AndyOstroy Tagged Articles at Cinematical

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."

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.

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.