June 5, 2022 0 Comments the father paul slaps anthony . I had never done anything at that scale before. In the two decades since it was made, "Sweet Home Alabama" went from an unwanted script to a surprise box-office hit to a rom-com classic. Design and text 1996 - 2023 Jon Sandys. But theres still something of a case of what-if here. In the movie's most dramatic scene, Melanie goes to see the gravesite of her old dog Bear. A bologna cake consists of bologna, cream cheese and horseradish. Top editors give you the stories you want delivered right to your inbox each weekday. We were the first movie to shoot there on the location since "Breakfast at Tiffany's.". Intimidated by the city and her success, he returned home to make something of himself first. Even though the film received mixed reviews from critics, it has a huge cult following of fans who absolutely loved it and still cherish it as one of their favorite movies today. Filming in New York City. "The audience loved the movie up until that shot." raywest. Melanie goes to the Carmichael plantation and apologizes to Bobby Ray, whose family lives there. They put in the script a dog who dives for a bone feeling it was a good example of small-town America but the movie dog never wanted to go in the water. to get Wallace elected. I was pretty uncomfortable, so that doesn't make the person working across from you comfortable. For its used as a device to announce that Melanie under her old surname is dead, and Melanie under her new surname is alive. I said, 'Clydie, are you serious? She would be great." In this fluff ball of a fairy tale, Reese Witherspoon is Melanie Carmichael, a rising New York fashion designer from humble Southern roots who is forced to choose between two Prince Charmings. Andrew Hennings , Sweet Home Alabama. The site's critics consensus reads: "Reese Witherspoon is charming enough, but the road to Alabama is well-traveled. Tennant: When I hear people still holding it dear to their heart I end up calling Josh and going, "God, I wish we were making Sweet Home Alabama 2." Tennant has written a treatment for a sequel to "Sweet Home Alabama." Tennant: What happened was Reese's daughter, Ava, went to school with my son, so I would see Reese on occasion. I've been acting for 30 years now and I regularly have people ask me if I've ever made another movie. Sweet Home Alabama. Mel's co-worker from the beginning of the movie, who comments on her accent About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features Press Copyright Contact us Creators . My kids were going through college so it got me thinking about a new generation of kids going to school and young love and what that would do to parents when they see their kids being real grown-ups. Danganronpa has little in the way of straight-up romance, but boy do the creators love teasing the hell out of some ships, especially ones that end in . It is still roaming town because it somehow survived the attempt to blow it up and it either never had cancer or has gone into remission. A list about the best ships in the DR franchise so far!Enjoy!Sources: thetoptensMusic: Despair Searching - Remix Cover (Danganronpa V3: . Ed King, the song's cowriter, contradicted his former bandmates in a 2009 post on his website. Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Fred Ward, Patrick Dempsey, Josh Lucas, Ethan Embry, Candice Bergen, Rhona Mitra, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Courtney Gains. Buena Vista Pictures; Alyssa Powell/Insider, TIMOTHY WHITE/TOUCHSTONE/KOBAL/SHUTTERSTOCK. Jake and Melanie do this as a practical joke. To mark the 20th anniversary of the movie's theatrical release, Insider spoke with Tennant and Lucas, who shared never-before-told stories about the making of the movie, including details about the original ending that needed to be reshot, the multiple slaps to the face Lucas took from Witherspoon for a scene that ended up being cut, and how the rom-com almost starred Charlize Theron. Stay up to date with what you want to know. Not many people have heard of a bologna cake the idea to include it in the film came from one of the script re-writers who actually had this happen when he got engaged to his fiancee from Indiana. Indeed, the film grossed $180 million worldwide and is a constant fixture of cable TV. The reaction of Melanie's mother at the supposed death of her daughter apparently upset the test audiences so much, that the production crew reshot the whole reception scene, minus the practical joke. A young woman who has reinvented herself as a New York City socialite must return home to Alabama to obtain a divorce from her husband after seven years of separation.A young woman who has reinvented herself as a New York City socialite must return home to Alabama to obtain a divorce from her husband after seven years of separation.A young woman who has reinvented herself as a New York City socialite must return home to Alabama to obtain a divorce from her husband after seven years of separation. "[4] Andrew Sarris, critic for the New York Observer, said that the movie "Would be an unendurable viewing experience for this ultra-provincial New Yorker if 26-year-old Reese Witherspoon were not on hand to inject her pure fantasy character, Melanie Carmichael, with a massive infusion of old-fashioned Hollywood magic. In addition, Dakota Fanning and Thomas Curtis appear briefly as the childhood versions of Melanie and Jake, respectively. Neil Young pays tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd's Ronnie Van Zant: Alabama / Sweet Home Alabama - 11-12-77. View All Credits 1 693.6K 126. "sweet home alabama" written by ronnie van zant, gary robert rossington, edward c. king. "[2] At Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 45 out of 100 based on 35 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". So the funny negotiation of it all is they called me up and said, "Disney doesn't want you to do this movie, nobody wants you to do this movie except Andy, so they're offering you nothing, so take it or leave it." Reference: Quiz: Sweet Quiz Alabama . I think we all got to be precise with each other. The clips shown in the credits of the movie; is the child featured in their now happy lives, Witherspoons' daughter Ava? Jake: The only reason I ain't signing is cause you've turned into some hoity-toity Yankee bitch, and I'd like nothing better right now than to piss you off. It's a riddle to me. The mildly entertaining romantic comedy Sweet Home Alabama features an equally take-it-or-leave-it soundtrack that mixes country, rock, and pop and excerpts of George Fenton's score. Answer: It was only humane from Melanie's skewed, immature-at-the-time perspective, believing the cat would be killed instantly. It's silly but it was really fun to make." I would do everything and anything to work with Melanie Lynskey again. By this stage in the early 2000s, shed built a career quickly and impressively off a mix of very smart choices and very savvy commercial picks. That I wasn't working. I think what we were going for was she's slapping him because she's embarrassed that she suddenly showed some vulnerability. What do they say? It has come and gone ever since and I'm now way further beyond that where I don't give it much credence either way. Charlize Theron was attached to play the lead role before Reese Witherspoon. ". It going as spoiler light as I can (spoilers start shortly) follows a fairly predictable three act approach, ending roughly where most of us expected it to end. That Jake would have mid-life issues and that there are differences where Jake and Melanie landed. But it's still one of the best choices I ever made. On a beach in the fictional town of Pigeon Creek, Alabama, 10-year-old Jake Perry and Melanie Smooter inspect the result of lightning striking sand. "When we showed it to a test audience the whole room was just like, 'What the fuck!'" he said. . I knew Reese because I had done a TV movie with her when she was 15. The two return to what should have been Melanie and Andrews reception and have their first dance. Tennant: Yeah. Cue tissues. Does your conscience bother you? Andrew is engaged to a girl named Erin Vanderbilt. Ridley Scott discusses The Last Duel box office failure, superhero films, Revisiting the 1970s films of Michael Caine: Pulp (1972), The 1950s movie that became the most expensive comedy ever, Revisiting Bandslam, and how it sets itself apart as a teen musical, Quiz Answers: 2nd September 2022 (Inside Number 10), Podcast: in conversation with Aline Brosh McKenna, Remembering The Outsiders: a video Film Stories, By continuing you accept the privacy policy. Feb 27, 2003. Lucas: I know Andy has written something but I've never read it. Free or royalty-free photos and images. The film ultimately ends with Witherspoons character staying with her ex-husband, and the pair of them get married again. I haven't seen her in years. Thanks to the on-screen chemistry between Witherspoon and Lucas that fuels the movie along with the great supporting cast that included Fred Ward, Jean Smart, Melanie Lynskey, Ethan Embry, Mary Kay Place, and a very young Dakota Fanning "Sweet Home Alabama" has become a beloved rom-com classic. Director Andy Tennant did test the ending too, ultimately conceding that no one though it was funny. Bloodhounds are the most amazing dogs, but they aren't good film dogs. You can see tucked into the top of her left boot the battery pack for her microphone and the wires going up her skirt. Show 1 more answer. Tennant: I was given the script; it wasn't very good. Not long after three of the members of Lynyrd Skynyrd tragically died in a plane crash in 1977, Young performed a medley of "Alabama" and "Sweet Home Alabama" as a tribute. It was something I had never experienced before or since. It was an eye-opening experience. As Melanie is walking across the battlefield looking for her father she steps across 'dead bodies'. Lucas: In the movie, he's my best friend but in reality, that dog was terrified of me. "Sweet Home Alabama" was written in answer to two songs by Neil Young, "Southern Man" and "Alabama", because the songs "took the entire South to task for the bloody history of slavery and its aftermath. Despite the cognitive dissonance that Jewel's glossy cover of Skynryd's title track causes, it's actually not a bad reworking of the Southern rock classic into an adult alternative single. "Hello Mr. Tennant, is there anything you need me to do?" Answer: She says something to the effect of "mother nature had other plans" leading audience to believe she had a miscarriage. Lucas: Absolutely I remember that. Spoiler warning: the ending of Sweet Home Alabama is directly discussed towards the end of this article. He claimed that the song was originally intended as the unabashed defense of Alabama, and even Wallace, that the song appears to be: {{blockquote|I can understand where the "boo boo boo" would be misunderstood. You can see tucked into the top of her left boot the battery pack for her microphone and the wires going up her skirt. Apparently, the clincher was the moment when the parents were looking at their dead daughter didnt get any laughs. [1], Sweet Home Alabama (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), the film soundtrack, includes thirteen songs by different artists. One . Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. caitlyn smith starfire vinyl. Lucas: It never bodes well when you hear you're doing a major reshoot, but it worked out. Tagged: Sweet Home Alabama, First Love. It's the "almost" part that makes the movie work. The 2002 romantic comedy Sweet Home Alabama ends predictably enough, with Reese Witherspoons character matched with the right guy but the original ending to the film threw audiences a curveball that was so wild, it had to be completely reshot. I think I had seen the movie before then and thought it was great, but I didn't get the feeling that anyone else did. But in the original ending, there was a fake-out that made audiences believe that Melanie died out on that beach. Now Watergate does not bother me Contact me | Privacy policy | Join the mailing list | Links. Tennant: Rick and I drove around Alabama. ", Josh Lucas began acting at 19 and found work through his 20s on TV shows and movies; he even a did a TV series in Australia. Jake pulls her away and tells her to go home, back to New York City. In a sequence of them Melanie's parents are "scared" by a punk with a pierced tongue, Mel's co-worker from the beginning of the movie, who comments on her accent when she dreams. THEN AND NOW: The cast of 'Sweet Home Alabama' 20 years later. While visiting a nearby restaurant/resort with a glassblowing gallery, they admire the glass sculptures that are similar to ones they have seen in New York. D In Birmingham they C love the G Gov'nor F Boo C hoo D hoo ! I said, Youre the girl from Man in the Moon. "[13] Toward the end of the song, Van Zant adds "where the governor's true" to the chorus's "where the skies are so blue," a line seemingly contradictory to the previous lyrics. Also, I had four young kids to feed at the time. Tennant: I didn't realize how funny that line would be, but when Melanie [Lynskey] does her whole thing about Jaclyn Smith and the designer, she is just brilliant and can make anything work. Like Melanie and Jake in "Sweet Home Alabama," Sasha (Ali Wong) and Marcus (Randall Park) are childhood best friends, growing up next door to each other in . Melanie visits Jake, who has repeatedly refused to sign divorce papers over the years since she left for New York. But that's as close as I got. "[13], Further complicating the racial politics of the song is the fact that Merry Clayton and Clydie King, two well-known black studio singers, are heard on the track as backing vocalists. The plot of the film revolved around the life of Melanie, a successful fashion designer. Reese brings that in the scene and I think I do too. You can also see this in the pictures at the end of the movie. A mid-credits sequence shows that they have a baby daughter, Melanie continues to thrive as a designer, and Jake opens a "Deep South Glass" franchise in New York. My memory was that Andy felt I'm the guy and then he really went to bat for me. Tennant: That's a scene you don't expect in this kind of movie. This film received mostly mixed reviews from critics. [11] The lyrics to "Sweet Home Alabama" include the following lines: Well, I heard Mister Young sing about herWell, I heard ol' Neil put her downWell, I hope Neil Young will rememberA Southern man don't need him around anyhow, In Young's 2012 autobiography Waging Heavy Peace, he commented on his song: "My own song 'Alabama' richly deserved the shot Lynyrd Skynyrd gave me with their great record. Trivia: Erin Vanderbilt, the woman that Andrew is shown marrying at the end originally had a bigger part, but test audiences misunderstood her relationship with Andrew before breaking up with Melanie, so all of Erin's scenes were cut except for that small bit over the credits. Get it? She's great and committed, I knew she was going to be big. It was interesting because I had this moment where I was like, "Really?" The reaction of Melanie's mother at the supposed death of her daughter apparently upset the test audiences so much, that the production crew reshot the whole reception scene, minus the practical joke. He was a Jefferson County Commissioner and is credited with helping bring the University of Alabama Medical Center to Birmingham. Tennant: When we showed it to a test audience the whole room was just like, "What the fuck!" I would love to do a "Sweet Home Alabama 2.". It held the record for best September opening for a decade. Add a different answer. Period.'" There were moments where I felt it was an incredible blessing and other times, like that paparazzi incident, were terrifying. Literally, Nina Jacobson, head of Buena Vista Pictures, walked up the aisle before the lights had even come up and said to me, Were reshooting the ending., Lucas told Insider that he liked the original ending I thought it was funny and silly and weird, he remembered and was worrid when word came down that they were reshooting it. "[13] "The line 'We all did what we could do' is sort of ambiguous," Al Kooper notes, "'We tried to get Wallace out of there' is how I always thought of it. Henry and Mattie Sweet had one son, also Henry W. Sweet (1902-1990). qatar to toronto flight status. ), Lucas: I frankly haven't run into Reese since making the movie. Sweet Home Alabama is a romantic comedy starring Reese Witherspoon, Patrick Dempsey and Josh Lucas. It was a real surprise that my life and career were going to change over this. And she said, "I made this movie nobody is going to see. It was also covered by The Jacquie Young Band, Alabama, Wild Junkers, Chihiro Onitsuka and other artists. Never work with kids or animals. I totally remember you.'. So there were some intense moments. The scene cuts to Fred Ward, playing Melanie's father, giving a snarky look as the two talk. Since "All Summer Long"'s release, the original song has also charted at number 44 on the UK Singles Chart. [11] In addition to the original appearance on Second Helping, the song has appeared on numerous Lynyrd Skynyrd compilations and live albums. Tennant: Even Reese's lawyer loved the treatment. Some of it was, "Josh, punch line. At the reception at the end of the movie, Mel's dress is clean and dry. Reese Witherspoon was just coming off the success of "Legally Blonde" when she agreed to play the southern troublemaker turned New York City fashion designer Melanie Carmichael. Add to favorites. During the film's original outdoor reception Jake carries Melanie, who feigns death after having supposedly been struck by a lightening bolt, towards the wedding guests. Tennant: When I hear people still holding it dear to their heart I end up calling Josh and going, "God, I wish we were making Sweet Home Alabama 2. She was just jokin around. You can unsubscribe at any time. "Sweet Home Alabama" follows Melanie as she travels to her Alabama hometown to finalize her divorce from her childhood sweetheart, Jake (Lucas), so she can marry Andrew (Patrick Dempsey), the son of the New York City mayor (Candice Bergen). Learn to play Lynyrd Skynyrd with easy chords for beginners. In the present day, Melanie is a successful New York fashion designer who has adopted the surname "Carmichael" to hide her poor Southern roots. Lynyrd Skynyrd, Second Helping , 1974, 4/4, 98bpm. Reese Witherspoon was at the height of her box office powers when she decided to take the lead in Sweet Home Alabama.By this stage in the early 2000s, she'd built a career quickly and impressively off a mix of very smart choices and very savvy commercial picks. Director Andy Tennant directed TV shows in the 1980s ("The Wonder Years," "Parker Lewis Can't Lose," "The Adventures of Brisco Country, Jr"), then moved to feature films in the mid-1990s ("It Takes Two," "Fools Rush In," "Ever After: A Cinderella Story"). Question: In the scene where Jake is driving Andrew to find Melanie, he tells the story about the cat. tab. In a sequence Tennant: I don't know how anybody deals with fame, I really don't. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. And I was like, "I've known her since she was 15. [3], Roger Ebert, critic for the Chicago Sun Times, awarded it three-out-of-four stars, commenting, "It is a fantasy, a sweet, light-hearted fairy tale with Reese Witherspoon at its center. Jake scolds her and takes her home, preventing her from driving drunk, and Melanie wakes to find the signed divorce papers on her bed. Jake walks in holding an unconscious Melanie and announces to the room, Melanie Carmichael is dead. The guests are gobsmacked, then he says, Long live Felony Melanie and Witherspoons character pulls a Harry Potter, jolts awake and gives him a kiss. Tennant: What happened was Reese's daughter, Ava, went to school with my son, so I would see Reese on occasion. Sweet Home Alabama. Andy told me there would be an honesty to it. "Sweet Home Alabama" is a song by American southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, released on the band's second album Second Helping (1974). Because you can leer, you know, and because people definitely have the full thing, and with that you can over do it. Lucas: We did that six to 10 times. And that turned out to be "Legally Blonde." I was in director jail for about a year and then "Sweet Home Alabama" came around again. I was like, "Who are you?". It reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1974, becoming the band's highest-charting single. Hell, maybe Jake now lives in a trailer park while Melanie had built this perfect life. 0; Tennant: When we tested the movie, people really didn't like the slap so we cut around it. she would say to me. Jake announces, "Melanie Carmichael is dead" but then a few seconds later he says, "Long live Felony Melanie." That part was eventually cut out of the movie. 5:02. Everyone is in shock. In an interview with Garden & Gun, Rossington explained the writing process: "I had this little riff. She ends up marrying him instead of her fiance. So we drove out to witness the reenactment and it was such a crazy thing that you can't make up and we had to put it in the movie. sweet home alabama ending credits pictures. Expand. Zero. I was so uncomfortable and felt it wasn't working. I really broke my accent years ago. Charlize Theron was considered for the lead role before Reese Witherspoon was cast. 13. Melanie reconciles with her friends and learns that after she split with Jake, he had followed her to New York to win her back. 3:58. It never bodes well when you hear youre doing a major reshoot, but it worked out.. Witherspoon landed the lead role ahead of Charlize Theron, who was also considered, and the movie which co-stars Josh Lucas and Patrick Dempsey then plays out as something of a fairy tale. When Tennant and Parks handed in the rewrite, one of the major notes from the studio was that the proposal Andrew gives Melanie at the beginning of the movie wasn't special enough. Watch Sweet Home Alabama: 10th Anniversary Edition. [6][7][8][9], None of the three writers of the song were from Alabama; Ronnie Van Zant and Gary Rossington were both born in Jacksonville, Florida, while Ed King was from Glendale, California. I regularly have that happen. SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE DAILY NEWSLETTER, FIRST TAKE, Worry, Darling: September Box Office Plummets to Worst Levels in 25 Years, The Munsters Review: Rob Zombie Loves These Misfit Monsters but Fails to Make Them Funny. What happens next undermines that ending, though, as her husband seemingly carries the corpse of Melanie back into the wedding reception and announces that shes dead. (31,898) 6.2 1 h 48 min 2002 X-Ray PG-13. 7 biggest mistakes in Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens, The 20 biggest mistakes in The Wizard of Oz, 40 biggest mistakes in The Big Bang Theory, 6 Cool things you've never noticed in movies, The biggest mistakes in the Harry Potter movies, 25 mistakes you never noticed in great movies, 7 mistakes in Beetlejuice you never spotted, More questions & answers from Sweet Home Alabama. ", Tennant: I have done two movies with Josh, I love Josh. I'm in many ways a lot like him. If youd like to support our attempts to make a non-clickbaity movie website: Follow Film Stories on Twitterhere, and on Facebookhere. With a $35.6 million opening weekend, the movie held the record for the best-ever September opening for 10 years. And I was like, "What?" We would have lunch every year or so. Lynyrd Skynyrd and Neil Young: Friends or Foes? Its now been 15 years since the film was released, so heres a look back at 7 things you probably didnt know about Sweet Home Alabama! So I went home and talked to my wife and she said, "I was proposed to at Tiffany's." The Reese Witherspoon-headlined romcom Sweet Home Alabama nearly took a bit of a dark turn. What I think worked for us is it was all true. Then he auditioned to play the male lead, Jake, in "Sweet Home Alabama. Sweet Home Alabama characters were essayed by Hollywood's top actors. Visible crew/equipment: As Melanie is walking across the battlefield looking for her father she steps across 'dead bodies'. Sweet Home Alabama is a 2002 American romantic comedy film directed by Andy Tennant.Written by C. Jay Cox, it stars Reese Witherspoon, Josh Lucas and Patrick Dempsey.The supporting cast includes Fred Ward, Mary Kay Place, Jean Smart, Candice Bergen, Ethan Embry, and Melanie Lynskey.It was released in the United States on September 27, 2002, by Buena Vista Pictures. (01:06:40). (01:08:15), Continuity mistake: At the end of the movie, when Melanie is on the beach with Jake and she goes to kiss him she has her hands on his face, but in the next shot her arms are stretched out and she wraps them around his neck. Sweet Home Alabama was the first film allowed to shoot in New York City after the September 11, 2001 attacks. These numbers may not look so striking now, but they were, in the context of 17 years ago, really quite something. And thats just what the movie-going audience was looking for back in 2002. And I was like, "I cut six frames out of his close up."