How Ethan Hawke, Bobby Cannavale prepped for Sardi’s-set ‘Blue Moon’:…
Welcome to O’Sardi’s!
For the new film “Blue Moon,” starring Ethan Hawke as the famed Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart, a reproduction of the iconic Theater District restaurant Sardi’s was inbuilt a movie studio in Dublin — 3,000 miles from West forty fourth Street.
“We have to build Sardi’s somewhere,” director Richard Linklater told The Post. “They’re not going to give us Sardi’s for a month.”
Ultimately the crew jetted to the Emerald Isle.
Ethan Hawke performs lyricist Lorenz Hart in the new film “Blue Moon,” which is about at Sardi’s. AP
“The historical challenge is very real,” Linklater added. “We redo all those pictures. You read every book. You get the actual designs, the architectural drawings. So it’s fun to do a very, very specific re-creation.”
Of course, structural adjustments have been made to go well with the distinctive wants of the movie, which is about on March 9, 1943, the opening night time of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!”
The downstairs bar, the place most of the film’s witty action takes place while whiskey flows, is far smaller in real life.
Hawke’s Hart, Bobby Cannavale’s bartender and Andrew Scott’s Richard Rodgers, who wrote “Pal Joey” and other reveals with Hart before partnering with Oscar Hammerstein, wanted room to unfold out.
And there are Easter eggs hidden in the newly created caricatures hanging on the wall.
But the basic model and ambiance of the New York establishment, which opened in its current location in 1927, are spot on.
Remarkably so, because Dublin manufacturing designer Susie Cullen has never step foot in Sardi’s before.
Sardi’s opened in its current location in New York in 1927. Stefano Giovannini
The Little Bar downstairs at Sardi’s is far smaller than what’s portrayed in the film. Tamara Beckwith/NY Post
“I was sent videos of a walk-through,” Cullen told The Post. “As you walk in through the door and what you see when you look left, what you see when you look right.”
She added: “We changed reality and made it work.”
Cullen prioritized what she believed have been the eatery’s important elements: the quantity of cartoons on show, the deep purple and brown shade tones and the abundance of dark-stained wooden.
Production designer Susie Cullen prioritized the purple and brown tones, the wooden and, after all, the caricatures on the partitions.
Bobby Cannavale performs a Sardi’s bartender in the latest from director Richard Linklater (left). AP
The movie was made on a decent funds. So the designer borrowed wooden flats from other tasks.
And some 100 authentic caricatures have been drawn by a local artist to appear like the well-known portraits at Sardi’s.
But they’re not all of Broadway royalty of the day like Tallulah Bankhead and Ethel Barrymore.
“A few crew members appear among the caricatures,” Cullen said, including Linklater, “John Sloss, the producer, and his family, and one of the other producers, a couple of art directors.”
Sardi’s is understood for its iconic caricatures of Broadway stars. Tamara Beckwith/NY Post
The “Blue Moon” opening night time festivities for the New York Film Festival have been held at — the place else? — Sardi’s. Marion Curtis/StarPix for Sony Pictures Classics/Shutterstock
Another facet of making the of-a-different-era Sardi’s in the movie is the performances. Hawke and Cannavale did hands-on research to nail the vibe.
“Ethan and I live three blocks away from each other,” Cannavale told The Post.
“Like the month before we went to Dublin, we went to Sardi’s a few times and we hung out. We’ve hung out there before, because we’ve had opening night parties there. I think we both have our caricatures up on the wall.”
Then, on the night time previous to flying to Dublin, Hawke told The Post, Tony winner Patti LuPone walked in and joined the pair for a drink.
Ethan Hawke during the 69th BFI London Film Festival at the Soho Hotel on Oct. 16. Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for BFI
Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater on Oct. 16. Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for BFI
“Patti LuPone was holding court and people were coming in and there was all kinds of Broadway gossip happening,” Hawke said.
“And Bobby went behind the bar and asked the bartenders about different details about what it’s like to work there and how it would have changed.”
Patti LuPone joined Hawke and Cannavale for a drink. Getty Images
Actually, making “Blue Moon,” which is now in theaters, proved one thing of a homecoming for Cannavale, who at present stars in “Art” on Broadway with James Corden and Neil Patrick Harris.
“I worked in a lot of bars in New York City,” he said. “Not Sardi’s, but yeah, it did feel pretty authentic to the actual Sardi’s, for sure.”
We offer you the latest trending matters on C-lebrity. Get the best latest Entertainment news and content on our web site daily.