Anne Hathaway = Judy Garland

According to reports this morning, Anne Hathaway has been selected to play Judy Garland in a new film biopic, as well as some sort of theatre version (details were hazy on that bit). Now if you know me at all, you'll know how I idolise Miss Garland. Aside from the drug addiction and four failed marriages, of course. But her presence on screen overshadows all of that. Her luminous "can't tear your eyes away from her" presence, and of course her unbelievable, never-equalled VOICE, are what make me fall a little bit in love with her every time I see her onscreen.

So Anne Hathaway is going to play her. Well, they could do worse. As long as they still use Judy's actual singing voice (I know Anne can sing, but you can't make a biopic about a singing legend and then not use her own voice) I can live with it. I think. My main issue is that while Anne can easily look the part of the young, fresh-faced, wide-eyed Judy Garland, I don't see how they're going to make her up to look like the older, beaten down, drug-ridden Judy of the 1960's.

This can work:


This, however, not so much:
This is a picture of Judy Garland in 1969 with her fifth and final husband, Mickey Deans. She died twelve days after her 47th birthday, so in all likelihood this picture was taken when she was 46 (she only married Deans in March of that year). This is what drugs and alcohol do to a legend. It makes me incredibly sad. Anyway, my point is that I can't imagine how they can possibly get pretty young Anne Hathaway to look like THIS.

At least she can act. I saw Rachel Getting Married on Saturday, and I was blown away. Hello, Oscar? Where were you?

And who on earth is going to play Mickey Rooney and all her famous co-stars?

PS - if you haven't seen the tv miniseries Life With Judy Garland: Me & My Shadows, for which Judy Davis won a Golden Globe and an Emmy, do yourself a favour. It's brilliant. I won't deny that Judy Garland was probably quite an awful person, self-centred and difficult to live with, but Davis really brings out her vulnerability and "Little Girl Lost" quality. I'm not actually sure how they can better this miniseries with a movie....we'll see.