It's Emmy time. Well, the Emmys are over. I am exceptionally excited because the HBO film Grey Gardens won a grip!
I've posted about Grey Gardens in the past. To see that post click here.
Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore play "Big Edie" and "Little Edie" Bouvier Beale in a remake of the cult following documentary Grey Gardens.
I'm too lazy to give my own synopsis so here's what IMDb has to say about the documentary film.
Seventy-nine year old Edith Bouvier Beale and her fifty-six year old daughter, Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale, are Jacqueline Kennedy's aunt and cousin. Living alone with several cats, fleas and raccoons (the latter, wild, which live in the attic but who Edie feeds), the Beale's are discovered living in filth and squalor in Grey Gardens, their 28-room family mansion located in East Hampton, Long Island, the mansion which doesn't even have running water. Edie moved home twenty-four years earlier to care for her ailing mother. In what Edie considers a "raid" on their privacy, the Suffolk County Board of Health orders the Beale's to clean up the house or be evicted. With few exceptions, the Beale's are suspicious of the outside world. The Beale's comply with the order and renovate the house with financial help from their more famous relative. Mother and daughter are outwardly combative with each other, but their constant bickering masks a protective attitude each has for the other. Both cling to their past lives, with each still believing that that life can exist, Edith as a singer, and Edie as a social débutante (Edie is always sporting a fashionable scarf around her head). Old habits die hard as even two years after renovations on the home have begun, Edith lives primarily in her bedroom in her twin bed which is covered with garbage and cats, who use the corner of the room as a bathroom. And Edie constantly dreams of a time when she can return to living in New York City as a débutante and dancer, although one realizes that she is only using her mother as an excuse for what she really considers her comfortable current living situation.
Grey Gardens (HBO film) - Trailer
Grey Gardens documentary - Original Trailer
(source)
Jessica Lange
(source)
Drew Barrymore
Tonight marks the night of the 61st Emmy awards. Grey Gardens won for best TV movie. Jessica Lange won the best actress award, over her co-star Drew Barrymore.
Both women did a superb job and honestly my vote was for Barrymore. But I knew Jessica Lange would get it.
Ken Howard who played the father of "Little Edie" and husband of "Big Edie", also won as best supporting actor.
According to GreyGardensnews, Grey Gardens won three awards at the Creative Arts Emmy which took place earlier this month.
Outstanding Art Direction for a Miniseries or Movie
(tied with PBS's Little Dorrit)
- Kalina Ivanov, Production Designer
- Brandt Gordon, Art Director
- Norma Jean Sanders, Set Decorator
Outstanding Hairstyling for a Miniseries or a Movie
- Jenny Fifield-Arbour, Department Head Hairstylist
- Nancy E. Warren, Hairstylist
Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup for a Series, Miniseries, Movie or a Special
- Vivian Baker, Special Makeup Effects Department Head
- Linda Dowds, Department Head Makeup Artist
- Bill Corso, Prosthetic Designer
- Sean Samson, Special Makeup Effects Artist
The Grey Gardens remake and the original documentary have touched me greatly as they give us a glimpse into the lives of extrodinary women. Yes, they were peculiar and that adds to the appeal. But I think their stories are an example of where certain choices can take you. I know the films had me questioning where these women might have ended up if they had altered their responses to what life had handed them. There is so much to explore in these films.
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