'Cyrano' Featurette Highlights Transforming Classic Monologues Into Song

While we await the retelling of the classic love story, Cyrano, MGM has tossed us some content to tide us over, in the form of a new featurette titled A Razor Wit. In the featurette, several of the film’s top stars, as well as its director, Joe Wright, speak to the process that went into creating Cyrano.

Between the stunning cinematography, dazzling dance numbers, and strong vocal performances, A Razor Wit allows viewers to jump into the period piece and better understand what the cast and crew were hoping to achieve in this larger than life production. Because the plot of Cyrano is such a well known story, Wright says that he set out to “create something entirely new”, in the form of changing many of the original play’s monologues to songs, as Peter Dinklage, who stars as the titular character, notes. This change from spoken word to song also opened up doors of what was possible to bring the film to life. Throughout A Razor Wit, viewers also hear from Dinklage’s co-stars and the other two points of the film’s love triangle, Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Haley Bennett.

The screenplay for the film was crafted by Erica Schmidt, who adapted and directed her own musical stage version from the original play by Edmond Rostand. The stage performance featured music by Aaron and Bryce Dessner, with lyrics by Matt Berninger and Carin Besser, with both Aaron and Bryce Dessner coming together again to compose the music for the upcoming film, which is available for streaming now.

RELATED: ‘Cyrano’ Featurette Focuses on the Music of the New Adaptation and Unveils Original Song by The National

Cyrano‘s production team is made up of Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, and Guy Heeley, with executive producers Erica Schmidt, Sarah-Jane Robinson, Sheeraz Shah, Lucas Webb, Berninger, Besser, Aaron Dessner, Bryce Dessner, Kevin Ulrich, Aaron L. Gilbert, and Jason Cloth.

Cyrano is slated to debut in select theaters on January 28, with a full release to follow on February 11. Check out the featurette below to see some of the film’s creative process unfold before your eyes.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQLT5Xlz2po

And check out the full synopsis for the film here:

Award-winning director Joe Wright envelops moviegoers in a symphony of emotions with music, romance, and beauty in Cyrano, re-imagining the timeless tale of a heartbreaking love triangle. A man ahead of his time, Cyrano de Bergerac (played by Peter Dinklage) dazzles whether with ferocious wordplay at a verbal joust or with brilliant swordplay in a duel. But, convinced that his appearance renders him unworthy of the love of a devoted friend, the luminous Roxanne (Haley Bennett), Cyrano has yet to declare his feelings for her — and Roxanne has fallen in love, at first sight, with Christian (Kelvin Harrison Jr.).

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