American Cinematographer - May 1992 - 47

Read All About It:
Newsies Revives the Musical
by George E. Turner
"You know, I've read quite a few
scripts since the beginning of the
year, most of which were wellwritten studio pictures with stars
and top directors," Andrew Laszlo,
ASC mused recently on a set at
Universal City.
"A lot of them have to do

with horror, violence, shoot-' em-

up, blow-'em-up. At this stage of
life I was hoping for a picture
that had an¬
other side to it,
and when pro¬
ducer Mike Fin¬
nell called and
told me about
Newsies I could
not believe it!
This was a pe¬
riod song-anddance musical
with kids, about
kids.
There
hasn't been one
like this in I
don't know how many years. I

jumped

on it."
Thus did

the

Fallon and Tom Rickman) is set

entirely in New York City, the film
was
produced at three studio
backlots, six locations in the Los
Angeles area, and seven sets built
on sound
stages.
The soft-spoken Finnell,
the producer, at first wondered if
the story would be practical to
make. "However, it was clear that
it was true and my feeling was that

Production for Newsies

on April 15,1991 following
10 weeks of intensive rehearsals.

began

for The Little Mermaid) with

lyrics by Jack Feldman.
Based upon historical fact,
Newsies is set in the summer of 1899,

when publisher Joseph Pulitzer
announced a one-tenth-of-a-percent

price increase for his daily

youngsters who hawk the news¬
paper on the streets at a tiny margin
of profit, realize they will be ruined.
They decide to strike, an action
which eventually brings the top
publishing companies in America
to their knees.

Pulitzer is portrayed by
Robert Duvall and the leader of the
embattled kids is Christian Bale, the

17-year-old British actor who is
extraordinary
performances
in Empire of the
Sun and Henry

remembered for

V. Bill Pullman

is

photography,

re¬

at the cost of his
own job and
Ann-Margret is

the music hall
star who also

lends

a

hand.

Principals
among
the
this was something that I would
love to see. But I also knew that it

would be very, very

difficult to

bring to the screen."
ing his feature debut in that ca¬
pacity, is Kenny Ortega, a top

by Michael Finnell
Directed by Kenny Ortega

ace

who
helps the boys

Tzudiker, Noni White, David

Produced

an

porter

Although the screenplay (by Bob

ASC

ner

newspaper, the New York World.
The newsies, impoverished

The director, who is mak¬

Andrew Laszlo,

shows. "When I read that
script I could hear music," Ortega
said. The music in the final product
is by Alan Menken (an Oscar win¬

distin¬

guished cinematographer describe
his pleasure in tackling a difficult
but rewarding picture for Walt
Disney Productions. Laszlo came to
this country in 1947 as an emigrant
from Hungary, where he started his
motion picture work as an ap¬
prentice at the Motion Picture Stu¬
dios in Budapest. His credits as a
director of photography feature
First Blood, Thiefof Hearts, Poltergeist
II, Innerspace and Star Trek V.

Director of

Hull High

ranking choreographer who has
worked on some 40-odd movies
and videos during the past 15 years.
He

began directing television in
Dirty Dancing and

1988 with the

May 1992

are David Moscow, Luke
Edwards, Max Casella and Trey
Parker, none of whom are the usual

newsies

on

Laszlo in

mid-production at Universal City.
was
working in

At the time Laszlo

interior/exterior set that repre¬
sented part of a reform school. It
consisted of the upper floors of a
building exterior, which was de¬
signed to match a backlot exterior
an

American

Cinematographer

Christian Bale
hawks the latest

breaking story.

Hollywood kid types.
AC looked in

Opposite:

This page, top:
Laszlo (left) and

first camera
assistant Richard

Meinardus survey
the next scene.

Bottom:

Ortega

prepares to lead
his troupe into

battle.

45
American Cinematographer - May 1992

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