Indie director Todd Graff (right in photo above), set to helm the update of musical Damn Yankees starring Jake Gyllenhaal (as the baseball fan-cum-home run star) and Jim Carrey (as the devil he makes the deal with), has revealed his intention to infuse the retelling with a very modern baseball conflict: steroid use. [The Playlist]
Here’s what Graff told MTV:
“If a character like Joe Hardy — who’s the character in ‘Damn Yankees’ — sprung out of nowhere and was hitting 70 home runs in a season, who would not think immediately ‘steroids’?”
“So [steroids] is not even a side character for us; it’s our main character. No one is going to think, ‘Oh, it’s because he made a deal with the devil!’ They’d think, ‘He’s juicing!’ “
It’s certainly an interesting diversion from the original story. Graff’s a solid writer/director who’s never really gotten that film to establish him in the business per se. His most recent musically-fueled feature, Bandslam, took in critical praise but a poor box office draw. Before that was his little gem Camp, a Killer Films production that studies homosexuality in the theater setting and offers wonderful young performances and honest writing.
This would be Graff’s third directorial effort, and, having watched his first two, it’s clear why he would be interested/or interest to film this project.
Do you enjoy Damn Yankees? How about Damn Yankees plus steroids?