According to Filmmaker Magazine's blog Adrienne Shelly, a star of Hal Hartley's The Unbelievable Truth (one of my favorite films of all time) has died. Very, very sad.
Shelly had recently directed Waitress, a yet unreleased feature.
To remember Shelly & celebrate her life & work, here is a link to a great 2002 indieWIRE interview, conducted by Anthony Kaufman, regarding the Shelly directed film "I'll Take You There":
http://www.indiewire.com/people/int_Shelly_Adrienne_000413.html
Here is an excerpt from the interview where Shelly recalls getting the "green light" from producer Jim Stark to make the movie:
"...I had this experience where I was having this very tough period where I was trying to work as an actor a lot, and I nearly got my own series on television. And then I was hired and fired off of an episode of "Spin City," which was a particularly humiliating role, that I didn't really want to do anyway where I played this magician who tries to seduce Michael J. Fox, wearing five inch spiked heals, a halter, and hot pants and walking a live tiger through a live studio audience. And I tried really hard to be more than the bimbo and I was fired that night for being too funny. It was really humiliating. So I went home, went out, had a stiff drink, called my Mom, and then took that script out, and dusted it off and rewrote the ending the next day and sent it back to Jim. This was in 1998. And he read it and called me immediately and said, "This is a movie I'll make."
Read the rest of the interview here.
I am sure my generation of indie film fans, those of us who discovered indie film in the late 80's & early 90's, back when indie film meant works by just a handful of directors - with Hal Hartley always near the top of the list - will forever remember Adrienne Shelly. I know I certainly will.
Goodbye Adrienne Shelly, thanks for the great performances.
- Sujewa
Shelly had recently directed Waitress, a yet unreleased feature.
To remember Shelly & celebrate her life & work, here is a link to a great 2002 indieWIRE interview, conducted by Anthony Kaufman, regarding the Shelly directed film "I'll Take You There":
http://www.indiewire.com/people/int_Shelly_Adrienne_000413.html
Here is an excerpt from the interview where Shelly recalls getting the "green light" from producer Jim Stark to make the movie:
"...I had this experience where I was having this very tough period where I was trying to work as an actor a lot, and I nearly got my own series on television. And then I was hired and fired off of an episode of "Spin City," which was a particularly humiliating role, that I didn't really want to do anyway where I played this magician who tries to seduce Michael J. Fox, wearing five inch spiked heals, a halter, and hot pants and walking a live tiger through a live studio audience. And I tried really hard to be more than the bimbo and I was fired that night for being too funny. It was really humiliating. So I went home, went out, had a stiff drink, called my Mom, and then took that script out, and dusted it off and rewrote the ending the next day and sent it back to Jim. This was in 1998. And he read it and called me immediately and said, "This is a movie I'll make."
Read the rest of the interview here.
I am sure my generation of indie film fans, those of us who discovered indie film in the late 80's & early 90's, back when indie film meant works by just a handful of directors - with Hal Hartley always near the top of the list - will forever remember Adrienne Shelly. I know I certainly will.
Goodbye Adrienne Shelly, thanks for the great performances.
- Sujewa
