Andie MacDowell Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Sports. Aside from being a Huey Lewis and the News album, it's a slice of life that has lived for a long time in contradiction. On the one hand, there's the cud-chewing, testosterone-laden toughness of actual sporting events. On the other, there's the ever-rampant tears pouring out of sports dramas and biopics -- and now we're getting one more ...

But unlike pics that raise you up to a teary conclusion, this new feature looks like it will be a heart-tugger from the get-go. The Hollywood Reporter posts that Ryan Merriman and Aidan Quinn have signed on, with Andie MacDowell in final negotiations, for a new sports drama called The 5th Quarter. Based on a true story, the film centers on the way a young man deals with his brother's death. Basically, after 15-year-old Luke Abbate died in a car crash, his organs were donated to five people. In the wake of this tragedy, his brother (Merriman) got his football jersey changed to his brother's number (5) and then held up five fingers before the fourth quarter of each game, while his parents (Quinn and MacDowell) sat in section 5. See? Tear jerker -- one that might even require more than five tissues.

5th Quarter will also be a film that blends real life with fiction, not in the script, but in the cast and scenes -- the family's pastor is playing himself in the film, and real footage of the games will be edited into the film. Whether this will help or distract from the final product remains to be seen. Production begins this month.

It looks like Tim Allen, otherwise known as Henry Lefay, has found his second, and err...umm... fourth wife. (This one got a repeat performance!) The Hollywood Reporter has posted that The Six Wives of Henry Lefay has finally finished its cast with Darma herself -- Jenna Elfman. The movie, which started shooting in Connecticut this week, is about a man (Allen) whose wife and ex-wives fight over his will when they think that he's dead. Elfman's character is the "small-town diva" wife. Since they range in ages from 25 to 55, you can imagine what sorts of jokes the flick will likely use.

Elisha Cuthbert, who will play Allen's daughter, told Cinematical about the feature back in June, and THR followed suit with most of the wives in August. They are: Andie MacDowell, Paz Vega (Spanglish), Kelli Garner (Thumbsucker), and S. Epatha Merkerson (Law & Order). Considering the fact that there's only five, I don't know why the flick, written and directed by Howard Michael Gould, couldn't be called The Five Wives of Henry Lefay. Is this supposed to be funny and quirky, like that whole "Happyness" title?

Seeing that they make sure to mention that Cuthbert's character doesn't marry, and IMDb lists one other person on the cast -- Eric Christian Olsen (The Last Kiss) -- I'm thinking he's her love interest. You know -- the father is so very dysfunctional (especially if he's only assumed to be dead) that she has to figure out if she can handle a real, long-term relationship. Or, maybe I'm wrong and he's a gardener, a step son, or something else.

In June, Elisha Cuthbert broke the news to our Ryan Stewart that she would be starring in a family comedy called The Six Wives of Henry Lefay with famcom guru, Tim Allen. As she described it: "it's a really fun family film about a girl who has to organize her father's funeral in the midst of dealing with six ex-wives." Now official word is out, plus more details about the production and who exactly is involved. As The Hollywood Reporter describes it, the film, which will be directed by Shrek the Third scribe by Howard Gould, "centers on a man (Allen) whose wife and five ex-wives -- ranging in age from 25 to 55 -- fight over his will when they believe he is dead." So, the guy might not be dead, and will pop up later as a surprise? Perhaps he'll reveal that it's all just a rouse?

We already know that Cuthbert is the daughter, but what of the wives? So far, Andie MacDowell, Paz Vega (Spanglish), Kelli Garner (Thumbsucker) and S. Epatha Merkerson (Law & Order) are in talks to play spouses. Who will fill in for the final two wives remains to be seen. Perhaps this will be the big comedic comeback for MacDowell, who hasn't found many high-profile roles since her success in the 90's. But forget that for a moment and take a look at that list of wives. They not only tap into a few nationalities and races, but also a spectrum of ages. Garner, who recently played Justin's girl in Thumbsucker, is just two years younger than Cuthbert. Considering all the types of women the film is picking, I won't be surprised if we see a man amongst Allen's wake of wives. We should have more news for you soon, as production begins next month in Connecticut.

What happened to Andie MacDowell? While she was never the absolute IT girl, she used to have a pretty solid, in-the-spotlight career -- after the success of Sex, Lies, and Videotape she nabbed big, starring roles in movies like Groundhog Day and Four Weddings and a Funeral. However, with the end of the 90's came the end of news about Andie. Many of her top co-stars continue to have solid careers, but Ms. MacDowell has floated under the spotlight. In fact, most of her roles these days are in made-for-television movies. Artistically, things are starting to look up, so maybe this will springboard her back into the mainstream, like Secretary did for her Videotape co-star, James Spader.

Variety has brought word that she's signed on, along with Jennifer Tilly, for the third in Irish filmmaker Mary McGuckian's series of improvised, "amorality" satires on popular culture. Both actresses also starred in the director's recently-finished Intervention, which is about a celebrity rehab clinic in New Mexico. Now they're both stepping to the plate for Art in Las Vegas. Before you form an assumption on the content -- the film is not about gambling or art, but about the test-tube baby industry. How that merges with the sparkling city of lights and art, I have no idea. I've found some BBC links where McGuckian has talked about her series, and she describes the third as being "set in the film industry." Either the scope has changed since that 2005 interview, or there's a lot more to the movie then they're letting on.