. The stuff she does in every take is wonderful. Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback. It works because of the talents of those two actors. Glass that forms when lightning hits sand, as in the film, is called fulgurite. The film was directed by Andy Tennant, from a screenplay by C Jay Cox (with story credit going to Douglas J Epoch), and it tells the story of Melanie Smooter, a woman who left her home in Alabama for New York City. He tells everyone "Melanie Carmichael is dead." Frankly, I don't think you could make "Sweet Home Alabama" today. 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. [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. That led to me going to "director jail." YOU'VE REACHED YOUR MONTHLY ARTICLE LIMIT. Lynyrd Skynyrd wrote "Sweet Home Alabama" as a response to "Southern Man" and as a way to show rock fans that the South was . I really was. But in the original ending, there was a fake-out that made audiences believe that Melanie died out on that beach. We had to build a fake dog head to come out of the water because the dog was just in an ideal world that dog was supposed to jump into the water. Reese and I were in this relationship in a sense, not in a real-life one, but in terms of the characters they were in this thing. Now Watergate does not bother me The film cost some $30m, and would gross $127m in the US alone, off the back of a massive $35m opening in September of that year. Add to favorites. as well as other partner offers and accept our. 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. I'm there tightening up things on the movie. 29. Hell, maybe Jake now lives in a trailer park while Melanie had built this perfect life. She's great and committed, I knew she was going to be big. 31 What does Andrew's mother do for a living in "Sweet Home Alabama"? And she told me how a former boyfriend had proposed there. Design and text 1996 - 2023 Jon Sandys. "The audience loved the movie up until that shot." She is forced to return home after becoming engaged to a man named Andrew and must procure a divorce from her childhood sweetheart and estranged husband, Jake. There, she became a socialite, but after nearly a decade away, she needs to come back home to secure a divorce from her husband. According to Rolling Stone, he's never played "Alabama" again since. My producing partner and my editor, who are both women, were in the edit room with me. Visible crew/equipment: As Melanie is walking across the battlefield looking for her father she steps across 'dead bodies'. Get it? Courtesy of Songs Of Universal, Inc. on behalf of itself, and EMI Longitude Music, Universal Music Corp. on behalf of itself and EMI Full Keel Music Official Licensed Product. Cue tissues. He later returns, saying he still wants to marry her, and the wedding is immediately set in motion. D Lord, I'm C coming home to G you. Tennant: "Sweet Home Alabama" is on all the time. * Sales figures based on certification alone. Some of it was, "Josh, punch line. Lucas: There were a few dogs who played Bryant, but the main one, in the scene where he jumps off the dock and swims for the bone, in order to do that scene the dog needed to jump and he wouldn't do it. Reese brings that in the scene and I think I do too. Since "Sweet Home Alabama" opened in theaters Tennant made another rom-com hit, "Hitch," starring Will Smith and Eva Mendes. He would see me and just walk the other way. It was an eye-opening experience. But it's still one of the best choices I ever made. Then Ronnie wrote the lyrics and Ed and I wrote the music."[10]. The streets and storefronts of Crawfordville, Georgia, were used as the backdrop for the Catfish Festival and other downtown scenes. Melanie doesn't know this. So we kept in touch. (Insider contacted Lynskey to be interviewed for this story but didn't get a response.) It's the "almost" part that makes the movie work. He was a Jefferson County Commissioner and is credited with helping bring the University of Alabama Medical Center to Birmingham. Melanie goes to the Carmichael plantation and apologizes to Bobby Ray, whose family lives there. But things get complicated once Melanie comes face-to-face with Jake again. Andrew arrives to surprise Melanie, but upon learning her true background and that she never told him she was married, he angrily leaves. 13. Tennant: When we showed it to a test audience the whole room was just like, "What the fuck!" So I had to throw him off the dock and from that moment on he hated me. That would hardly have played well in 2002, and itd be a fair bet itd knock even more progressive audiences today pretty much off their feet. Tagged: Sweet Home Alabama, First Love. A bologna cake consists of bologna, cream cheese and horseradish. I felt that I had become a star overnight and I had zero anticipation of that. Alabama Crimson Tide "Sweet Home Alabama" Iron Bowl Alabama vs. Auburn 2012 Lucas has built an impressive career that includes movies like "Hulk," "Glory Road," and "Ford v Ferrari." 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. One . "Hello Mr. Tennant, is there anything you need me to do?" I really broke my accent years ago. 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. Tagged: Sweet Home Alabama, First Love. Then he says, "Long live Felony Melanie" and Melanie, who was just playing dead, gives him a kiss. In the final scene, we see Ui-Myeong, the other special infectee, escape in the SWAT truck in his 'slime-form'. Lucas: We did that six to 10 times. It's a riddle to me. Bloodhounds are the most amazing dogs, but they aren't good film dogs. Neil Young pays tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd's Ronnie Van Zant: Alabama / Sweet Home Alabama - 11-12-77. And I think that was her first on-camera kiss. 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. All rights reserved. Boo! Jake: It's funny how they do. Als u uw keuzes wilt aanpassen, klik dan op 'Privacyinstellingen beheren'. Melanie confesses that she still loves Jake and cancels the wedding. D I miss'ole' ' C bamy once a G gain (and I think it's a sin) D Well, I heard ole C Neil put her G down. The historic homes shown at Melanie's return to Pigeon Creek were shot in Eufaula, Alabama. Andrew is engaged to a girl named Erin Vanderbilt. It wouldn't be appropriate. Everyone was pretty much in the same zone, said Lucas in an interview with IGN. Tennant: I don't know how anybody deals with fame, I really don't. They then go and dance as the Lynyrd Skynyrd song "Sweet Home Alabama" plays. Tennant recalled taking a trip to the South before rewriting the movie, and that helped cement its southern feel. I was like, "Who are you?". 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. Sign up for notifications from Insider! Contact me | Privacy policy | Join the mailing list | Links. Both Josh Lucas and Reese Witherspoon are from the south. ", Tennant has written a treatment for a sequel to "Sweet Home Alabama.". It was funny on paper and then when we shot it, when Josh says Melanie Carmichael is dead and you cut to Mary Kay with that reaction that her daughter is dead it was just like, Who thought this was funny? Apparently, I did., Tennant continued, When we showed it to a test audience the whole room was just like, What the fk! The audience loved the movie up until that shot. "We all did what WE could do!" Played by Katharine Towne, the character was cut from the film after test audiences were confused about her relationship with Andrew. So I went home and talked to my wife and she said, "I was proposed to at Tiffany's." Charlize Theron was originally supposed to star in the movie. In order to depict two people from Alabama, they had to practice their Southern drawl. 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. In Sweet Home Alabama, she's a poor Southern lass who reinvents herself as a Big Apple socialitethen finds it almost impossible to go home again. And I was like, "I've known her since she was 15. The film takes its title from the 1974 Lynyrd Skynyrd song of the same name. 12. 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. There was an intensity of pain and past and history. Melanie finds Jake at the beach planting lightning rods in the sand during a rainstorm to create more glass sculptures. And then I went off to make "Anna and the King" (starring Jodie Foster and Chow Yun-fat, the 1999 movie received mixed reviews and stirred up controversy when the Thai government deemed it historically inaccurate). ", Lucas: I think that was true for Andy. ", Tennant: I have done two movies with Josh, I love Josh. You can see tucked into the top of her left boot the battery pack for her microphone and the wires going up her skirt. But in a parallel universe somewhere, the alternative version went out. The hit led to two television rock show offers that the band declined. I said, 'Clydie, are you serious? Toward the end of the movie, Melanie's gay Black friend Frederick (Nathan Lee Graham) is in her mother's (Mary Kay Place) trailer talking about her decorative spoon collection. For Reese, her accent came very quickly. [11] In addition to the original appearance on Second Helping, the song has appeared on numerous Lynyrd Skynyrd compilations and live albums. What I think worked for us is it was all true. Also, I had four young kids to feed at the time. I was pretty uncomfortable, so that doesn't make the person working across from you comfortable. Question: The clips shown in the credits of the movie; is the child featured in their now happy lives, Witherspoons' daughter Ava? There's a flash of lightning and it cuts to a wedding reception. 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." The early stuff in the movie, Melanie coming to Jake's house with the divorce papers for him to sign, we rehearsed that and there's a friction in the relationship and a real sense of love and passion underneath the surface. Reference: Quiz: Sweet Quiz Alabama . I keep hearing that others from the movie would absolutely love to do it. Director Andy Tennant did test the ending too, ultimately conceding that no one though it was funny. She is cornered there by Kate's assistant, sent to gather information on Melanie's background. "[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. I said, Youre the girl from Man in the Moon. 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. The ending was reshot because test audiences thought Reese Witherspoon's character died. Lucas: I'll get stopped by firemen on the street in New York City and they will be like, "I hate romantic comedies, but I love that one." During that time, he was offered "Sweet Home Alabama.". In the original scene, she slaps him and walks away. THEN AND NOW: The cast of 'Sweet Home Alabama' 20 years later. It was also the first film allowed to film at Tiffany's since Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961). Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. 5:02. I was in no way established or had any real career to back that up. And they were both like, "Put it back.". And, whoa, I'm gonna get in trouble over this whole dang post!"[16]. The song is credited to Matthew Shafer, Waddy Wachtel, R.J. Ritchie, Leroy Marinell, Warren Zevon, Edward King, Gary Rossington and Ronnie Van Zant. Mel's co-worker from the beginning of the movie, who comments on her accent I might have been the lowest-paid actor in the entire movie. She would be great." Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Fred Ward, Patrick Dempsey, Josh Lucas, Ethan Embry, Candice Bergen, Rhona Mitra, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Courtney Gains, Visible crew/equipment: As Melanie is walking across the battlefield looking for her father she steps across 'dead bodies'. Visible crew/equipment: As Melanie is walking across the battlefield looking for her father she steps across 'dead bodies'. She and Andrew wish each other well, though Kate berates Andrew and insults Melanie, her family, and the entire town, for which Melanie punches her in the face. Lynyrd Skynyrd originally released Sweet Home Alabama written by Ed King, Gary Rossington and Ronnie Van Zant and Lynyrd Skynyrd released it on the album Second Helping in 1974. Mary H. Ellis. "Sweet Home Alabama" is a song by American southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, released on the band's second album Second Helping (1974). I originally had my doubts about seeing this one but I bought the DVD and I highly enjoyed the movie. But at the same time, we were also making a comedy. Always Be My Maybe. As my mom and I left, I got attacked basically by paparazzi. Reese Witherspoon has been a part of a number of iconic movies over the years, including a short foray into rom-coms in the early '00s.The actress worked alongside Mark Ruffalo in Just Like . 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. 26 3. "When we showed it to a test audience the whole room was just like, 'What the fuck!'" he said. And I was like, "I cut six frames out of his close up." We shot it at the actual Tiffany's in New York City. 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. The supporting cast includes Fred Ward, Mary Kay Place, Jean Smart, Candice Bergen, Ethan Embry, and Melanie Lynskey. Pop Market DiscogsPop culture, or popular culture, is the collection of ideas, opinions, and images popular within a culture at a given time. Tennant: I think we were tipping our hand to racial undertones. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is in a hole, but just how deep is it? Andrew Hennings , Sweet Home Alabama. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a critical score of 38% based on 159 reviews, with an average rating of 5.19/10. Arthur Bremer may or may not have been a yankee but he sure destroyed whatever chance Wallace had to be president. Lucas: There wasn't much heat on the movie, we didn't have the premiere at a glitzy theater, but what happened there is to this day one of the strangest experiences of my life. 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. Witherspoon stars in the film as a successful New York fashion designer who returns to her small Alabama hometown to finalize her divorce from her husband Jake (played by Josh Lucas) and announce her engagement to a wealthy New Yorker named Andrew (played by Patrick Dempsey). As Melanie is walking across the battlefield looking for her father she steps across 'dead bodies'. 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. It was written in response to Neil Young's 1970 song "Southern Man", which the band felt blamed the entire South for American slavery;[4] Young is name-checked and dissed in the lyrics. Sweet Home Alabama was a good movie but something you would only want to see once. 0; "[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. Humor has changed and also I think it's such a dark time right now that the divide between cultures is just not funny. My memory was that Andy felt I'm the guy and then he really went to bat for me. I knew from then on that this was unique. The scene cuts to Fred Ward, playing Melanie's father, giving a snarky look as the two talk. And then Reese called me and said, "You are never going to believe this, they sent me your script! Witherspoon plays Melanie, a successful fashion designer who's based in New York and engaged to McDreamy. They were developing it for Charlize to star. We would have lunch every year or so. Katharine Towne was cast as Witherspoon's character's assistant who ultimately ends up marrying the Patrick Dempsey character, but all other scenes were dropped in the final cut. Question: In the scene where Jake is driving Andrew to find Melanie, he tells the story about the cat. [1], Sweet Home Alabama (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), the film soundtrack, includes thirteen songs by different artists. Wij, Yahoo, maken deel uit van de Yahoo-merkenfamilie. Felony Melanie - Sweet Home Alabama Suite (Score) George Fenton. 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. It was also the first film ever allowed to film in Tiffanys since Breakfast at Tiffanys in 1961. She was just jokin around. Melanie reconciles with her friends and learns that after she split with Jake, he had followed her to New York to win her back. Where the skies are so blue and the governor's true, The choice of Birmingham in connection with the governor (rather than the capital of Montgomery) is significant because it was the site of civil rights activism and violence in the 1960s. 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. Buy our Film Stories and Film Stories Junior print magazineshere. More trivia for Sweet Home Alabama. I was a bit terrified, to say the least. The script was just as bad as I thought it was before, but I thought the idea was great. "[4] "We thought Neil was shooting all the ducks in order to kill one or two," said Ronnie Van Zant at the time. He moved to New York City in the mid-1990s and began acting onstage while getting bit parts in movies like "American Psycho" and "You Can Count on Me." They were like, "What did you do?" 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. 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. Josh and I continue to lobby Reese, but she's busy. Sweet Home Alabama is a 2002 American romantic comedy film directed by Andy Tennant. Being from Illinois and I live in New York, I was fascinated by the history and I was always surprised by how generous, kind, and friendly the people in the South were. 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. People still revisit it not as a guilty pleasure but more as a soothing pleasure. This was first film to shoot in New York City after the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center. Lucas is from Arkansas and Witherspoons from Tennessee, but theyve since moved away and lost most of their accents. So we were talking to a waitress and we got into this whole conversation with some of the locals about how this is what it must have felt like back during the Civil War hearing those cannons not too far from where you were. It's a joke.". Buena Vista Pictures; Alyssa Powell/Insider, TIMOTHY WHITE/TOUCHSTONE/KOBAL/SHUTTERSTOCK. Busy city girl comes to her rural idealic small town. 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. Free Sweet home Alabama tab for the acoustic guitar. It was a real surprise that my life and career were going to change over this. (31,898) 6.2 1 h 48 min 2002 X-Ray PG-13. It was also covered by The Jacquie Young Band, Alabama, Wild Junkers, Chihiro Onitsuka and other artists. She begins to cry, but about much more than the loss of her dog. [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. It was a Civil War reenactment going on eight or 10 miles away. It's just a lovely scene that has subtext, which Reese played beautifully. D Carry me C home to see my G kin. Henry and Mattie Sweet had one son, also Henry W. Sweet (1902-1990). It's the little picking part and I kept playing it over and over when we were waiting on everyone to arrive for rehearsal. Charlize Theron was attached to play the lead role before Reese Witherspoon. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Sweet Home Alabama. The Reese Witherspoon-headlined romcom Sweet Home Alabama nearly took a bit of a dark turn. And my memory is on the second or third day, Andy came up to me and said, "Disney absolutely loves what you're doing, we're free." In a sequence Andy just kept having my back. Ed Araquel/Netflix. Question: In the scene where Jake is driving Andrew to find Melanie, he tells the story about the cat. Actors know what works for them and I needed him to loosen up a little bit. when she dreams. The ending was included on the DVD of the film, and itd be fair to say that at first, its something of a shock. The site's critics consensus reads: "Reese Witherspoon is charming enough, but the road to Alabama is well-traveled. Then he auditioned to play the male lead, Jake, in "Sweet Home Alabama. Tennant has written a treatment for a sequel about Witherspoon's character's child going to college. I don't like my words when I listen to it. Melanie realizes Jake is the artist and that he owns the resort. You can see tucked into the top of her left boot the battery pack for her microphone and the wires going up her skirt. Josh came in from New York and we had several women producers and casting directors say he was gorgeous, great, charming, and had a great voice. 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. In the original ending of the movie, Melanie leaves her wedding and races to the beach to reconcile with Jake. I'm not singing nothing about nobody's sweet home Alabama. 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. Tennant: That's a scene you don't expect in this kind of movie. (01:06:40). 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. 15. ), Lucas: I frankly haven't run into Reese since making the movie. And she said, "I made this movie nobody is going to see. Indeed, the film grossed $180 million worldwide and is a constant fixture of cable TV. Learn more about the full cast of Sweet Home Alabama with news, photos, videos and more at TV Guide . 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. You can unsubscribe at any time. 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. And then "Legally Blonde" came out, and I got a call from the studio and they were like, "What do you think of Reese Witherspoon?" It's not a popular opinion but Wallace stood for the average white guy in the South. I knew Reese because I had done a TV movie with her when she was 15. The 2002 romantic comedy "Sweet Home Alabama" ends predictably enough, with Reese Witherspoon's character matched with the right guy but the original ending to the film threw audiences a . tab. We went to Aliceville and we just talked to people who would invite us onto their porch for some sweet tea. Download Sweet Home Alabama stock photos. Tennant: Rick and I drove around Alabama. 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. We needed someone who looked like Reese, and Dakota was 40 years old when she was 10. The loss of their kid, the loss of their dreams, the loss of innocence, all that stuff. Tennant said Parks had a dog who would jump in the water and fetch rocks that were at the bottom. "When we showed it to a test audience the whole room was just like, 'What the fuck!'" he said. Kid Rock's 2008 song "All Summer Long" interpolates "Sweet Home Alabama" on the chorus and uses the guitar solo and piano outro, as well as the "turn it up" shout before the guitar solo; Billy Powell is featured on the track. ". When Jake shows up in the scene, Melanie is at her most vulnerable and they kiss. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time. You can also see this in the pictures at the end of the movie. As such, Sweet Home Alabama went out in cinemas with a finale that tied things up in a nice, conventional bow, and much money was made. I thought it was funny and silly and weird. On the beach just before, it was dirty and wet from the storm and sand.