes Film Festival, injecting a touch of old-fashioned class to the event's celebrity-circus atmosphere.

The film plays out as a song-and-dance-filled flashback as the dying Porter (Kline) is whisked to a stage rehearsal by the angel Gabriel (Jonathan Pryce), who orchestrates a re-enactment of the songwriter's life. Though he was gay, party-hearty Porter maintained an enduring relationship with wife Linda (Judd).

Filmmaker Irwin Winkler, who also directed Kline in ``Life as a House,'' rounded up an eclectic mix of pop and jazz stars for musical cameos.

Crow sings ``Begin the Beguine,'' Costello does ``Let's Misbehave,'' Morissette belts out ``Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love),'' Krall croons ``Just One of Those Things'' and Cole performs ``Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye.'' The film's other singers include Vivian Green on ``Love for Sale,'' Mick Hucknall of Simply Red on ``I Love You'' and Robbie Williams on the title tune ``It's De-Lovely,'' featuring the breezy reprise, ``It's delightful, it's delicious, it's de-lovely.''

Cole, whose father Nat King Cole recorded Porter tunes, and jazz singer Krall were natural fits. Costello, though he has sung with Tony Bennett and recorded old standards, seems a less likely pick. Crow, Morissette and others known only for contemporary pop and rock are surprising choices.

``I think hopefully having the unexpected performing will draw some young people in, and they'll learn about Cole Porter,'' Crow, a show-tune fan since childhood, said in an interview Friday with The Associated Press. ``When I was a kid, my parents used to always say, `It's so tragic. She was born in the wrong period.' Because I was such a fan of song and dance, that genre of musicals. I just wanted to be a crooner so badly.''

Morissette, who performs her song in an energetic dance montage, said colleagues such as Williams and Crow project class and charm appropriate to crooners of Porter's era.

``But when I thought of me, I thought, wow, they're really taking a risk,'' Morissette said. ``I mean, if they knew me, they would know that it wasn't a risk at all. I did a lot of musicals since I was a young girl and danced since I was 7 years old. And that was kind of a back-pocket secret of mine that I've not shared, really. So a lot of people had no idea that I could dance, understandably.''

Early on, Kline raised objections with director Winkler about inserting modern singers into 1920s and '30s performances.

``I thought it was a terrible idea,'' Kline said. ``Alanis Morissette? Can she sing Cole Porter? Elvis Costello? I kept hearing these names, and I asked Irwin, `They're not going to rock 'n' roll it, are they?'

``I thought, it's going to distract. It's going to take you out of the fictional bubble of the world of the movie. And I couldn't have been more wrong. It worked great.''

Each singer captures a sense of vintage authenticity while retaining their contemporary voice and individuality.

The ``De-Lovely'' soundtrack will be in stores June 15. The movie hits U.S. and Canadian theaters June 25 and will roll out to the rest of the world in the fall.

After Saturday night's Cannes screening, Kline and Judd planned to introduce Crow, Morissette and Cole performing Porter tunes at a ``De-Lovely'' party on the beach in the Riviera resort town.

The singers owe a great deal to Porter's lyrics, which have a timeless sensibility that leaves room for a wide range of vocal styles, Cole said.

``So many people have done Cole Porter stuff, and I think the particular way and style he has of writing made it possible for different voices to actually embrace it,'' Cole said. ``Because some of his lyrics are so funny, they're whimsical and they're witty. You can kind of play a little with them, so you don't have to be totally a great jazz voice for some of these songs to work.

``So maybe that's why someone like Alanis was comfortable with it, because she didn't have to do anything different. Just be herself, because the song fit.''

[Rémi]

In the recent past days, all the medias have been announcing that Diana was going to be in Cannes (among Elvis Costello, Alanis Morrissette, Lara Fabian, Sheryl Crow, etc.) for a MGM tribute concert.

Something escapes me...
The closing date of the festival, - on a personal note, festival whose unique interest was Sharon Stone's arrival - was yesterday (May, 22). Or, on May, 22, Diana is supposed to be performing in Halifax, and according to her Official Site, that date has not been cancelled.
Unless, she can be everywhere at once...