Mira Sorvino Pt 2: A Mini Retrospective
Friday, July 10, 2020 at 12:09PM
By Nathaniel R
Mira Sorvino in MIghty Aphrodite (1995)
After interviewing Mira Sorvino about her new projects, the Emmy hopeful Hollywood and two recent indies, our conversation drifted back over her whole career.
For fun, we asked her to program her own mini three or four film retrospective by naming her favourite projects. She acknowledged immediately that Mighty Aphrodite (1995) would be selected for any retrospective since it was her Oscar-winning role, but she wanted to shine the light on lesser-known titles. "I fall in love with every project," she noted, as that three or four film group kept growing and becam eight titles in our conversation. She might have changed the list on another day but here were the titles she hoped people would rediscover or see for the first time that she's very fond of. How many how these have you seen?
BARCELONA (1994)
"One of my first movies, shot in Spain. It's beautiful and fun."
NORMA JEAN & MARILYN (1996)
"Ashley Judd and I were Emmy-nominated playing two sides of Marilyn Monroe. I'm not sure if this one is available though!"
ROMY & MICHELLE'S HIGH SCHOOL REUNION (1997)
"Lisa Kudrow and I recently reconnected. Everyone involved has said we'd love to do a sequel so I don't know why there hasn't been one. I feel so much pride that I'm a part of something that has brought so many people joy."
SUMMER OF SAM (1999)
"Maybe it was the poster or that people thought it was only a serial kill film about David Berkowitz. I feel it was dismissed, despite Spike Lee being a famous director. It's really about community."
THE GREY ZONE (2001)
TRIUMPH OF LOVE (2001)
"These two films were overlooked at the time because they were premiering when 9/11 happened and, rightfully so, everyone was distracted. Grey Zone is about the Jewish sonderkommandos in the Holocaust. It's dark but very powerful from actor/director Tim Blake Nelson. Triumph of Love is so much fun. Light. It would make a great COVID viewing. I play a princess and people who like me in comedies with heart should see this."
HUMAN TRAFFICKING (2005)
"Can I include a miniseries? I'm proud of this Lifetime Miniseries about sex trafficking."
UNION SQUARE (2011)
"Nancy Savoca, who directed great movies like Dogfight and True Love made this one. It would make a great COVID viewing discovery."
Reader Comments (23)
Wish I could find (and watch) Norma Jean & Marilyn. Love Mira!
She can do so much with so little.
My whole family fell for her watching "The Buccaneers" 1995 miniseries - based on an unfinished Edith Wharton novel where rich Americans go to England to marry land-rich, cash-poor nobles. She brought a storm of personality to every scene.
I have so much left to watch from her filmography.
I should certainly seek more of her movies out. After all, I've mostly liked Mira in everything I've seen her in, even "Mighty Aphrodite". Though, I should mention that my relative affection for that performance stems a lot from the fact that I once knew a young woman, a school colleague, who talked and acted just like Sorvino's Oscar-winning character. It was honestly eery, hence why I don't share a lot of people's idea that she's too unrealistically cartoony in the Woody Alen flick.
James from Ames -- Glad someone else mentioned "The Buccaneers". I loved her in it and, overall, the show is quite good. I certainly afore its costumes, which include some of the best bustle gowns I've ever observed on-screen.
ROMY AND MICHELLE'S HIGH SCHOOL REUNION is a classic! It gets funnier and funnier with each viewing. She is fabulous in THE GREY ZONE. Barely recognizable as well.
I also wish her role in RESERVATION ROAD had been bigger because it's an amazing part in the novel.
Any update on the 1957 Smackdown???
Swikar -- it's completed. just finishing editing the podcast.
All the actors in Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (Sorvino, Kudrow, Garafalo, Hendrix, Manheim) make it look so easy that you don't notice how sophisticated the performances are. Not a single moment of that movie is phoned in.
Every young actress who gets a role in a comedy should study it. It's a master class in character acting.
Barcelona!
And I concur with JF above - the leads in Romy & Michelle's are wonderful, but the casting and acting are great throughout.
Romy and Michelle is perfect. So quotable.
My best friend was an extra in Norma Jean and Marilyn. He was at a Hollywood Hills Party in white Tuxedo, and since he smoked at the time, they gave him Chesterfields. He was completely hoarse when he got home around 1 AM. It's a really good portrait of that great Star!
Romy and Michele is a nicer kinder Death Becomes Her..
I would love to see a sequel to Romy and Michelle.
I remember seeing Triumph of Love in mid-2002 before its small Australian release and finding much to enjoy. Worth seeking out and a great part for Sorvino.
She's very good in Union Square and the movie is very short which is always great.
The trio of her, Melora Walters and Mariah Carey in Wisegirls is surprisingly effective. The script is a tad corny but they sell it. More so Mariah Carey who came straight off of Glitter. I love it.
I’ve seen four so far (SUMMER OF SAM, ROMY & MICHELE, THE TRIUMPH OF LOVE, and UNION SQUARE). I’m excited to catch up on some more of her films, plus maybe do a revisit as well. For anyone who’d like an extra bonus, I’d also recommend her film LIKE DANDELION DUST.
Just your Part 2 reminder that Mira Sorvino is a well deserved Academy Award winning Actress.
Her distinctly different vocal work with three broad characters whilst maintaining their heart and soul (Mighty Aphrodite, Romy and Michelle, Union Square) is amazing. The range and anchoring of the character so that it never is too much for the tone of the film around it is astonishing. Nothing but respect for the 90's Billie Dawn we all deserved. I hope she gets a few more prominent juicy parts and hopefully another nomination/win!
Feel free to pronounce the C in Barcelona as an S. That's what locals do. I don't understand why you struggle turning it into a TH.
Nathaniel (ka)R(ma) -- i must say that this new bit of trolling is bizarre. I love Mira Sorvino.
JF -- absolutely agree with you and thanks for saying it so eloquently. It really is a master class. They're all deeply specific and consistent but so so funny.
Camila -- i remember loving Norma & Marilyn when it came out but old tv movies tend to be so hard to find.
Claudio, it's funny how you mention that you:
"knew a young woman, a school colleague, who talked and acted just like Sorvino's Oscar-winning character. It was honestly eery, hence why I don't share a lot of people's idea that she's too unrealistically cartoony in the Woody Alen flick."
because I've had the same experience often with poor, borderline "white trash" characters where critics like Nathaniel and that level of prestige prognosticator have declared a character broad or over the top, but I just felt that I knew them. I'll have to think of a good example. The only okay example off the top of my head is Amy Ryan in Gone Baby Gone. Some critics I read thought it was quite broad but I grew up around that woman, as a neighbor or somebody my Mother would interact with, so I get you on the identification thing.
A supremely talented versatile performer that is a beauty AND aging gracefully? Sorvino may just win the long game and snatch more triumphs and even trophies yet! If producers and such wake up and look at the gem in front of them all along.
High school reunions happened very ten or so years, so the fact that there hasn’t been a sequel, in this age of long awaited sequel culture, is a travesty. I hope the screenwriter’s been working away in their spare time because I feel with a film like this that has grown in cult status more and more with every passing year, a sequel is inevitable.
A Harvard graduate with undertapped acting chops in all genres? We have no choice but to Stan.