Steven Soderbergh will direct a play about Casey called "Tot Mom"

That article is insulting americans in general- the play was not, I can assure you. Whoever wrote it obviously doesn't get that not all folks in the US hang on NG's every word and take it as gospel.

It was all about NG, her talking heads, and her callers- not the crime itself. If they were capitalizing on anything it's NG who earns her money by sensationalizing news about murder victims.

BTW, I think that alot of the 'uneasy laughter' was due to the fact that most people over here don't have a clue about the case. There was normal laughter during NG's tirades, but when it cut to the suburban scene and Kronk finding the skull (the only part of the play that was not meant to be funny, imo) there were a few uneasy giggles from the crowd.
It showed 'kronk' going into the woods to pee, picking up the skull and dropping it like a hot potato before running away.
To people who don't know the case they probably thought the whole thing was supposed to be comedic, and they feel no emotion attatched to that scene the way we do.

As for profits I'd be curious to see just how much goes to the centre for missing and exploited children too. It seemed very low budget, but I have no idea how much the actors were paid.
JMO

 

FWIW I was there opening night and there were no signs of cameras or SS anywhere. I was there in the evening not afternoon- the show started at 8pm, so I don't get why he would be filming in the foyer at that time anyway....except that it's a beautiful view of sydney harbour from the foyer lol.

 

OK- Here's a snip from my original email about the play:

Firstly, I can almost guarantee that the majority of the audience there last
night knew very little if anything about the case. Most have probably never even heard of Nancy Grace or Casey Anthony.
I overheard one woman saying " What does tot mom mean?" LOL

Still most people discussing the show at its completion were impressed by the performances. Saying things like "It's so true how the American public devours sensationalized news, when there is very little actual news to report".

In front of the small stage there was a swampy area set up depicting
suburban drive...,complete with muddy water, reeds, and the black plastic
bag containing a skull. (I was seated in the second row right in front of the bag and skull, which sent chills down my spine).

It started out with the actual recordings of Cindy's 911 call, with the
transcripts showing on the screens, and throughout they played some other
audio's related to the case, like Casey's jailhouse meetings with family,
and snippets of her original interviews with LE.

There was one large and two smaller screens that the Nancy Grace character
was on the entire time, making it very similar to actually watching a real
Nancy Grace episode. She was sensational....if I had've closed my eyes I would swear it was the real Nancy grace speaking.

On the small stage there were about 8 actors who interchanged roles
throughout. As 'Nancy' would be doing her interviews the actors would come
forward in the spotlight, where she would often cut them off mid-sentence as she usually does, and the spotlight on them would suddenly disappear, like the camera cutting them off.

The charaters portrayed were : Leonard Padilla (who wasn't nearly as over
the top in the show as he is on tv),Mark Nejame... The actor playing him did
a superb job of portraying him and his mannerisms, all of Nancy's reporters,
kathy Belich, and kobe kilinski (sp?)- again a supurb job with mannerisms and
sounded exactly like him. A phone-in to Nancy by Rev grund, gushing about how much he loved Caylee, Casey and the entire anthony family,before being cut off by Nancy.
A small piece from Jose Baez....and of course all of nancy's lawyers and psych professionals discussing the idea that casey saw Caylee as a piece of trash,thus throwing her away like a piece of trash.(the audience laughed at this, not because the subject matter is light,but because you don't need a psych expert to understand the reasoning).


Nancy's famous 'Now lets unleash the lawyers' sent the audience into fits of laughter.

Then there were the Nancy Grace audience call-ins who had a 'let her fry' attitude.

The portrayal of Tim miller is likely the main issue that I believe an American audience would be offended or upset by..... making him look inept and a failure for not finding the bag, that was so easily spotted by kronk.

"Nancy's" eye-rolling, asking a question, only to cut off the reply, and
sarcastic comments, got plenty of laughs from the audience.

Midway through, the actors left the stage and a kronk the meter reader appeared,in the suburban scene apparently relieving himself , before noticing the bag, picking it up, and a skull falling to the ground, and kronk running away.

Out came the crime scene techs, sealing of the scene with tape, and taking pics of the skull while the sound of helicopters hovering blared.
Then back to nancy grace and her reporting of Caylee's body being found.

They also did a short scene of Nancy reporting the Haleigh Cummings case, with the two actors playing Misty and Ron cummings from one
of their first interviwes on the NG show. It also alluded to her tendency to rip apart women, while sympathising with the men involved in the cases.

There were no actors playing the roles of Casey, Cindy, George Lee, or Caylee.

The focus was less about the case and more about the way Nancy Grace reports her 'bombshells' with alot of repetition. They also had 'Nancy' doing her tributes to soldiers like she always does at the end of her shows.

For an Aussie audience it showed the double standards of demonizing an alleged child killer while celebrating soldiers who are deployed to kill the enemy.
And she even mentioned the twins, and ended with her change from attack mode to the softly spoken 'goodnight friend'.

Having followed the case on websleuths almost from the beginning, there were some misrepresentations- but that was the gist of the show....
How often the media (particularly NG) can misrepresent the facts, or flat-out ignore them in order to have something more juicy to report.



I so wish I could have captured it for all of you on my camera phone, but I was too scared to after getting into trouble by an usher for trying to discreetly record my daughters performance at a different theatre. I didn't want to get kicked out and miss it.

 

Interesting! Sure hope you don't end up in the video! LOL

On a serious note, have you done a review of the show with your take on it anywhere? If so, can you point a newbie in the right direction. I would love to read your take on it as you are one us......how do they say it "true crime fans"?

I would like to see it despite what I have read - I will say he sure was thinking outside the box and the idea (maybe or maybe not the content) was brilliant. As to content, I can't tell and right now. I am offended by the names and perception of Americans that last article and if I can read or see this play one day, that 'journalist' might cause me to have an intrinsic bias due to association. But, since I know that I should be able to view it with open mind.
Would love to hear your full analysis!

 

Look up at my last post. That's my analysis. But to elaborate.....

Aussies have this idea that we are the only ones who can laugh at ourselves, which is pretty damn arrogant!! Obviously we have 'true crime fans' (or IMO people who want to see justice served) here, because there's Aussie members on the board.
It's really that our media and laws are different, so our reactions to crimes we hear about on the news is less intense because it's not on every channel , updated and repeated every day.
But when the media does play on a certain topic our reactions are much the same.
For example when a notorious SO was released from jail last year and his location was leaked to media there was an uproar. Protesters were out in full force and said they would not leave until he was moved to a different location. Very similar scenes to the Anthony protestors. It played out on the news for about a week or two- he moved... case closed. But that is a pretty rare situation over here.
So it's the media thats different, not the people and their reactions.

As for my comment in my above post about the double standards of NG glorifying soldiers, while demonising alleged child killers, you have to understand that we didn't experience 9/11 the way you guys did.
We watched it play out on the news, and it broke our hearts, but it didn't happen to 'us'.
We don't have the death penalty here, most people (especially the ones who would go to the STC to see a production) don't support war and see all killing as immoral. A very PC, arty type crowd.
There are people here who do support war, and the death penalty. But we don't see them on the news, they just call in to talk-back radio. LOL
So again it's really no different from in the States....the varying opinions anyway .

Actually now that I think about it, the crimes that get the most coverage here are from the US. I read alot of true crime books, and can't believe how many murders happened here in my own country, that I had never even heard about because the media just doesn't cover it the way they do in the US.


The play was a reproduction of a real Nancy Grace episode, with a suburban CS scene thrown in that I believe was meant to be a slap of harsh reality. A reminder that Caylee was a real person who was murdered, and who was forgotten in NG's rehashing of the events, because her focus was on sensationalizing the murderer and her family, the plot of the 'story', breaking her 'bombshells', and not the loss of life of the victim Caylee Marie Anthony.

To be honest, if I wasn't a member here and hadn't read so many scathing reviews of NG's show from people in the US, I probably would have agreed with that journos opinion of Americans vs Aussies perceptions.

But reading here shows that opinions vary across the board regardless of what country you reside in.Sometimes we agree on certain things, and sometimes we disagree, but it's up to us to decide what our opinions are.

Which is why I don't undertstand why SS chose to decide for the American public that they wouldn't take kindly to the production.

Especially since it's basically just a re-production of what most of you have already seen. In fact by now, if you did get a chance to see the show you'd probably be disappointed because you've already seen it play out on NG.
JMO

 

Wow how insightful and thank you for taking the time to answer my query in such a through way!
I was especially touched by your ability and realization of American's experience with 911. My father was killed when I was just shy of two and I have always been a strong patriot of the cause he gave the ultimate price to. I hate war, but I am proud of my father and all the men who rise to the call to keep the US free and who have the courage to trust that the government is right. We all know, no government gets it all right, so I tend to focus on the intentions of the parties. I feel this is appropriate to honor his death. I once had a reporter in an interview about my father try to go political and discuss the politics of the war (VN) and I shut him down asap and nicely let him know I refuse to dishonor my fathers sacrifice by lowering a discussion of him and memorial day to politics. So, I actually love that Nancy does recognize the men who serve. Plus, her whole demeanor changes and after an hour of her ...........how to say it nicely........... over-exuberant enthusiasm when she changes voice tone and says, "Lets stop a moment to remember....." I know that a "But thanks most of all to you friends" is coming and I feel a calmness knowing the show is over and the yelling has stopped! LOL
Nancy and JVM voices and styles are not ......how to say it nicely again!...... well, just not pleasant to listen to for me, but I do think (or perhaps want to think?) their heart is in the right place at least in intent. And honestly, I have a quest for information and often they are the only ones I can get a drivel of information from. I hate the repeats and drama and get angry when I know more than they are reporting, because I read at WS! But, when your thirsty you drink!
So, again I might enjoy the show for its creative brilliance in concept and it sounds like I might get a giggle out of laughing at drama that sells American TV. I know with or without NG, or laughs or stunning concepts, I would still walk out crying as I never loose focus that she deserves two things: Truth and Justice. She deserved so much more in life, so I am determined to see her get what she deserves in death. Even if all I can do is blog about it and pray for justice, somehow I think she feels the love behind each keystroke here!
Thanks again for your reply and I will go look for that other post!

 

I saw Tot Mom while I was in Sydney. It was fantastic. It wasn't as good as watching the case unfold on Nancy Grace when it first happened, but paying money to watch actors reenact the best bits verbatim (and really ham them up) on stage was almost as good lol.

 

Looks like SS shot a film with the cast while he was in Australia working on tot mom.

http://theplaylist.blogspot.com/2010/01/steven-soderbergh-shoots-quickie.html


A snip from the article below.

"That's another issue I want to explore, the churn of these stories and the endless supply of them and how it creates this sensation that people are just disappearing all the time. The reason is those stories are profitable. They always have been."

http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/arts/soderbergh-puts-grace-in-the-dock/2009/12/16/1260639218006.html


Snip

Thomas Julin, a partner at Hunton & Williams and the chairman of the Florida bar's panel on media law, said all aspects of the trial could be covered by the media.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/arts/us-legal-sensation-to-be-played-on-a-sydney-stage/2009/12/11/1260034362596.html?page=2

 

I take offense to what's written. I personally don't think there is enough coverage of "people" disappearing all the time. Perhaps, I don't like the way some media report on these disappearances, but thank goodness they're reporting them.

 

http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/film/soderbergh-talks-at-last-about-sydney-project/2009/07/26/1248546624814.html

He cannot say what it is yet because all the rights to the story have not been locked down. The third of three acts is still unfolding in the courts.

Back in July this was all abuzz in Australia.....so.......when exactly did this plan hatch?

 

OMG OMG OMGhttp://www.australianstage.com.au/200809021840/news/sydney/sydney-theatre-company-announce-2009-main-stage-season.html• Still under wraps as a major highlight of the Main Stage Season is a ‘secret’ production, directed by Academy Award-winner Steven Soderbergh whose films include the Ocean’s Eleven series, Traffic, Erin Brockovich and Sex, Lies, and Videotape.SEPTEMBER 2 2008

 

September 5, 2008 annonymous bail was posted.....Did Soderbergh post it in order to get her story?

 

Now wouldn't that be the pot calling the kettle black.

ETA: Dare he go there? With proceeds going to the Center for Missing and Exploited Children? Would they for one minute want to be associated with this IYKWIM?

ETA (again!): maybe NG can shoot him an email to ask. LOL

 

Ok...now wait...why would he need the "rights" to Tot Mom? So the buzz (immediately after Caylee is reported misssing?) in July 2008 was/ wasn't about this play?

 

This is July 2009....but my other link shows this in the works from September 2008...and since the article was released on September 2, 2008...that means it was more like August.

 

One word? Despicable comes to mind.

Two words? Sick and desperate.

The rest doesn't need exploring, IMHO.

Edited to add - BTW, I am Australian and very proud and grateful to live in this paradise.

This "play" is just nonsense. None of our friends or acquaintances would give it a second thought. I only refer to it because it was brought up on the boards. As I've said before, I would never watch it, or even want to know about it.

It's one thing posting about this case and trying to work through understanding to make some sort of sense out of why and how such a tragedy could have happened, but it's another thing altogether to make "entertainment" out of it. That's just preposterous and extremely distasteful.

BTW - if they think they're going to get crowds lining up to buy tickets, they'd better think again, using their brains next time, hopefully. UGGGHHH

JMHO

 

Yes, concerns!!! You bet! Couldn't he have produced somewhere else??

Australia is a very beautiful, peaceful and depending on the region, exotic place, and you are very welcome anytime

We live in the Adelaide Hills, which I can best describe as similar to Tuscany, only better (less crowded). We have family and friends who live on the Gold Coast (similar to California, I guess), where everything is "happening", if you wish it to be.

Then there's Sydney... we had season tickets to the Opera House for 10 years, before we moved... Sydney Harbour is magical. We lived in an apartment overlooking it - heck - almost touching it! for a few years.

My favourite place, though, was Kangaroo Valley - waterfalls, trees, flowers, a haven from the city.

Now we live in our own slightly smaller version of it.

I hope you get a chance to come and visit and enjoy. This rubbish play is just nonsense. I wouldn't go to see it if they paid me. But I will continue to post about this case, because Caylee deserves it. JMHO

All the best.

 

It sounds like he was never going to get the rights to put this one in America.

My first reaction in this thread is regrettable now - arrogant, rushed and downright stupid. I wish I had seen it now.

Thanks for the intricate feedback those who did go.

 

Hello from one Aussie to another... I personally don't have any wish to watch the play. I think of it a voyuristic nonsense. However, I'm fully prepared for anyone to critise me for getting so involved in this sad and sorry case of child murder that I've been posting about it and making judgements which are most probably best left to others, but I can't help being human, beside the training.

I think we've seen/read all there is so far... I'm waiting for the trial, though. Particularly if the defense decide to call KC to the stand. I just have to wonder what the next excuse will be.

JMHO

 

I would really like to know the timeline of this production. Reports in Australian media and other sources are going all the way back to August of 2008. Soderbergh stated he was interested due to all the coverage in August.........Official reports name a secret production slated for December 2009........JB is reported to consult with an ethics attorney......a Miami lawyer opines on the legality of the Casey Anthony case being portrayed is acceptable under FL. Bar standards.........I REALLY want to know if there is any involvement on the part of the defense team whether it be current members or former. If the play was to portray the media and our obsession with cases as a whole....he should have offered segments with focus on other missing kids....and their mysterious surroundings. This whole thing has taken on new meaning with me and I for one want to know just who was involved in this production. And IMO the reason this was taken to Australia was because that affords the potection against being sued for monies by parties involved. This is hinky IMO. Even moreso to me now when I see that it was 2008 when reports were made about "a secret" production.