Warner Bros. has released their first official image for their upcoming film Jersey Boys, based on the Tony winning Broadway musical of the same name. In the director’s chair is Clint Eastwood, who you may remember from such feel-good musicals like Million Dollar Baby, Changeling, Gran Torino, and J. Edgar. Wait…come to think of it those movies aren’t anything like Jersey Boys. In fact, nothing in Eastwood’s filmography hints that he would even be considered to direct a musical – except for maybe Paint Your Wagon, but who ever thinks about that?
Okay, snark aside, when you look past Eastwood’s public persona (Dirty Harry, The Man With No Name, etc.) you may find it surprising that he hasn’t tackled a musical until now. Jersey Boys follows the career of the 60’s rock/pop/rhythm and blues band The Four Seasons. Considering Eastwood’s age – born in 1930 – he would have been around when the band’s hit song “Big Girls Don’t Cry” hit the airwaves. Living in the era where this music was popular could give Eastwood a unique perspective on the band that some theater directors who have handled the musical wouldn’t have. Consider too that Eastwood is a musician himself – a piano player and jazz enthusiast who has composed the scores of several of his own films, even singing the closing song for Gran Torino.
Jersey Boys is set for a June 20, 2014 release. According to First Look, a trailer for the film “is due out soon.”
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