the Andrea McArdle interview: will there be a dust-up? a catfight? — Page 4

Oh, and I enjoyed the Annie documentary. I found no agenda there, and I thought Julie did a really good job keeping it agenda-less. I find that what people don't like about it occasionally are things that have to do with the girls themselves, but it's a documentary and you get what you get - they say what they say. And that's why, IMO, Andrea should have taken part - to give her perspective on all of it.

Hannah I agree with everything you wrote. To me there was a definite angle in the documentary. These girls hit an incredible high at very young ages and many seem to spend the subsequent years trying to recapture that high, most of them unable to do so (Sarah Jessica Parker, Allison Smith, and McArdle being the obvious exceptions). Julie Stevens herself said just this in an interview with 20/20, though I did paraphrase. Also, the trailer to the film VERY MUCH plays up the "former child actress faces the downside as they age". There were positive moments in the film but to me they were overshadowed by the sad and dark stories. That's not to say it is a bad movie. It was very entertaining, and hats off to Julie Stevens for her work.

I do think Andrea was mean (or just clueless/misinformed and speaking out incorrectly) in the interview when she said the girls weren't on broadway and were wannabes. But otherwise I see where she is coming from. But I agree with everything you wrote in your post.

Andrea is entitled to her opinion. What was wrong of her to do was lie about the participants in the documentary, "Life After Tomorrow", who Andrea stated were NOT in the Broadway production- and were. Also, the "Broadway wannabees" comment was not very professional. That's MY opinion.

Apparently Andrea thought the creator was trying to tell her story for her and Andrea didn't like it.

Andrea is a tough cookie. She has busted her ass after Annie to keep working, even taking a lot of sh@#$y jobs. I have no doubt she has little patience for these whiny bitches who never made it and want to somehow blame Annie. Most of them didn't have the discipline, the looks or the hunger. Sour grapes if you ask me.

Andrea is a showbiz survivor and will work because she likes to perform. If that makes her seem bitchy, then tough.

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She sertainly does!

"I have no doubt she has little patience for these whiny bitches who never made it and want to somehow blame Annie. Most of them didn't have the discipline, the looks or the hunger. Sour grapes if you ask me"

Since these threads are all being bumped, I guess we're bringing this all up again. Having watched this documentary a few times now I don't get the sense that any of the women interviewed blamed Annie for their lack of a future career. Many of them seem to have been perfectly ok with where their lives eventually lead them. What they are reinforcing here is a complaint/problem that child actors have had pretty much since the dawn of mass media. The second they are no longer valuable to the production they are cast aside with no thought of trying to even explain what they've been through or what they are about to go through as they try to resume their former lives.

You see a range of women, some of whom were relieved to be done and were able to pick up their lives where they had left off. Others who ran into the sorts of problems that have plagued former child stars for decades. Get together any large number of former child stars and you'll see the same types of things being said. It is not unique to these women who were part of the original Annie machine. It is just another lens through which the stories can be told.

As far as how Julie Stevenson went about getting some of the bigger names (i.e. Sarah Jessica Parker and Allison Smith) to be a part of it, until somebody shows it in writing it's always going to be a case of she said/she said. Andrea had every right to refuse, and I don't blame her for doing so, as until a documentary is actually edited you never know for sure what angle it will take, but the things she said about these women who did participate was pretty nasty and uncalled for.

I might add her verson of mame sounds intresting.

May I ask you what your particular obsession is with you bumping all the Annie threads every couple of years? This seems more than a little odd to me.

You people live on here every day and I only pop up once every several years. And you called me obsessed LOL LOL LOL! Sorry I broke your little Annieorphan hearts.

I didn't mind this post bump actually...really interesting thread. Disappointed Andrea said those things in the show people interview, you'd think those girls would stick together. But then again, the annie drama ever since they replaced Kristin with Andrea off broadway hasn't slowed down at all.