Lifetime/Eike Schroter(LOS ANGELES) — Idina Menzel has some big shoes to fill: She’s starring in a remake of Beaches, the 1988 tearjerker with Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey.
But the “Let It Go” singer says she’s a bit unsure about how the movie will be received — in fact, she’s convinced that she’s going to get slammed by people who loved the original. The Beaches thing is a TV film, it’s on Lifetime/A&E so we’ll see how that does,” she told reporters recently.
“It’ll certainly be a love/hate thing I’m sure, for some.” Menzel, 45, will play Bette Midler’s role of C.C., who in the original was an aspiring Broadway star.
Nia Long will play Barbara Hershey’s role of Hillary, a prominent lawyer who puts her career on hold when she gets married. Menzel will also sing Midler’s Grammy-winning hit song from the movie, “Wind Beneath My Wings.”
“Some people have never even seen ‘Beaches’ and they’ll like it,” Menzel predicted. “And then there’ll be some older people that will want to put me in jail for even trying to play Bette Midler’s role.”
But, she added with a laugh, “Y’know, you gotta do what you gotta do.”
The new Beaches will premiere sometime in 2017, but the trailer, below, premiered Monday.
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