AdrienneShelly Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The first thing everyone seems to mention about Serious Moonlight is that its screenplay is the last one written by the late Adrienne Shelly. Actress Cheryl Hines, who had a role in Shelly's film Waitress, is making her feature directorial debut with the dark comedy, which stars Meg Ryan and Timothy Hutton. The movie opened Austin Film Festival this year. It sounds like a sure-fire comedy, but unfortunately it just left me with a headache.

Serious Moonlight focuses on a married couple, Louise (Meg Ryan) and Ian (Timothy Hutton), who are supposed to meet in their country house for a rendezvous, but both arrive a day early. Louise wants to surprise her husband, but finds out that he also has a surprise: he's leaving her. She refuses to accept this, and ends up cracking him on the head with a vase, binding him with duct tape, and refusing to let him loose until he comes to his senses and realizes how much he loves her and wants to stay with her.

Time flies... We're rapidly approaching the third anniversary of Adrienne Shelly's death. Although she spent almost twenty years in the business, Shelly was killed just as her career reached an inspiring new level with Waitress, the sweetly effective story of a woman and creative pie-maker coming to terms with the fact that she's having a child with the husband she hates. Shelly left behind a number of unfinished projects, one of which was Serious Moonlight, a film that Waitress co-star Cheryl Hines took over in her memory.

Almost two years after that news hit, we've finally got a trailer courtesy of Yahoo. (You can see it after the jump.) I'm happy to say that Shelly's vision and personality are immediately visible in the trailer. You could almost close your eyes and imagine what she would have done with it. However, I can't figure out whether it's the casting that I'm having a problem with, or the way it's been morphed into the trailer. I still can't get past Meg Ryan's surgery. And I hate to harp on it, but one of the most charming parts of her acting was her expressive face. However, in their rather positive review, The Hollywood Reporter did say she was "terrific" in the film, and I'm really hoping I agree once it hits theaters on December 4. The rest seem fine, but the magic of the trailer definitely comes from the quirks of the story and the lingering feel of Shelly.

What do you think of the trailer?

The murder of Adrienne Shelly was obviously not just a devastating loss to her friends and family, but to the people who followed her work eagerly from her early days as a star in Hal Hartley movies like The Unbelievable Truth and Trust. (By the by, Trust is only available on VHS, and I'm sure I wouldn't be the only one rushing to buy it on DVD.) She was also just getting back into writing and directing after taking a break for a few years; Waitress, which she wrote, directed, and also acted in, had just been accepted to Sundance when she was murdered. (Read Jeffrey M. Anderson's take on the movie and her murder.)

Through the efforts of her husband Andy Ostroy and friends and costars like Cheryl Hines and Keri Russell, Waitress was shephered through the festivals, inevitable press days, and release. Ostroy also began the Adrienne Shelly Foundation, which was created to "support the artistic achievements of female actors, writers and directors who are either working on current short and feature film projects, new productions, or are seeking to transition from acting to writing and directing."

Among the many sad things about the 2006 murder of writer-actress-director Adrienne Shelly was the fact that she left behind a screenplay that was apparently intended to be her next film, after Waitress, which she finished just before her death. The acclaim Waitress received from critics and audiences throughout 2007 gave Shelly's husband, Andy Ostroy, even more reason to keep her spirit alive by producing the film, and now audiences will have a chance to see it.

The film, Serious Moonlight, premiered at Tribeca in April, and now indieWIRE reports that it's been acquired by Magnolia Pictures, which will make it available through its video-on-demand system in November and release it theatrically in December. Cheryl Hines, who co-starred with Shelly in Waitress and is best known for her work on Curb Your Enthusiasm, directed the project, her first feature film.

A year and a half after the tragic and sudden death of Adrienne Shelly, her widower, Andy Ostroy, is working to bring her final screenplay to the big screen. The Hollywood Reporter posts that he's started work on The Morgan Stories,a multi-generational family drama that he calls Adrienne's best.

The project follows three sisters over a number of decades, and Ostroy says: "It's a little bigger than some of her other work. If Adrienne's previous movies were comedies with a little bit of drama, this is a drama with a little bit of comedy." Morgan Stories is a bittersweet announcement -- great that we're getting one more look into Shelly's creative mind, a different one at that, and sad that she isn't here to bring it to the screen herself.

The project is still in the beginning stages, but in the meantime, another script is about to make it to the big screen. Serious Moonlight, which boasts Cheryl Hines (Waitress) directorial debut, will premiere at Tribeca next month. The film stars Meg Ryan and Timothy Hutton as a couple who find themselves in a sticky situation -- just as she duct-tapes him to the bathroom, burglars arrive.

The story of filmmaker and actress Adrienne Shelly's murder is coming to a close, as the murderer has copped a manslaughter plea and escaped justice with a paltry 25 year sentence. Diego Pillco told prosecutors that Shelly, who was known for her Hal Hartley movies around the early 90s and who most recently directed the Sundance hit, Waitress, walked in on him while he was rummaging through her purse for money. She threatened to call the cops and so he strangled her to death and then staged a suicide. When police broke him down, he told them that the reason he went to such an extreme and killed Shelly -- the mother of a two year-old -- was because "I was having a bad day." And for this, he gets 25 years? Considering he's barely out of his teens, expect to see him back on the streets before he's middle-aged, probably. No matter what position you take on the death penalty, you have to agree that it's some kind of world where this guy isn't slated to walk the green mile.

Some small measure of good comes out of this tragedy, with the establishment by Shelly's widower of the Adrienne Shelly Foundation, which is dedicated to helping young female filmmakers and actresses pursue their careers through scholarships and grants. From the site: "In carrying out our mission, we've partnered with the industry's finest academic and filmmaking institutions to assist women in this journey with film school scholarships, production grants, finishing funds, and other invaluable resources." Details on how to apply and the rules and regulations are available on the site.

I was going to headline this post with something about 'being there in spirit,' but I decided that's a lame way to start things off. Obviously, I'm being lame anyway by pointing out that I wasn't going to begin that way, while in effect beginning that way. So, why don't we just get to the news about the Independent Spirit Award nominations, shall we?

Todd Hayne's I'm Not There received four nominations, including one each for Cate Blanchett and Marcus Carl Franklin, who are up for supporting actress and supporting actor, respectively, for their semi-portrayals of Bob Dylan. The film was also recognized in the Best Feature category, in which it's competing against Juno, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Paranoid Park and A Mighty Heart, and Haynes was nominated for Best Director, going up against Jason Reitman (Juno), Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), Gus Van Sant (Paranoid Park) and Tamara Jenkins (The Savages) -- meaning A Mighty Heart's Michael Winterbottom was shut out despite his film's receiving the Best Feature nomination. I'm Not There is already the winner of one Independent Spirit Award, the newly conceived, and appropriately titled Robert Altman Award, which honors the film's director, casting director and ensemble cast. Because of that win, I'm Not There has been labeled the leader of the nominated films, although Juno, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and The Savages all received the same amount of actual nominations as Haynes' film.

Since I haven't seen any of the major nominees (yet), I will take this opportunity to celebrate a few films, which I have seen, that have been deservedly recognized in other categories. First, I'm excited to see that Adrienne Shelly is up for Best Screenplay for Waitress. I doubt she'll win, unless enough voters want to further highlight her posthumous success, but I'm happy to see her included. I'm delighted to see Jennifer Jason Leigh nominated for Margot at the Wedding, considering Nicole Kidman, who wasn't nominated, has been receiving most of that film's accolades. And finally, I am ecstatic to see that Vanaja, which I loved, has been given two nominations, one for Best First Feature and one for Best Cinematography. Overall, we should all be glad that this year's crop of nominees includes few huge stars, Angelina Jolie being the one major exception, in the acting categories. The 2008 Independent Spirit Awards will be presented on February 23.

Time flies, and we've almost approached the first anniversary of Adrienne Shelly's murder. Since then, Waitress has hit both the festival circuit and local big screens, charming audiences as a bittersweet cherry to her career; however, Waitress wasn't the only material she was working on. Variety reports that another Shelly screenplay is heading towards production. Cheryl Hines, who co-starred with Keri Russell in Waitress, is going to make her feature directorial debut with a project called Serious Moonlight -- which Shelly's husband, Andy Ostroy, will co-produce along with Michael Roiff.

Moonlight is a dark comedy about a "high-powered female attorney who learns that her husband is about to leave her for another woman, then prevents him from doing so by binding him to the toilet with duct tape." I guess she didn't see 9 to 5, which has a much more creative means of binding the pesky man. Anyway, things get more tricky when the home is invaded by robbers.

Ostroy says: "I felt compelled to continue her work for her after her death. I think she was just hitting her stride with Waitress. I tried to put together a team that was part of the Waitress family to re-create the vibe and the success of that film and honor Adrienne and get her work out there with a group of people who really cared about her and (understood) her spirit and vision." The comedy will head into production this December in LA, and considering Ostroy's plan, there's probably a decent chance Russell will also get involved, since there has been no mention of new projects. We should know soon -- Roiff, Ostroy, and HInes are currently casting the film.

It's hard to believe that it's been almost a year since indie film director-writer-actress Adrienne Shelly was murdered shortly after finishing her last film, Waitress, starring Keri Russell. The Adrienne Shelly Foundation, established to honor Shelly's memory, will give grants and scholarships to "support the artistic achievements of female actors, writers, and directors who are either working on current short and feature film projects, new productions, or are seeking to transition from acting to writing and directing."

The Foundation's inaugural benefit to raise funds to support its grant and scholarship fund will be held November 12, 2007 at NYUs Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, followed by a VIP reception. The evening's program will include a live performance by Alanis Morissette, followed by a reading of Shelly's screenplay The Morgan Stories. A bevy of stars, including Morissette, Matt Dillon (with whom Shelly co-starred in Factotum), Edie Falco, Mary-Louise Parker, Paul Rudd, Ally Sheedy and Gina Gershon (and more TBA), will perform the reading.

The gala event will also serve as the kick-off for the Foundation's eBay Celebrity Auction, which will auction off about 25 "celebrity items and experiences." I think it's a cool idea to do the auction through eBay, where they can reach anyone, whether they live in NYC or not -- it gives people outside Manhattan an opportunity to support the Foundation while also winning some cool auction items. What can you bid on? Things like walk-ons and set visits to your favorite TV shows, lunch with various celebs, celeb-autographed items, Sundance Film Fest VIP passes, and tickets to concerts and television shows (ooh! They have tickets to Rachael Ray! My 10-year-old would SO love to have those! Back off away from that item, the rest of you ... they're mine!).

You can view the full list of auction items on the eBay site. For more info on the gala affair, and how to get tickets to it or be a sponsor, check out the Adrienne Shelly Foundation's website.

*A guest review today, from Nick Schager, of Slant Magazine


Regrettably but inevitably, Waitress's tenacious optimism is partially offset by the recent, tragic murder of its writer/director/co-star Adrienne Shelly, an actress who made her name in Hal Hartley's early indies and, with this funny, charming slice of Southern country life, appears to have found her voice as a filmmaker. However, the bittersweetness that accompanies the film's arrival is, coincidentally, in tune with its story's miserable protagonist, a young, pretty waitress at Joe's Pie Diner named Jenna (Keri Russell). Stuck in a loveless marriage to her controlling, abusive husband Earl (Jeremy Sisto), and prevented from running away by a lack of cash, Jenna is a forlorn woman who sees dreams of a bright future dissipating before her eyes. To cope, she pours all of her grief, longing and sadness for happier times-gone-by into her unique homemade pies, which – described, at one point, as "biblically good" – are concocted with an array of inventively combined ingredients, and named after the moods that inspired them (such as her "I Hate My Husband Pie" and "Falling in Love Pie").

Tending to her louse of a spouse, wasting time gabbing in the diner bathroom with co-workers Becky (Cheryl Hines) and Dawn (Shelly), and waiting on outspoken, lewd diner proprietor Old Joe (a consistently hilarious Andy Griffith) while decked out in her '50s-style blue-and-white uniform – Jenna's life is, at the outset, in a rut. Waitress is too, as its early attempts at establishing a mood are a tad shaky, vacillating unevenly between cutesiness and seriousness. That balancing act becomes much smoother, however, once Jenna – after learning that she's pregnant with Earl's baby thanks to an ill-advised drunken roll in the hay – goes to see her OBGYN and finds, to her surprise, that her lifelong doctor has suddenly semi-retired and been replaced by attractive Dr. Pomatter (Nathan Fillion). Though she's been stashing money around the house for an eventual escape, Jenna makes clear to the married Pomatter that, while she isn't thrilled about the baby (who'll further tie her down), she nonetheless intends to keep it. Her plan to disappear into the night, however, is complicated by the almost immediate and overwhelming mutual attraction that blossoms between doc and patient.