Idina Menzel Thinks People Will Want to Put Her in “Jail” over “Beaches”

WJBD
Idina Menzel Thinks People Will Want to Put Her in “Jail” over “Beaches” Remake
Posted on 11/14/2016 5:01 AM

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 in Nashville recently. “It’ll certainly be a love/hate thing I’m sure, for some.”

Idina will play Bette Midler’s role of CC, who in the original was an aspiring Broadway star, but will now be a singer trying to make it L.A. Nia Long will play Barbara Hershey’s role of Hillary, a prominent lawyer who puts her career on hold when she gets married. Idina will also sing Bette’s #1 Grammy-winning hit song from the movie, “Wind Beneath My Wings.”

“Some people have never even seen Beaches and they’ll like it,” predicts Idina. “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 laughs, “Y’know, you gotta do what you gotta do.”

The new Beaches will premiere sometime in 2017. You can see Idina later this month on ABC’s CMA Country Christmas, where she’ll be duetting with her friend, country star Jennifer Nettles.