Cast This! All Black "Steel Magnolias"

Everyone is doing it... why shouldn't we? I caught the news on Twitter where everyone I follow (but particularly Joe & Mark) were sounding off about who they'd like to see in the just announced remake of Steel Magnolias (for Lifetime) which will use an all black cast. Since blacktresses and the unfortunate dearth of roles for them are one of our pet topics here at The Film Experience we can't really let this one go without a discussion.

Clockwise from top left: Hannah (Annelle), Maclaine (Ouiser), Parton (Truvy), Field (M'Lynn), Dukakis (Clairee), and Roberts (Shelby)

The original film, a big hit in 1989 that has had an infinite DVD shelf life with the gays, gave Julia Roberts her first Oscar nomination. It was another Oscar vehicle at the time for Sally Field, a star-laden adaptation of a hit play that opened in November, but the only thing Oscar ended up noticing was Julia Roberts all fresh faced and quivering ginormous lips. At the time Sally Field loved to lay claim to discovering Julia though it was the nascent superstar's fourth film to hit theaters.  

She's mine!

Yes, I saw it in theaters. Shut up. I know my 80s movie stories are totally aging me. It can't be helped! This will happen to some of you when they start remaking 90s and 00s movies like Total Recall and  Spider-M (oh wait. damn). The cast at the time was NOT listed alphabetically but had to deal with old fashioned 'whose the biggest star right now?' billing so it went like so...

• SALLY FIELD as "M'Lynn" the no nonsense mom who worries herself sick over her reckless life-loving diabetic daughter 
• DOLLY PARTON as "Truvy" the big haired big hearted owner of the beauty shop where the cast continually congregates.
• SHIRLEY MACLAINE as "Ouiser" the mean spirited wealthy brunt of many of the jokes 
• DARYL HANNAH as "Annelle" the bumbling beauty shop apprentice and born again Christian. 'Her personal troubles will not interfere with her ability to do good hair.'
• OLYMPIA DUKAKIS as "Clairee" Ouiser's wise-cracking bestie, also rich, but infinitely better-tempered.
• ...and JULIA ROBERTS as "Shelby" a fragile young bride who is desperate to have a normal life

The cast (sans Dukakis) at the NYC premiere in November 1989

So which black actresses would you cast in these roles?
EXTRA POINTS to anyone who manages to recast Tom Skeritt's and Dylan McDermott's parts, too. [Psssst. Shamelessly name dropping alert: Dylan McDermott was at that Hugo screening on Monday night, just 8 seats away from me!]
DOUBLE EXTRA POINTS to anyone who manages to recast it without using Viola Davis or Octavia Spencer who, trust, aren't going to be hurting for offers post The Help.
TRIPLE EXTRA POINTS to anyone who can do it using Steel Magnolia's formula at the time (4 previous Oscar nominees or winners, 2 absolute legends, 1 current sex symbol de-glammed and 1 newbie who is clearly on her way to major stardom)

Go!

Cinema de Gym: Forrest Gump

Kurt here. On the day Forrest Gump was playing at my gym, it seemed only right that I swap out the elliptical for the treadmill: Run, cinephile! RUN!! In truth, part of me wanted to run right out of the building (this is a behemoth of a movie to chip away at with my modest column). But, I stuck it out, and I tip my hat to the gym's programmers, as I've never been so inspired to burn off as many calories as possible.
Forrest Gump tends to have that effect on people, ever since it ran away with every trophy in sight at the end of 1994. It's a you-can-do-it movie, through and through, with Forrest boasting Oprah-level propulsion – too busy to look back for more than a brief glance. The film itself doesn't wow so greatly the smaller it gets in the rearview, no matter how large it looms on the marquee and no matter how well it urges one to keep up with its star runner. Such is the plight of the overhyped phenomenon.
I like Forrest Gump just fine, but I think it works better as a capsule of Americana than as a movie. And, of course, to be a capsule of Americana is a big part of its aim. It's essentially 141 minutes of milestones and iconography, landmark moments and famous faces. Its underdog-rewrites-history conceit is a good one, always teetering on the edge of magical realism but too awash in actual events to truly show it. That vicious, wonderful – and very viral – review of Transformers: Dark of the Moon stuck it to Gump for being the evil initiator of archival footage manipulation, but it's hard not to find charm in the film's grainy tour of suddenly resurrected legends (JFK, John Lennon), however buffoonish the tour guide may be. I think my personal favorite thing about the film – if I may be so broad – is its sociopolitical Vietnam-era backdrop, which multiple films have since tried and failed to depict with the same buzzing cultural potency (ahem, Across the Universe, ahem). It's what pumps awesome power into Forrest and Jenny's Washington Monument reunion, surely one of the most iconic hugs in contemporary cinema. It's not strength of narrative, but strength of context that gives you butterflies – a movement and an era defined in an embrace. 

Hug it Out

And that's just one moment.
In its tireless forward motion, Forrest Gump, covers an awful lot of ground, each episode another page in the history book. So nimble is its pace that to tell you what I saw during my quick workout is to offer you a clip reel: the rise of the ping pong master, the boiling resentment of a legless Lieutenant Dan, the newsreel mooning of LBJ, the breaking up of the Black Panther “party” and, of course, that lovely aforementioned hug. All scenes that, appropriately, have now found their own places in the pages of history. However you feel about Forrest Gump, few films have so firmly cemented themselves into popular conversation, achieved such immortal quotability, and made themselves known to what seems like every adult media consumer. As I write this, I'm in a house with a ping pong table in the basement. Is it possible to play the game without thinking of a rubber-limbed Tom Hanks? Is it possible to open a box of chocolates without envisioning Sally Field, or a white bench in Savannah, Georgia? 

It was nice to revisit this movie after the major Hanks misfire of Larry Crowne, which won't put a dent in the smiley star's career, but surely bruised his credibility as a filmmaker. There will be no higher peak for Hanks than Forrest Gump, no better instance of his massively, uniquely beloved everyman/leading man persona. I wonder if he knew this when he was making the press rounds with Robert Zemeckis and Robin Wright, or when he collected his Oscar – that this was it, the summit, the key page in his history. I wonder if he wanted to stop and freeze instead of just keep running. 

Conclusions?

1. See above.
2. Movies about running are even better motivators than Matthew McConnaughey's abs. (Should I recommend Prefontaine to the gym programmers?)
3. Admittedly, the whole “box of chocolates” thing is pretty counterproductive here.
4. Qualms aside, Forrest Gump is something of treasure.  

What do you think of the film? Despite everything, it's surprisingly divisive, especially given the whole Pulp Fiction / Shawshank Redemption Best Pic defeat. 

Sally Field is First Lady Mary Todd "Lincoln"

Steven Spielberg's Lincoln (2013?) is one of those movies that I always forget about due to its long long gestation period. I swear I've been hearing about it as long as Jodie Foster's Flora Plum or Jodie Foster's Leni Reifenstahl or a few of Terrence Malick's movies before they surfaced. Will it ever get made? Probably. This is Spielberg we're talking about and he's familiar with the green light. The biopic is now one small step closer to filming. Deadline reports that Sally Field is in as our seventeenth* First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln.

Spielberg says that Sally Field was always his first choice. I don't believe or disbelieve this exactly but I find it amusing that virtually every casting announcement for any movie (not specifically this one) comes with "they were our first choice all along" which simply can't be true 90% of the time we hear it else there would be very few auditions or screen tests ever held and precious little for casting directors to do other than fill up the bit roles and very little for management and representation to do other than negotiate.

At first the news felt odd and easily snarkable like "Sally Field co-starring with Daniel Day-Lewis? She's moving up in the world!" but then I quickly remembered that people -- apparently even myself. For shame -- are always underestimating her talent, probably because she's a "cute" actress as it were, and has been for her entire career. But I've seen enough of her work to know I shouldn't underestimate her. She's already proven herself on stage (she was a-ma-zing in a difficult role in The Goat or Who is Sylvia?), small screen (Emmys) and big screen (Oscars). She's one of those talents that "transfers" as it were. Plus: Daniel Day-Lewis isn't the only one with two Oscars in this marriage.

If you read up on Mary Todd Lincoln you'll find she was a pretty interesting woman with a very dramatic life: Her own family was torn up by the Civil War as she came from a border state, she outlived nearly all of her children, she was plagued by headaches and erratic behavior which some historians believe indicates that she was a manic depressive or bipolar). You have to wonder why some First Ladies don't get their own biopics.

The most peculiar thing about the casting is probably their age difference. Sally Field is 11 years older than Daniel Day-Lewis and we don't often see casting flip the gender/age disparity equation; Mary was 10 years younger than Abraham.

Here is the trailer to  Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940) which netted Raymond Massey and Oscar nomination for Best Actor (Ruth Gordon was not nominated as Mary Todd). John Ford's Young Lincoln (1939) the year before was only Oscar nominated for the screenplay.

No movie about Lincoln has been an Oscar powerhouse but you never know with that cast and director.

But First...
Spielberg's Lincoln is long enough away that perhaps we should be talking about Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter (2012) instead. Itopens in 14 months and stars Meryl Streep's future son-in-law Benjamin Walker as Honest Abe. He's apparently cornered the market on blood splattered presidents. His breakthrough role was in the play "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson" on Broadway (for which he turned down a role in X-Men: First Class) and all I can say about him is you're in for such a treat when you see him on the big screen. Major charisma he has. Big stardom awaits.

Benjamin Walker heads the cast of "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson"

*Abraham Lincoln was the 16th US President but Mary Todd was actually the 17th First Lady since President #10 John Tyler remarried while in office after the death of his first wife.

Reader of the Day: Keir

Hope you're enjoying getting to know The Film Experience community with me. Some times I pick up bits from comments but this has been a much fuller picture, and so fun. I hope you've enjoyed. We wrap up tomorrow.

Today's featured reader is Keir.

Nathaniel: Do you remember your first moviegoing experience?
KEIR: Yes I do. Unfortunately for me, it wasn't a glorious experience. My Grandmother took me to see E.T., and I suppose I was a little wimp because every time E.T. would appear on the screen I would cry. I guess I thought he was scary. I think I remember her laughing a bit, then asking me if I want to see something else.

OMG. I went with my grandmother to E.T., too. Scout's honor. I remember she didn't like it and the rest of the year when everyone was like 'the whole world loves E.T.' I was like 'Um... Grandma 'Bel didn't!'

So... when did you start reading The Film Experience?
After the Brokeback Mountain mess. I wanted to vent my anger. (I knew that you were a big supporter, and couldn't wait to see what you had to say about it.)  I especially love and appreciate your tribute to actresses.

You work or worked for Disney as a performer, right?
Yes, I'm a dancer first and foremost. I also worked for Royal Caribbean, and did the national tour of "Contact". I also sing, but dancing is really my love and passion.

Keir (left) in a number based around Dr. Facilier (right) from "The Princess and the Frog"

What's your favorite musical number?
I was a soloist for the number "Mr. Bojangles" from "Fosse". It remains my favorite piece that I ever did. It took everything out of me each time I performed it. There was always a sense of accomplishment whether or not I executed the number technically perfect. Bob Fosse is by far my favorite choreographer and my favorite style.

What film genres besides musicals do you love?
Well, actually I would say that Dramas are my favorite film genre, I suppose because I'm such a drama queen myself.  I'm always affected the most by a film that stirs my emotions and makes me think.

A guilty pleasure for me are horror films. I know that 9 times out 10 it's going to be a bad film, but I love the thrill of it. It's always good to see a horror film with a date as well. I once went on a date to see The Notebook, and it was so awkward after.

Three favorite actresses. Go!
Hmmm...well, it will be hard to pick just three, but I would have to say: Meryl Streep is by far my favorite actress. I know it's such a typical answer, but that's for a reason. She is so versatile and natural in everything she does. I also look forward to her speeches, because she always makes me laugh. She is my acting God, for sure.

I've always had a thing for Gwyneth Paltrow. I'm in the minority that thinks she was absolutely the right choice back in '98. She is sophisticated and charming. I really had no idea that she could sing as well, which makes me like her even more. Sally Field is amazing as well.

He likes her. He really likes her. (So does Nathaniel!)

She has the right mix of humor and drama in her scenes. I've loved every single performance of hers.

On a side note, I LOVE Natalie Portman now. I'm biased in my belief that she was the rightful winner this year for obvious reasons. I love when an actor/actress can surprise you and knock your socks off.