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

[ZsaZsa]

Shakespeare would have loved this whole bizarre story. :innocent:

 

[ZsaZsa]

Nancy is involved in this production..'TOT MOM' wouldn't need to be trademarked.
I am familiar with the script for the play and it is in no way exploitive or fictitious. Every word of dialogue is something that one of the people involved with this case said.
Soderbergh isn't exploiting this sad situation..it's more of a social commentary of the media and the case. And as the press release says, he will not profit in any way from this play..all of his fees will be donated to a missing children's charity. Also this is a one-off..he will never allow this to be staged anywhere but in Sydney for this 4 week run.

Why Sydney, why not in the US?

 

[Just Jayla]

Will be interesting to find out the spin that the play has on this story...Is it a 'Natural Born Killers' glorification of KC and demonization of NG, or is it neutral....possibly sympathetic to NG's POV?
I find these things interesting because they are significant to the perception of this case from a variety of angles, and we may see a variety of personalities selected in this jury.

 

[essies]

Why Sydney, why not in the US?

I'm sure Soderbergh and investors aren't going get enmeshed with the defense teams battle for COV and jury tainting arguments. I'll bet even though this is out of the US-JB and team will try to find a way to use it in their arguments for COV.:waitasec:

 

[Just Jayla]

Why Sydney, why not in the US?

Maybe it will make a lot of assumptions about the case that Soderburg does not want to be sued for later-Maybe being outside of the country allows him to conject without civil repercussion.

 

[Velouria]

Well good! At least SOME money in this case is going to actually go to needy children and not either KC's defense or her parents' new standard of living.

Or KIDFINDERS.

 

[abbra]

Good God Almighty. No one and I mean NO ONE not even the Anthonys should be capitalizing on this beautiful little girls heinous murder. What the hell is wrong with people! This is just disgusting.

 

[butwhatif?]

I'm in Oz so I can go to see it. But will I?
Heck NO!!!!! What a waste...huge waste.

 

[Eidetic]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVdMz8cW_H8"]YouTube- What rights did I have? Caylee Marie Anthony[/ame]

 

[BeckySharper11]

it doesn't matter if it's in the US or not...since all of the materials are gathered from public records and news sources, it's considered 'Fair Use' He could have staged the play here in the US, but Cate Blanchett is a friend of his (they worked together previously) and owns her own theatre company in Australia...she invited him there to direct any play he wanted.

 

[Curious Me]

Shakespeare would have loved this whole bizarre story. :innocent:

So true. It's just the kind of dynamics he'd write about for sure.

 

[smart blonde]

It's just wrong. I don't think there should ever be movies/plays/books etc. for any currently active case/trial.

I agree.

Especially when it means turning the tragic murder of a precious two year old child into a farce.

Using Caylee's death as a way of entertaining the masses.

 

[smart blonde]

Shakespeares' Titles Applied to...

Casey's life: Much Ado About Nothing

Cindy's life: The Taming of a Shrew

George's attitude toward Cindy: As You Like It

Casey and Cindy's attitude towards each other: Measure for Measure

Jose Baez' Defense Strategy: The Comedy Of Errors

 

[Ripley007]

I am a HUGE SS fan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm only pissed that it's an Australian production. PLEASE FILM it for the US audience!!!!!!!!! If any director can portray the subtle nuainces of this case, it's SS. He's a brilliant genius. And that's an understatment....

 

[Patty G]

Nancy is involved in this production..'TOT MOM' wouldn't need to be trademarked.
I am familiar with the script for the play and it is in no way exploitive or fictitious. Every word of dialogue is something that one of the people involved with this case said.
Soderbergh isn't exploiting this sad situation..it's more of a social commentary of the media and the case. And as the press release says, he will not profit in any way from this play..all of his fees will be donated to a missing children's charity. Also this is a one-off..he will never allow this to be staged anywhere but in Sydney for this 4 week run.

How do you know that Nancy is involved in this production? Please elaborate on how you are "familiar with the script for the play?"

 

[mitzi]

Shakespeares' Titles Applied to...

Casey's life: Much Ado About Nothing

Cindy's life: The Taming of a Shrew

George's attitude toward Cindy: As You Like It

Casey and Cindy's attitude towards each other: Measure for Measure

Jose Baez' Defense Strategy: The Comedy Of Errors

Very funny, smart blonde...but can I suggest one change?

"As You Like It".....John Morgan's attitude towards Cindy. LOL! :crazy:

 

[Galina]

Not sure if this has been discussed before.

Play opens in two weeks and I have tickets for the 23rd

Australia is being used to test the waters, writes Anne Davies in Washington.
Nothing fuels American cable television like the disappearance of a child or a young white woman.
The sensational Caylee Anthony case - and the role of the TV presenter Nancy Grace as an on-air advocate for victims' rights - has become the plot of Tot Mom, a play by the Oscar-winning Hollywood director Steven Soderbergh, which premieres at the Sydney Theatre Company's Wharf 1 this month.

The decision to stage a play based on a murder of a child Australians know little about appears to be partly an exercise in testing the waters of public opinion - as well as waiting for the next wave of publicity that will accompany the trial in Florida next year.

The disappearance of Caylee Anthony, 2, of Florida, about June 9 last year has been one of the biggest media and legal sensations since the 0.J. Simpson murder trial. It had all the makings of a mystery: a young mother, Casey Anthony, who inexplicably only reported her child missing a month after she was last seen; an alleged nanny who was never located; grandparents torn between their own child and a missing grandchild; foul smells from the boot of Casey's car; a bounty hunter who claimed the child was kidnapped; and - three months later - murder charges against the mother.

Unlike Australia, where contempt laws severely limit reporting beyond the official court process once a person is charged, Caylee's case became a nightly parade of colourful characters - even suspects - across the TV screens of the US.

When the remains of Caylee's tiny body were found six months later by a meter reader in snake-infested flooded woodlands just a few hundred metres from the Anthony house it was covered live for hours, helicopters hovering as officers waded into the swamp.

No one has been more prominent in pushing the story of Caylee into the public eye than Nancy Grace, the prime-time presenter on the CNN sister network, HLN, formerly known as Headline News.

more at http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertai...-a-sydney-stage/2009/12/11/1260034362596.html

 

[Galina]

From the Sydney Theatre Company website

http://www.sydneytheatre.com.au/2009/tot-mom

In June 2008, toddler Caylee Anthony was reported missing by her grandmother in Florida. What followed was a high profile investigation into her disappearance: an investigation that saw the child’s own mother – Casey Anthony – implicated in what was later discovered to be a homicide.


While the strange facts of the case baffled police investigators they also sparked massive media and public interest. Why was Caylee’s disappearance not reported to police for over a month? When was the child last seen? What was the strange smell in the boot of Casey Anthony’s car? Who and where was the alleged babysitter?


Often controversial legal commentator and host of a popular television show, Nancy Grace, was outraged by the case. Her public crusade for justice for little Caylee transformed the case from a tragic story to a 24-hour news spectacle.


Documentary in nature, using excerpts from transcripts of Nancy Grace’s show, court documents and police reports, Steven Soderbergh has created Tot Mom - a compelling look into how a crime can come to grip an entire nation through intense media and public attention. Tot Mom seeks to hold up a mirror to our society, raising ethical questions about the way in which such a case is dealt with in the public domain. How does justice operate in an environment where such a case has become a media phenomenon?



Steven Soderbergh is donating his fees for Tot Mom to the US National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and the Sydney Theatre Company will make no profit from this production.

 

[Galina]

I am a HUGE SS fan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm only pissed that it's an Australian production. PLEASE FILM it for the US audience!!!!!!!!! If any director can portray the subtle nuainces of this case, it's SS. He's a brilliant genius. And that's an understatment....

Why Sydney, why not in the US?

SS says it's a morality tale, not just about the Anthonys but American media and their domestic audience.

Apparently, some of the 'nuances' may not be favourably received by the average US viewer. Whatever could this mean? :waitasec:

 

[butwhatif?]

SS says it's a morality tale, not just about the Anthonys but American media and their domestic audience.

Apparently, some of the 'nuances' may not be favourably received by the average US viewer. Whatever could this mean? :waitasec:

Are you going to see it? I see that you're in Sydney too.( BWI waves to Galina)
I posted a while back saying no way would I go to see it. But I just got a text from my sis who knows how closely I've followed the case, who says she wants to buy the tickets for me for Christmas.
I started to reply by saying 'no way', but then changed my mind.
I think one of the reasons I often have different opinions to others here is because I don't watch all the media carp, so i'm not influenced by it.

I'd say the things that won't be favourably accepted by a US audience is that they are mocking their tendencies to accept media reports blindly.(not my fellow sleuthers though, who take the time to read the docs), and their agression and 'annihilation' of the defendant based on sensationalised media reports.

I'm sure you'd agree that our media is very different here. We will hear about a case on the news when it happens, then we don't hear another word about it until the trial is over...then we hear 'guilty' or 'not guilty' on the news, and that's about it.

So next week I'm off to see the pay I swore I wouldn't see....and I'm actually looking forward to it now.