Variety reported this week that Martin Scorsese and John Carney are at work on Fascinating Rhythm, a musical-fantasy movie based on the works of iconic American composer George Gershwin.
Gershwin (1898-1937) is renowned for many early twentieth-century standards like “Summertime,” “Swanee,” “I Got Rhythm,” “Oh, Lady Be Good,” and “Embraceable You.” His stage productions included such masterworks like An American in Paris and Porgy and Bess.
Scorsese and Irwin Winkler will be producing the new film, which will be directed by Carney, whose credits include Modern Love, Sing Street, and Once. Carney will be sharing screenwriting credits with Chris Cluess, who authored the scripts for SCTV and Night Court.
Fascinating Rhythm is not likely to be a biopic of Gershwin in the style of Irving Rapper’s 1945 Warner Brothers classic Rhapsody in Blue. Instead, the new production, being developed by Endeavour Content, is purported to be a musical fantasy focused on the rhapsodic journey of a contemporary woman in New York City, where Gershwin did much of his work until his death In 1937.
Scorsese had earlier hoped to produce a Gershwin biopic in the 1990s with Richard Dreyfus and Robert De Niro but the project never saw completion. In 2010, Steven Spielberg was contemplating a similar venture with Zachary Quinto in the title role. The soundtrack to Woody Allen’s 1979 film Manhattan is comprised entirely of Gershwin’s output.
