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

[bk]

Posted: 11/19/11 at 12:59pm

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.

[Hanna from Hamburg]

Posted: 11/19/11 at 3:28pm

I DID sense that there was an agenda with the documentary . . . that these girls were exploited and dumped when they grew up. My sense is that Andrea knew this and chose not to participate. I believe her bitterness comes from the assumption that HER experience was the same as what was portrayed in the documentary (hence her saying she didn't want someone else trying to tell her story). She obviously feels the Annie experience was a magnificent time in her life and who can blame her for not wanting it tarnished. Maybe she should have said less in her interview, but the girls in the documentary got to say how they felt. Why can't she?

[smashmouth]

Posted: 11/19/11 at 10:32pm

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.

[bryan2]

Posted: 11/23/11 at 2:27pm

1st of all having met and spent time with Andrea I can tell you she is a really good person who takes no crap..a true Philly girl who is to be admired. Annie is her legacy not anyone elses she is the original- so if she decides to not participate for reasons she believes (and she was there) are true that is her choice. She should be a huge Bway star but that will come I believe. I like her straight shooting interview and if it is a little harsh well thats her opinion. Cant love her enough!!!!

[PVDColleen]

Posted: 11/23/11 at 6:11pm

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.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 11/23/11 at 6:17pm

Why would you assume she was "lying" as opposed to simply being mistaken?

Since the truth is easy enough to check, it seems odd that McArdle would bother to lie about the girls in the documentary.

[horselightning]

Posted: 6/16/13 at 7:49pm

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

[horselightning]

Posted: 6/18/13 at 6:22pm

The reason people say she lied. is because she said there was a negative review in a new york paper that know one can find. with out her telling us what she is talking about we will probably never know.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 6/18/13 at 6:31pm

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.

[horselightning]

Posted: 6/18/13 at 6:50pm

she sertainly has the right to her opinion. the other annie's were shelley bruce, sarah jessica parker, alyson kirk, and allison smith.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 6/18/13 at 6:54pm

She sertainly does!

[horselightning]

Posted: 6/18/13 at 7:02pm

i was reading about her doing mame now.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 6/18/13 at 7:05pm

"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.

[horselightning]

Posted: 6/18/13 at 7:10pm

RFLOL! Well she is playing Mame now. And in the article she was talking of carving out of the Annie image.

[horselightning]

Posted: 6/18/13 at 9:34pm

I might add her verson of mame sounds intresting.

[horselightning]

Posted: 4/16/15 at 2:56am

"Hey Smashmouth-Joined-Today, you're not the crazy documentary maker who pops up here regularly to defend the awful product and the shall-we-say ethically dubious nature in which some of the actors were brought on board, are you?"

 

LOL ! Smashmouth your funny :)

 

[bk]

Posted: 4/16/15 at 4:32am

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.

[tazber]

Posted: 4/16/15 at 5:46am

I'm curious to know as well.

[horselightning]

Posted: 4/16/15 at 4:55pm

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.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 4/16/15 at 5:28pm

And you called me obsessed

Because he qualified a very specific obsession, I would agree.  Your interaction on the board has always been rather odd and very sharply focused.  After two years, you come back to post a response to a post from four years ago?   Maybe you should go back to discussing Micky Dolenz.

Sorry I broke your little Annieorphan hearts.

What are you talking about?

[seahag2]

Posted: 4/16/15 at 6:31pm

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.