Whilst the Kid in P. Rain represented rock star / purple trench coat wearing Iconic Prince from 77-84 I honestly think that Christopher Tracey was hugely accurate is repping the real P! Glmourous, shallow, a womaniser, funky, very funny, playful, romantic, fell in love at the drop of a hat, a real chancer & above all else a carefree / live for the moment approach to life.

Discuss!

Yep. In a lot of ways. Except that he was actually down a lot inside and the humor and charm was just a masquerade and music was an escape.

It's very accurate, except:

He wasn't a hooker

He wasn't stuck in the south of France

He wasn't from Florida

He didn't live in Florida (that we know of)

He wasn't poor

He didn't play piano in a restaurant parttime

He didn't date a rich girl for her inheritance

He didn't have a regular older lady as a sexual client

He wasn't chased by gangsters

He didn't hustle people out of their money

He didn't share a small flat with a bromance

He didn't throw caution to the wind for a girl

He didn't get shot by a rich, jealous father

But yeah, other than that, spot on.

If you want to know the real Prince, play Johnny Guitar Watson especially Strung out and Ta Ta. 'Guitar? It's so sad sad sad, so oh sad sad sad'. I honestly think in his head he lived in that damn track on the real.

wow!! true, and you stated it wisely...very true...some will disagree...but, it's true...

funksterr said:

Yep. In a lot of ways. Except that he was actually down a lot inside and the humor and charm was just a masquerade and music was an escape.

TrivialPursuit said:

NorthC said:

I disagree unless the two of you can prove that you knew Prince personally. And even if you did, it's still speculation.

Thank you. Lots of personal Prince bashing on multiple threads recently.

the way i look at it is this way, it was Prince who created Morris' attitude, coached him relentlessly and once he saw morris stealing purple rain, he tried to take the persona he created back, results were mixed but.., I do believe it was an alter ego, a sub-personality, prince actually used the morris voice at different points and spoke that way to his friends all the time. It was his creation.

erik319 said:

TrivialPursuit said:

It's very accurate, except:

He didn't hustle people out of their money

Nah that took another 20 years. Just ask the makers of the 3121 perfume & the 37 people who signed up to L0tu$£uckup.com

I was #4 . Knew it wasn't gonna last or b anything, but NEEDED that shirt att (wore it a few times, a size smaller than I'm accustomed 2, Mom has it now, big on her ) ...

TrivialPursuit said:

It's very accurate, except:

He wasn't a hooker

He wasn't stuck in the south of France

He wasn't from Florida

He didn't live in Florida (that we know of)

He wasn't poor

He didn't play piano in a restaurant parttime

He didn't date a rich girl for her inheritance

He didn't have a regular older lady as a sexual client

He wasn't chased by gangsters

He didn't hustle people out of their money

He didn't share a small flat with a bromance

He didn't throw caution to the wind for a girl

He didn't get shot by a rich, jealous father

But yeah, other than that, spot on.

Like all of his film characters and "alter egos" I think there is a small semblance of Prince in the Christopher Tracy character, and all of the points on your list were created to add dramatic affect for the film. I think the closest connection is the poor boy as "gigolo" persona. Prince was not poor when he made the film, but he considered himself poor while growing up in MN, and while he obviously did not have sex with women for money he did juggle many women, which I think was more his idea of the gigolo concept. His song "Gigolos Get Lonely Too", and the lyric "If I was a gigolo all my life, she'd still be there, telling me how much she cares" from "She's Always In My Hair" speak to his thoughts on his behavior with women.

Doozer said:

Prince himself said of UTCM: “I learned that I can’t direct what I didn’t write.” Wouldn’t have been an issue if the character was close to the man.

Prince wrote that movie. Susannah Melvoin had a notebook full of his handwritten scenes. He also took over as Director, so I have no doubt that all final script decisions were his. The movie did not do well, and he did not want the blame for that.

I always felt "Under the cherry moon" was like an Elvis movie mixed with some awful 30's Lubitsch comedy. A strange mix indeed for a movie made slap bang in the 80's LOL

I read in "Possessed" that Christopher Tracy was a charater created by Prince to overcome undesirable personality traits, hence why he kills of the character at the end (...umm spoiler)

I saw it as a facade. Prince had a sense of humour no doubt, but it reminded me of being in school and assimilating to how all the ther guys talk and joke around (like he did with Morris Day).

Basically becoming the class comedian when you know you can elicit some laughs with that behavior. It evolves into a persona you turn on and off; at least I did once I got home.

I think all people are multifaceted to some extents, there are diffrent aspects to anyone's personality that express themselves at given times, delibrately or not. And some fade (or increase) with age.

The Kid in comparison seemed closer to who Prince came off as in interviews. At times determinedly mysterious and brooding yeah, but that guy was Prince in my mind, which is why said fictional depiction was accepted whilst Christopher Tracy seemed ill fitting.

thesexofit said:

I always felt "Under the cherry moon" was like an Elvis movie mixed with some awful 30's Lubitsch comedy. A strange mix indeed for a movie made slap bang in the 80's LOL

it really was and he even had the elvis hair for it too, one of my fave looks of his. springsteen said purple rain was "like an early elvis movie" and it was, it was King Creole and UTCM had Prince dying like elvis did in love me tender, neither doing all that good of an acting job, particularly Prince.

not hooker, gigolo. There is a class difference, hookers prostitutes escorts gigolos gold diggers etc

I think he did play piano for birthdays weddings and sweet 16 parties though... with Morris on Drums while in High School

...in some way or another he shared spaces with buddies like Andre, even Jesse Johnson lived with him for a bit, that's probably when Jesse started looking more like Prince. They probably shared beauty secrets and such... I think we can add Lisa Wendy Kim & Jill to that just in the feminine of bromance

...I think posing Carmen Electra as the greatest thing to come in the music industry was throwing caution to the wind

lol

TrivialPursuit said:

It's very accurate, except:

He wasn't a hooker

He wasn't stuck in the south of France

He wasn't from Florida

He didn't live in Florida (that we know of)

He wasn't poor

He didn't play piano in a restaurant parttime

He didn't date a rich girl for her inheritance

He didn't have a regular older lady as a sexual client

He wasn't chased by gangsters

He didn't hustle people out of their money

He didn't share a small flat with a bromance

He didn't throw caution to the wind for a girl

He didn't get shot by a rich, jealous father

But yeah, other than that, spot on.

Doozer said:

Prince himself said of UTCM: “I learned that I can’t direct what I didn’t write.” Wouldn’t have been an issue if the character was close to the man.

So who wrote Under the Cherry Moon? That was all Prince... that was him deflecting that he messed up.

OldFriends4Sale said:

yeah, but she just took when Prince composed and put it in screenplay. Just like was done with Purple Rain.
Susannah Melvoin talked about being with Prince in France writing it and putting it together. That is also why Prince originally wanted Susannah in the film.

Under the Cherry Moon could only be created by Prince.

Doozer said:

The screenplay was by Becky Johnston, who is fairly accomplished. OldFriends4Sale said:

So who wrote Under the Cherry Moon? That was all Prince... that was him deflecting that he messed up.

OldFriends4Sale said:

violetcrush said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

yeah, but she just took when Prince composed and put it in screenplay. Just like was done with Purple Rain.
Susannah Melvoin talked about being with Prince in France writing it and putting it together. That is also why Prince originally wanted Susannah in the film.

Under the Cherry Moon could only be created by Prince.

Right. The Director was fired within a week of starting to shoot the film, and Prince took over. This was his story. He was very into the 30's and 40's films - he watched them as a kid too. He wanted that look and feel for the story, but it didn't jive with the dialog and acting. Not sure if that was intentional or not. Also, the original ending was a "happily ever after", and he changed it to his character being killed. The whole "sinful behavior deserves harsh consequences" idea. The Management team said they knew after he changed the ending that the film would not do well. I think it was more than just the ending, but it may have done a bit better. My guess is that he wanted that slapstick "Morris and Jerome from Purple Rain" humor in a film noir setting, which did not really work. But I do think on some level this was his story of trying to "do away" with his gigolo lifestyle and be committed to one woman. [Edited 7/5/18 7:29am]

Also, the Parade album tells the story he was trying to convey. If you look at the placement of the songs, with "Sometimes It Snows In April" as the last track, it's almost as if he knew that his efforts toward a committed relationship would ultimately fail. Okay, that's me reading into the songs and the storyline, but it does seem to fit.

OldFriends4Sale said:

Doozer said:

That was kind of my point - it wasn’t “all Prince.” He had a story but it molded into something that would work as a movie with the help of someone else. To the O.P.’s question as to whether or not the character is a VERY accurate portrayal of Prince (with VERY in all caps), the answer is no. It came from his mind, was brought to life on screen by him and many others, but doesn’t hinge itself on the reality of who Prince was as a person. OldFriends4Sale said:

yeah, but she just took when Prince composed and put it in screenplay. Just like was done with Purple Rain.
Susannah Melvoin talked about being with Prince in France writing it and putting it together. That is also why Prince originally wanted Susannah in the film.

Under the Cherry Moon could only be created by Prince.

I don't think the story and concept was brought to the screen by "many others" though. It was mainly his inspiration, idea, and story. Susannah was going to be the lead with him, so I think in his mind the story was sort of a parallel to his experience - albeit a dramatic one set in a different place and time period. She said he just wanted to make another movie, and he began writing the scenes and devloping the music for the film. I actually think they should have given Susannah a try at the role - at least the romantic scenes would have been real. The kissing scenes are just not good, and are very forced.

violetcrush said:

violetcrush said:

OldFriends4Sale said: Right. The Director was fired within a week of starting to shoot the film, and Prince took over. This was his story. He was very into the 30's and 40's films - he watched them as a kid too. He wanted that look and feel for the story, but it didn't jive with the dialog and acting. Not sure if that was intentional or not. Also, the original ending was a "happily ever after", and he changed it to his character being killed. The whole "sinful behavior deserves harsh consequences" idea. The Management team said they knew after he changed the ending that the film would not do well. I think it was more than just the ending, but it may have done a bit better. My guess is that he wanted that slapstick "Morris and Jerome from Purple Rain" humor in a film noir setting, which did not really work. But I do think on some level this was his story of trying to "do away" with his gigolo lifestyle and be committed to one woman. [Edited 7/5/18 7:29am]

Also, the Parade album tells the story he was trying to convey. If you look at the placement of the songs, with "Sometimes It Snows In April" as the last track, it's almost as if he knew that his efforts toward a committed relationship would ultimately fail. Okay, that's me reading into the songs and the storyline, but it does seem to fit.

yes, but after review, they told Prince to use the alternative ending where he lives, they didn't believe people would sympathize with him enough for his death to mean anything.

.

He was going to get someone to die in a movie or else lol He wanted the Father dead and got his way in Graffiti Bridge lol