Entertainment - Media News Watch originally published at Entertainment - Media News Watch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iUl4qjwCsIIf I had asked you to name a film from the early 1990s that featured groundbreaking visuals effects that changed the landscape of cinema, you probably answer with Jurassic Park. What if I told that an earlier pioneer of visual effects was not dinosaurs but a satirical comedy featuring Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn with a magic potion instead? Yep, that’s right. This film is Death Became Her . The film is directed by Robert Zemeckis, and co-written with David Koeppand Martin Donovan. Koepp got the idea while working on another movie, which was about a husband’s attempt to kill his wife who turned out to be a satyr and could not die. The witch is furious that her husband has tried to kill her. This idea was later developed into the film Death Became Her
. CASTING
Meryl Streep kills it, as usual, as narcissistic, youth-obsessed actor Madeline Ashton. The opening of this movie wants us to believe that her Broadway musical Songbird is real.
is terrible but Streep’s performance is too good for it to be true. Bruce Willis plays Dr. Ernest Menville – a brilliant but bumbling plastic surgery turned reconstructive mortician. Kevin Kline had been the first choice to play the role before Willis was cast. He left the project because of a dispute over pay with the studio. Jeff Bridges and Nick Nolte both were considered for the role before Willis was cast. Goldie Hawn stars as Helen Sharp. The nicknames of the two leading ladies are “Mad”, “Hell” and “Mad”. Another darkly humorous thing to consider is the fact that Helen enjoyed her eternal youth and beauty before she got a shotgun to the stomach. Madeline, on the other hand, enjoyed her eternal beauty and youth for only a few hours until she fell down the stairs. Isabella is Lisle vonRhuman, the mysterious Lisle who has a constant supply of the potion. She played Nana Connie in A24’s Marcel The Shell with Shoes on as Marcel’s grandmother. Ian Oglivy
as Chagall the actor was considered for the James Bond role in the early 1980s. His scene is my favorite. The actor is known for his work as a director of Out Of Africa and 11001010Tootsie 11001010and for appearing in productions such as The Sopranos. Debra Jo Rupp is one of the patients in the psychiatric scene, which was clearly inspired by the One flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. You may also recognize her as Kitty Forman, from That 1970s Show and the reboot That 1990s Show. Lastly, Fabio, star of Zoolander, plays one of Lisle’s body guards. The filming began on December 9th, 1991, and lasted until April 7
th,
1992. The entire film was filmed in Los Angeles, and featured many locations that are frequently used in television and film. These include the Greystone Mansion as Ernest’s funeral home and the Ebell in Los Angeles as Helen’s book party. Mount St. Mary’s University, Brentwood, was the location for the final shot in which Helen and Madeline tumble down some stairs outside of the chapel. The exterior of Madeline’s and Ernest’s mansion was shot in San Marino. However, the interior set was built on a soundstage. There is definitely some material left on the cutting-room floor (other than bodyparts). The theatrical version of Death Becomes Her removed or shortened a number of scenes that were in the rough edit. Robert Zemeckis felt this was necessary in order to speed up the pace of the film and remove extraneous humor. The original ending was completely reshot, after a test audience had a negative reaction to it. This version saw Ernest, who fled Lisle’s party, meet a bartender, played by Tracey Ulman, who helped him fake his own death to avoid Mad and Hell. The two women meet Ernest and the bartender again 27 years later. They are happily retired together, while Madeline and Helen do not seem to be enjoying their eternal existence. Zemeckis felt the ending was too happy, and chose the darker ending that appears in the final cut. Ullman was among the few actors who had speaking roles that were removed. Zemeckis chose the darker ending because it was the perfect way to end the story. Ernest lived a long time, while Helen and Madeline were doomed to spend eternity with each other. Madeline tells Rose to “close the doors” and Rose, horrified by this, runs off screaming. Ernest then drags Madeline upstairs after removing her from the freezer in which he had her. Other scenes were cut, including Madeline talking with her agent Jonathan Silverman played in the movie and a scene where the doctor mistakenly thought Madeline was a corpse after she fainted in the emergency room and closed her eyes. These scenes have not been released to the public in full, but you can catch a glimpse of them in the original theatrical trailer. The trailer pretty much reveals the entire movie. At the time, computer-generated visual effects were revolutionary and bone-breaking. They represented a huge leap forward. Industrial Light and Magic handled the VFX for the film, which was the first time the texture of skin on a human being was CGI. The sequence where Madeline’s neck is twisted and her head is displaced, was created using a combination of a blue screen, an animated model by Amalgamated Dynamics and prosthetic make-up applied to Streep. A pneumatic bra was created to create the effect of Meryl Streep’s breasts becoming higher and firmer when she drinks the potion. However, the results did not look realistic. Streep’s dresser pushed her breasts in place behind her, away from the camera. So, those babies are all practical… Streep accidentally cut Goldie’s face in the scene where Madeline, Helen, and their shovels are fighting. Streep admitted that she did not enjoy working on a film that was so heavily focused on special effects. She vowed to never work on another project like that again. In an Entertainment Weekly interview, Streep said, “It was just like going to the dentist.” RELEASED
Death Became Her was first released on July 31st 1992. It opened at number one with $12 million dollars. Although it received mixed reviews from critics and was a commercial success, Death Became Her
grossed $149 million dollars globally against a budget of $55 million dollars. Some critics didn’t appreciate the satirical aspects of the film, even though most agreed that the performances and innovative effects were the film’s greatest strengths. Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel gave
Death Begins Her
a ‘thumbs down’, noting that the film was full of great special effects but lacked substance or character depth. To each his own, I suppose. The special effects of the film were groundbreaking at the time, and the film won the Academy Award for Best visual effects in 20
Alien 3,
and Batman returns. ILM would use the digital advances pioneered by Death Begins Her in its next project, Jurassic park released by Universal a year later. FUTURE (REVIVALS/SEQUELS) 20 years after the film’s release, in 2012, there was talk about a possible spin-off on Bravo. But nothing more was ever done. Kristin Chenoweth will star as Madeline Ashton, in a Broadway musical version of Death becomes Her. I would be lying if i said I didn’t like to see it. The film has also gained a cult following in the LGBT community. LEGACY/CONCLUSION
The movie launched David Koepp’s career as a screenwriter and he went on to write countless hits including Jurassic Park
, Mission: Impossible,
Panic Room,
Spider-Man, and Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds. Alan Silvestri’s music never fails to impress. He didn’t need to go so hard for the movie. The fat suit is a bit out of place in this otherwise sharp satire. It’s a nice little costume touch, but does it have to be on every piece of clothing? Helen still had it on her dress after all those years? The film is very comical, and it is almost like a live-action animation. Robert Zemeckis loves his cartoons. The moral of this movie is that wishing for eternal youth can be a bad idea, as it’s more a curse than blessing… unless your rich like Elvis Presley.
Entertainment - Media News Watch originally published at Entertainment - Media News Watch
Entertainment - Media News Watch originally published at Entertainment - Media News Watch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iUl4qjwCsIIf I had asked you to name a film from the early 1990s that featured groundbreaking visuals effects that changed the landscape of cinema, you probably answer with Jurassic Park. What if I told that an earlier pioneer of visual effects was not dinosaurs but a satirical comedy featuring Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn with a magic potion instead? Yep, that’s right. This film is Death Became Her . The film is directed by Robert Zemeckis, and co-written with David Koeppand Martin Donovan. Koepp got the idea while working on another movie, which was about a husband’s attempt to kill his wife who turned out to be a satyr and could not die. The witch is furious that her husband has tried to kill her. This idea was later developed into the film Death Became Her
. CASTING
Meryl Streep kills it, as usual, as narcissistic, youth-obsessed actor Madeline Ashton. The opening of this movie wants us to believe that her Broadway musical Songbird is real.
is terrible but Streep’s performance is too good for it to be true. Bruce Willis plays Dr. Ernest Menville – a brilliant but bumbling plastic surgery turned reconstructive mortician. Kevin Kline had been the first choice to play the role before Willis was cast. He left the project because of a dispute over pay with the studio. Jeff Bridges and Nick Nolte both were considered for the role before Willis was cast. Goldie Hawn stars as Helen Sharp. The nicknames of the two leading ladies are “Mad”, “Hell” and “Mad”. Another darkly humorous thing to consider is the fact that Helen enjoyed her eternal youth and beauty before she got a shotgun to the stomach. Madeline, on the other hand, enjoyed her eternal beauty and youth for only a few hours until she fell down the stairs. Isabella is Lisle vonRhuman, the mysterious Lisle who has a constant supply of the potion. She played Nana Connie in A24’s Marcel The Shell with Shoes on as Marcel’s grandmother. Ian Oglivy
as Chagall the actor was considered for the James Bond role in the early 1980s. His scene is my favorite. The actor is known for his work as a director of Out Of Africa and 11001010Tootsie 11001010and for appearing in productions such as The Sopranos. Debra Jo Rupp is one of the patients in the psychiatric scene, which was clearly inspired by the One flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. You may also recognize her as Kitty Forman, from That 1970s Show and the reboot That 1990s Show. Lastly, Fabio, star of Zoolander, plays one of Lisle’s body guards. The filming began on December 9th, 1991, and lasted until April 7
th,
1992. The entire film was filmed in Los Angeles, and featured many locations that are frequently used in television and film. These include the Greystone Mansion as Ernest’s funeral home and the Ebell in Los Angeles as Helen’s book party. Mount St. Mary’s University, Brentwood, was the location for the final shot in which Helen and Madeline tumble down some stairs outside of the chapel. The exterior of Madeline’s and Ernest’s mansion was shot in San Marino. However, the interior set was built on a soundstage. There is definitely some material left on the cutting-room floor (other than bodyparts). The theatrical version of Death Becomes Her removed or shortened a number of scenes that were in the rough edit. Robert Zemeckis felt this was necessary in order to speed up the pace of the film and remove extraneous humor. The original ending was completely reshot, after a test audience had a negative reaction to it. This version saw Ernest, who fled Lisle’s party, meet a bartender, played by Tracey Ulman, who helped him fake his own death to avoid Mad and Hell. The two women meet Ernest and the bartender again 27 years later. They are happily retired together, while Madeline and Helen do not seem to be enjoying their eternal existence. Zemeckis felt the ending was too happy, and chose the darker ending that appears in the final cut. Ullman was among the few actors who had speaking roles that were removed. Zemeckis chose the darker ending because it was the perfect way to end the story. Ernest lived a long time, while Helen and Madeline were doomed to spend eternity with each other. Madeline tells Rose to “close the doors” and Rose, horrified by this, runs off screaming. Ernest then drags Madeline upstairs after removing her from the freezer in which he had her. Other scenes were cut, including Madeline talking with her agent Jonathan Silverman played in the movie and a scene where the doctor mistakenly thought Madeline was a corpse after she fainted in the emergency room and closed her eyes. These scenes have not been released to the public in full, but you can catch a glimpse of them in the original theatrical trailer. The trailer pretty much reveals the entire movie. At the time, computer-generated visual effects were revolutionary and bone-breaking. They represented a huge leap forward. Industrial Light and Magic handled the VFX for the film, which was the first time the texture of skin on a human being was CGI. The sequence where Madeline’s neck is twisted and her head is displaced, was created using a combination of a blue screen, an animated model by Amalgamated Dynamics and prosthetic make-up applied to Streep. A pneumatic bra was created to create the effect of Meryl Streep’s breasts becoming higher and firmer when she drinks the potion. However, the results did not look realistic. Streep’s dresser pushed her breasts in place behind her, away from the camera. So, those babies are all practical… Streep accidentally cut Goldie’s face in the scene where Madeline, Helen, and their shovels are fighting. Streep admitted that she did not enjoy working on a film that was so heavily focused on special effects. She vowed to never work on another project like that again. In an Entertainment Weekly interview, Streep said, “It was just like going to the dentist.” RELEASED
Death Became Her was first released on July 31st 1992. It opened at number one with $12 million dollars. Although it received mixed reviews from critics and was a commercial success, Death Became Her
grossed $149 million dollars globally against a budget of $55 million dollars. Some critics didn’t appreciate the satirical aspects of the film, even though most agreed that the performances and innovative effects were the film’s greatest strengths. Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel gave
Death Begins Her
a ‘thumbs down’, noting that the film was full of great special effects but lacked substance or character depth. To each his own, I suppose. The special effects of the film were groundbreaking at the time, and the film won the Academy Award for Best visual effects in 20
Alien 3,
and Batman returns. ILM would use the digital advances pioneered by Death Begins Her in its next project, Jurassic park released by Universal a year later. FUTURE (REVIVALS/SEQUELS) 20 years after the film’s release, in 2012, there was talk about a possible spin-off on Bravo. But nothing more was ever done. Kristin Chenoweth will star as Madeline Ashton, in a Broadway musical version of Death becomes Her. I would be lying if i said I didn’t like to see it. The film has also gained a cult following in the LGBT community. LEGACY/CONCLUSION
The movie launched David Koepp’s career as a screenwriter and he went on to write countless hits including Jurassic Park
, Mission: Impossible,
Panic Room,
Spider-Man, and Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds. Alan Silvestri’s music never fails to impress. He didn’t need to go so hard for the movie. The fat suit is a bit out of place in this otherwise sharp satire. It’s a nice little costume touch, but does it have to be on every piece of clothing? Helen still had it on her dress after all those years? The film is very comical, and it is almost like a live-action animation. Robert Zemeckis loves his cartoons. The moral of this movie is that wishing for eternal youth can be a bad idea, as it’s more a curse than blessing… unless your rich like Elvis Presley.
Entertainment - Media News Watch originally published at Entertainment - Media News Watch
