Things We Saw Today: Chris Evans as the Dentist in Little Shop of Horrors!? You Have My Attention!

(Lionsgate)

I should preface this by saying that I, Rachel Leishman, am not casting the remake of Little Shop of Horrors—but if I were, it’d pretty much be this cast.

Let me explain. Right now, the Greg Berlanti remake of Little Shop of Horrors is rumored to star the following people: Taron Egerton, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, and Billy Porter. Again, I did not cast this movie.

While there were some fears surrounding a remake of the 1986 classic, the fact that Little Shop of Horrors is having a resurgence is not surprising to me, especially because we live in the world of social media. A show about everyone falling in love with a blood-sucking plant named Audrey II (played by Billy Porter!!!!), Little Shop is one of those shows that continues to have a soft spot in my heart.

But now that Chris Evans is “in talks” to play the Dentist himself, Orin Scrivello? I’m ready for torture.

(Truly wish we could get more detail than “in talks.”)

The thing is … this casting makes perfect sense. Chris Evans has been talking continually about wanting to do a musical, and the Dentist is the perfect role to break into that aspect of his career. A role about the flash and attractiveness of, basically, a monster, the original in the film had Steve Martin, and his caricature of this abusive man has weirdly become iconic.

What I’m more interested in is how Chris Evans tackles the darker parts of this role. The Dentist is a man who loves inflicting pain, both on his patients and Audrey, and when he is killed later in the show, there is a joy to it (look, I didn’t WRITE the show), but now that we know that Chris Evans has a beautiful way of playing these twisted men (looking at you, Ransom Drysdale in Knives Out), it’s going to be extremely interesting to see his take on Orin.

yes ok I approve all of my kinks are coming together https://t.co/lLkgvwz60a

— Dana Schwartz (@DanaSchwartzzz) February 24, 2020

Chris Evans as a motorcycle riding dentist who sings and dances, yeah sign me tf up
pic.twitter.com/n7yOPkJI2Y

— andy barber (@seevanss) February 24, 2020

chris evans, always biting his style from steve martin https://t.co/ZAj0RYIE8o pic.twitter.com/xy3pymHgPv

— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) February 24, 2020

Anyway, fully ready to ascend to a higher plane of existence.

Here are some other things we saw out there today:

Ben Affleck says that Robert Downey Jr. is a huge support to his sobriety. (via CBR)
Steve Buscemi, Greta Gerwig, Oscar Isaac, Chris Messina, your mother, probably the deli man, literally everyone is taking on Chekov’s Three Sisters (via Vulture)

The acting deputy secretary of homeland security is asking the internet where to get information about the spread of #Covid19.

We are so borked. pic.twitter.com/hWony9uGG4

— Greg Greene (@ggreeneva) February 24, 2020
Millennial men are all about gender equality, but what about the housework? (via HuffPost)
Harrison Ford is the Gwyneth Paltrow of Star Wars. I have spoken. (via CBR)