If I had been in Prince's camp in 1986, as a manager, advisor, or friend, I would have done everything I could think of to talk him out of doing Under the Cherry Moon.

I would have tried to help him to see that playing the lead in a slapstick comedy would not be in his best interests.

Instead, I would have steered him in the direction of doing a film based on the movie "A Star is Born." Sure, the formula for that movie has been made several times, the latest being in the 70s starring Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristoferson.

But Prince in a role similiar to the one Kristoferson had would have been perfect. There would have opportunities in the movie for him to be showcased in nightclub scenes as well as in big arena scenes.

Entertainment Weekly has said, "Movie stars are electrifying. They radiate power, erotic, spiritual, and physical that draws an audience into their orbit."

This is the aura that Prince threw away when he gave up his motorcycle, sexy clothes, and urban setting in his first film and played a silly homoerotic gigolo wearing too much lace in UTCM.

"An artist has to know how to stretch, and Prince can deffinatly stretch." -Miles Davis-

I think UTCM stays.

Jem said:

Yeah! I love UTCM. It's my favorite Prince movie. What was he supposed to do, make five more movies about urban rock stars on motorcycles? Then this thread would be about how he threw it all away by milking a good thing.

You would advise Prince to play a washed up star who marries a rising star & eventually ends up dead from his self-destructive lifestyle??? He would have been a little young in '86 to be potraying a washed up wasted star.The husband in A Star is Born is almost a supporting player to the female star. His role is to be a pathetic loser. His role is to set up the Star for big chewing on the scenery portions of the story. A Star is Born is not a mans film - its a chick flick. Its a Billy Dee Williams part.
Cherry Moon was a mistake but a remake of A Star Is Born sounds like another mistake.

Now Rick James sounds perfect for A Star is Born remake. Rick James with Whitney Houston. After Rick treats Whitney horribly for most of the movie the audience would cheer when he dies.
[This message was edited Sat Mar 22 16:40:58 PST 2003 by ZAZA2]

Batdance said:

So you'd want him to make bigger flops than even UTCM and GB?

ZAZA2 said:

FunkMistress said:

double

Supernova said:

Well, almost anything would have been better than UTCM! With the Star is Born suggestion, I was trying to come up with a film that would allow for Prince to have performing scenes that would be natural to the character.

Hauling out a boombox and having a singing and dancing scene in a fancy French restaurant wasn't exactly a "natural" setting.

The schtick of having two modern urban guys flirting with each other and sexing rich old ladies on the French Riviera just doesn't work for me.

The sex scenes in UTCM were not erotic, they were laughable, which is a deadly career move to a man who is trying to present himself as sexy.

It's not that I would have wanted Prince to have a career making silly formula movies like Elvis did, but slapstick comedy just is not his forte.

Jem said:

Stretching is good. But sometimes when something is stretched too far, it breaks.

I totally have to disagree with this route. I can only thank God it's hypothetical.

First, the whole story is one of decadent self-destruction -- not to mention the fact that it was old and done to death even back in 1986.

Moreover, Prince as tortured rock star would have been no move forward. Had we not seen that already throughout his career? UTCM was definitely a dog -- but it was a fun dog... and a courageous step into new territory for Prince.

Lammastide said:

But he had only played the "tortured rock star" role one time and that was in 1984.

The thing about storylines that are "old and done to death" is that audiences still go for them. That's why they're done to death.

Eminem used the "tortured artist triumphs over adversity" storyline in his movie debut and made $50 million during the opening weekend. How many times have audiences seen the same story? Eminem's movie was basically a version of Purple Rain and his fans loved it.

The "tortured rock star" act is old and done to death, but notice how much audiences still love that story.

Jem said:

yes




[This message was edited Sat Mar 22 17:34:09 PST 2003 by naturegirl]

Jem said:

Well, yeah, an artist has to know how to stretch. At his art. His art is music. Not acting. In that respect, he doesn't stretch very far. Kind of like a crusty old rubberband. Yeah, it'll stretch a little (for the basics needed for Purple Rain -- he didn't really have all that many lines, remember). But after a certain point, it doesn't just snap, it crumbles.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

I still think Prince should make a movie with Baz Luhrman (the dude who did Moulin Rouge). It would be hyper as hell, colorful, sexual, and with Prince it'd be funky.

Batdance said:

But, Batdance, it works again and again for each artist who tries it for the FIRST time, I think. Prince had done this already... not only in the Purple Rain movie, but even in his recordings... just think about the entire carnal/spirituality dichotomy that ran through his music from Controversy to that point. He even sent himself to hell just one album before in "Temptation." And, I think, had Prince not been so talented, folk would have tired fairly quickly of this theme.

Maybe Prince wanted to do something new and somethng he really wanted to do, instead of compromising himself to make some money and bea commercial success, ever think of that?

I think Prince probably should have done 'Purple Rain 2' in 1986.Imagine a kickass sequel with Albert Magnoli directing it.It would have made more sense to do a sequel in '86 (when Prince was still "hot"),as oppposed to waiting until 1990.

Something actually strikes me... even Christopher Tracy wasn't too much a departure from the whole tortured, double-personality musician role. He fought a massive internal struggle between being an asshole and being good. (i.e. Love or Money and An Honest Man.)

That having been said, perhaps the new ground we appreciated in UTCM wasn't a new story, but a whole, new aesthetic. Again, I'm glad he ventured here instead of Purple Rain part II.
[This message was edited Sat Mar 22 18:17:06 PST 2003 by Lammastide]

DavidEye said:

I think some classics (even corny ones like Purple Rain) are best left alone.

Lammastide said:

The husband in A Star is Born is almost a supporting player to the female star.


Maybe P. could play the wife?

skywalker said:

That'd be sweet! But not anything like Moulin Rouge. I can't stand that movie. Something more along the visual style of Baz Luhrmann's version of Romeo + Juliet would be better.

It should have been called All My Dreams, left that song on the soundtrack with the original Old Friends for Sale, had a positive happy ending instead of the vain death scene and had some kick ass performances in it. The 'look' of the film is beautiful, its aged really well in that respect. Amazing that he got to make it at all, and really incredibly bold to have decided to play a gigolo in the south of France in a black and white comedy and nobody thought to say "mmm...maybe not"



I think the erotic 'aura' thing was his problem...the amount of preening is amusing for a fan but immediately turns people against you if they aren't particularly enthusiastic about your music or identity to begin with. I actually think his look for that film is just about the coolest he's ever had. Its just the incredibly vain performance (which was a part of the character) and stupid ending that was the problem.

The music kicks ass (but would have been even better with All My Dreams) and the film looks great so you can't really complain.

DavidEye said:

Prince had America in the palm of his hands in 1984. He fucked that up with UTCM. By the time Prince got around to doing the Purple Rain sequel in 1990, America had stopped waiting for him and moved on to something else.

ChickenLittle said:

you two seem to be forgetting something: that would've required a Time reunion

FunkMistress said:

Audiences wouldn't buy Whitney in a Star is Born. Maybe in the 80s she could have done it, but not now that she's a known crack user whose career is not exactly on the rise anymore.

Ashanti might be able to pull off the wife role. I don't see Prince as the husband. He'd have to play a washed up boozer, and Prince ain't having that.

lovebizzare said:

? Morris and the boys did co-star in the Purple Rain sequel. Only it wasn't called Purple Rain 2, it was called Grafitti Bridge.

ChickenLittle said:

I know, but back in '85/'86, all of the members were pissed at prince, except jerome.

DMSR page 199:

Under the Cherry Moon opened in 941 theatres nationwide on July 2nd. The film received an almost unamimous panning and was written off as "pretenious," "a mess," "a failed experiment," and "an ego trip of truly vintage Hollywood proportions." The box office response was also poor. The film took in $3.2 million in its first weekend and it became quickly evident that the film wasn't going to repeat the success of Purple Rain. Receipts dropped an alarming 50 percent in the second week. Variety reported that the New York box office tally plummeted from over $600,000 the first week to a sobering $270,000. Having cost an estimated $12 million, the film grossed only around $10 million during its brief theatrical run. The failure effectively put an end to any plans Prince might have had about pursuing a successful parallel career in films. Regardless, Prince said a few years later that he did "not regret anything" about Under the Cherry Moon."