Mommie Dearest special edition DVD announced!- Page 2

[Glebb]

Posted: 5/17/06 at 11:10pm

I love you............... Mommie Dearest.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 5/18/06 at 6:12am

We now need a special edition of The Oscar another really hoot of a movie

[blueroses]

Posted: 5/18/06 at 12:24pm

Christina...bring me the axe!

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 5/18/06 at 12:34pm

CLEAN UP....THIS...MEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS!

[blueroses]

Posted: 5/18/06 at 2:34pm

Christopher, strap yourself in!

[EvelynNesbit1906]

Posted: 6/2/06 at 1:17pm

VERY detailed recent interview with Diana Scarwid (older Christina) about Mommie Dearest:

http://epgn.com/060206/detour.htm

Also, Angelica Huston recently interviewed about how much she loves the film and has tried (over many years) to convince Faye Dunaway to embrace it.

I love hearing about the stars' obsessions with this film. So far, I have Angelica Huston, Mariah Carrey and Debra Winger on the fanz list...

I suspect (just judging by all the TV references) that if the Academy had a larger African-American membership in 1981, Dunaway would have at least been nominated for an Oscar.

Updated On: 6/2/06 at 01:17 PM

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 6/2/06 at 2:39pm

Where can I hear that answering machine message!

[blueroses]

Posted: 6/2/06 at 3:32pm

Here ya go, munk:

http://worldofwonder.net/image1/faye-1.mp3

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 6/2/06 at 3:39pm

That is AMAZING!

[blueroses]

Posted: 6/2/06 at 5:03pm

It's great! I want to play it back and count how many times she says Marlon Brando and Johnny Depp.

[EvelynNesbit1906]

Posted: 6/6/06 at 8:57am

I got this fantastic little gem in the mail yesterday.

Random Thoughts:

Diana Scarwid (Older Christina) appears throughout the special features and sounds a lot like Felicity Huffman in Transamerica these days. And it's delightful given the drag and trans associations of 'Mommie.'

Wow. After all these years, Scarwid still pretends to take the film seriously for the press. She does burst out laughing after accidentally calling Faye "Joan" during an interview, but for the most part, she suggests that she's as deadly serious about the material as Christina was about Antigone in the movie ("UNDERSTAND... the first word... I ever heard... out of any of you... was that word... UNDERSTAND").

Rutanya Alda (Carol Ann), on the other hand, REALLY gets the joke that is the whole film. She and screenwriter Frank Yablans embrace the film's gay following. So does Scarwid but she doesn't seem to be in stitches over all of it like Alda is!

Faye Dunaway does not interview but never-before-seen photos from the shoot almost compensate for that. I particularly like the one of her doing a mid-air leap at the top of the grand staircase, moments before she catches Mara Hobel (as Young Christina) imitating her in the triptych mirror. OH, and Alda, Scarwid, Yablans and John Waters all go into depth about her opposition to the film and how much they disapprove of it. They all love her performance.

Lypsinka crying in full-drag because he loves the movie so much? Beautiful.

John Waters' commentary track is hilarious but they really should've had someone from the film or even Lypsinka contribute. He doesn't view the movie as total camp like many of us diehards fans do. For example, he says that the scene where Joan pretends to be broke to Christina so that she can use her tuition money to go on a shopping spree ("I feel as though I don't have anybody.... NO CONTRACT! .... NO STUDIO! .... I'm SCARED, Tina!") isn't funny at all. Huh? That's funny as hell. He also doesn't seem to know as much about the movie as me or even some of my friends do; at various points, he struggles to remember the name of the "child actress" (Mara Hobel) and wonders what she looks like now (she is very fat, brunette and had a cameo in Kinsey). I would have liked to hear memories of shooting every scene in that film. Yablans and Scarwid were both available to provide that. They should have. On the other hand, there's a lot of charm in hearing Waters talk about Divine's love for the film and just react to it as an ordinary fan would. I'll definitely listen to his commentary track again - though it by no means makes this version a definitive special edition.

No deleted scenes but some detailed discussion of what wasn't shot. The film was originally to open with Joan slipping on an ice skating rink and cutting her leg during the filming of Ice Follies of 1939, but refusing to stop shooting for her injury. Instead, she performs the scene with blood gushing out of her leg - a testament (according to producer/screenwriter Yablans) to her devotion to her career. Yeah.

Love this movie.

[blueroses]

Posted: 6/6/06 at 9:47am

Thanks for all of the details, Evelyn!

"Rutanya Alda (Carol Ann), on the other hand, REALLY gets the joke that is the whole film."

That's good, because the goddamn GENIUS of the whole thing was that it was accidental camp! The fact that the studio and the actors took the thing so seriously (and it was marketed as a "serious" drama)--and that it was NOT played over the top on purpose--is what makes the end product so hysterical! And, unintentionally camp or not, I still think Faye was fantastic in this role, and her performance was nothing to be ashamed of. This movie f--king rocks my socks and always will.

I love you...Mommie Dearest