HBO's "Mildred Pierce" miniseries starts March 27th
David
FIVE-PART HBO MINISERIES EVENT DEBUTING MARCH 27; GUY PEARCE, JAMES
LEGROS, MELISSA LEO, BR?AN F. O'BYRNE AND EVAN RACHEL WOOD ALSO STAR
TODD HAYNES DIRECTS FROM A TELEPLAY BY HAYNES AND JON RAYMOND; BASED
ON THE NOVEL BY JAMES M. CAIN; A FILM BY TODD HAYNES
An HBO Miniseries In Association With Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer; A Killer
Films/John Wells Productions Production; Christine Vachon, Pamela
Koffler, John Wells And Todd Haynes Executive Produce; Ilene S.
Landress Co-Executive Produces
HBO Miniseries' MILDRED PIERCE, starring Kate Winslet in the title
role, brings to life the memorable character introduced in James M.
Cain's classic 1941 novel. The five-part drama offers an intimate
portrait of a uniquely independent woman who finds herself newly
divorced during the Depression years, as she struggles to carve out a
new life for herself and her family. The story explores Mildred's
unreasonable devotion to her insatiable daughter, Veda, as well as the
complex relationships she shares with the indolent men in her life.
Debuting PART ONE and PART TWO on SUNDAY, MARCH 27 (9:00-11:05 p.m.
ET/PT), the miniseries also stars Guy Pearce, James LeGros, Melissa
Leo, Br?an F. O'Byrne and Evan Rachel Wood. Mare Winningham, Morgan
Turner and Hope Davis co-star. PART THREE debuts SUNDAY, APRIL 3
(9:00-10:15 p.m.); PART FOUR and PART FIVE debut SUNDAY, APRIL 10
(9:00-11:30 p.m.).
A Todd Haynes Film, MILDRED PIERCE is a Killer Films/John Wells
Productions production, based on the James M. Cain novel of the same
name. Directed by Todd Haynes from a teleplay by Haynes and Jon
Raymond, the film is executive produced by Haynes, Pamela Koffler,
Christine Vachon and John Wells. Ilene S. Landress co-executive
produces.
Director Todd Haynes first read the James M. Cain novel in late 2008
at the recommendation of his friend, screenwriter and novelist Jon
Raymond. As Haynes immersed himself in the tale of a single mother
during the Depression years, the world outside seemed to mirror
Mildred's plight as the financial markets suddenly tumbled, impacting
political and cultural sectors globally. The timing convinced Haynes
that Mildred's story would resonate with today's viewers.
"MILDRED PIERCE is set during the Depression, but not the Depression
of dustbowls and breadlines," explains Haynes. "The crises it explores
are those of middle-class privilege - issues of pride and status, the
struggle first to regain one's standing and then to persevere through
hard work and ingenuity. This feels very much like the particular
struggles of our current economic crisis, coming out of a period of
unbridled consumption."
Says executive producer and longtime Haynes collaborator Christine
Vachon, "Cain's novel attracted Todd and Jon because it felt so
unbelievably relevant to today - a young woman who has to figure out
how to support her family against all odds. Coincidentally, Todd and I
had seen the original 1945 Warner Brothers film together."
In its time, the novel "Mildred Pierce" was considered a departure for
acclaimed author Cain, whose previous '30s works such as "The Postman
Always Rings Twice" and "Double Indemnity" were hard-boiled,
first-person crime dramas that became fodder for the film noir genre
of the '40s. Containing no murder or other criminal storyline,
"Mildred Pierce" was unique in its depiction of ambitious and
successful women in the work world, and bold in its sexual honesty and
detail.
Explains Haynes, "Most domestic dramas inevitably concern female
characters confronting social constraints, suburban repression and
vulnerability. 'Mildred Pierce' is an exception."
Haynes appreciated the beauty and stylistic references of the original
Michael Curtiz film, which brought Joan Crawford an Academy Award(R),
but found himself more attracted to the unique relationship between
mother and daughter spelled out so vividly in the novel, as well as
the complexity of both characters. What especially captured Haynes was
the unique place Veda occupies in Mildred's life, which to him seemed
almost more akin to a tragic story of unrequited love.
"Where men and love objects should reside in Mildred's life, her
daughter, Veda, exists. Mildred's whole relationship with men is
completely unique and atypical of her time," he notes.
Haynes asked Raymond to join him in adapting the novel into a script
and the two set out to make a film that embodied Cain's literary
vision, without the murder plot that sensationalized the original
film. Seventy years after "Mildred Pierce" was written, HBO Miniseries
brings the novel to the screen.
Mirroring the novel's emphasis on the women in the story, Haynes and
co-writer Raymond chose to highlight the strength and ambition of
Mildred and her daughter, showing them as active, productive and
powerful forces of nature.
Explains Haynes, "Emotional dynamics are still the central conflict,
but they get externalized and played out through work and
productivity, and issues of money and class come into play in almost
every relationship in the story."
Having seen the original film in his college days, Haynes wanted to
approach the book from a fresh perspective, without the iconic image
of Joan Crawford in his mind.
"For some reason, I pictured Kate Winslet when I first started to read
the book," recalls Haynes. "I had never met Kate. I hadn't worked with
her before. And I could not get her out of my mind while I was
reading. It just felt so innately right and so constitutionally
correct that this was the only actress I could see playing this part.
Kate became sort of the propelling force while we were writing it and
starting to visualize the piece for long-form."
Haynes' reputation as a director and his creative unpredictability
drew Winslet to the project. She observes, "Todd is something of an
enigma. He has the capacity to change it up all the time and do
something different and keep surprising audiences and taking risks. I
just felt that his work ethic and his choices would go hand-in-hand
with my way of thinking and the way that I like to work - which is
about taking chances and thinking outside the box."
Given that Winslet appears in virtually every scene in the film, and
that of the 280 pages of script, her character is absent from just a
half-page of dialogue, she is amused by the term "miniseries."
"There's nothing 'mini' about it," explains the actress. "This was so
much harder, I think, than every film project I've done since
'Titanic.' It was like doing two and a half films in 16 weeks. It was
very challenging, but collaborative and rewarding at the same time,
thanks to a remarkable cast and a wonderful, highly skilled crew."
"Kate Winslet is an actress who approaches the work, not only from an
emotional and psychological perspective, but a physical one as well,"
says executive producer Pamela Koffler. "On set it was really
fascinating to watch her doing the business of becoming her character
- chopping the chickens, making the pies. She is just an unbelievable
practitioner of acting."
With Winslet in place as Mildred, Haynes and his producers had to find
the right actors to play her leading men. Br?an F. O'Byrne was cast as
Mildred's philandering husband, Bert Pierce, and James LeGros was
tapped to play Wally Burgan, Bert's ex-business partner. Says
executive producer Vachon, "We were delighted to get these two actors,
both at the top of their game, to play these roles.
"It was, however, a bit tricky finding the right Monty Beragon with
the perfect combination of dashing allure and a slight seediness to
him," she continues. "Getting Guy Pearce was a real coup and the
chemistry between him and Kate is really wonderful."
Adds Haynes, "Guy Pearce just embodies Monty Beragon. I don't know how
he does it. Watching him become Monty was a thoroughly thrilling thing
to behold as he got to the core of that blueblood inherited way of
speaking and carrying oneself. It was a beautiful counter-energy to
Mildred, who represents middle-class upbringing and all the potential
it represents."
Commenting on his choice for the pivotal role of Veda, Haynes says,
"Evan Rachel Wood just blew all of our minds with her ability to make
her character seem utterly believable in every capacity. The result is
so stunning that it's almost frightening to think, in retrospect, of
the outcome had Evan not been our Veda."
"Evan worked really hard during the training process needed to make
her a believable opera singer," explains Koffler. "She is naturally
incredibly musical - her ability to breathe and phrase and her body
language while she was singing was so spot-on, it was almost uncanny."
Haynes surrounded himself with talented people behind the camera as
well. Production designer Mark Friedberg, with whom Haynes had worked
on "Far from Heaven," was given the task of creating the dusty reality
of living in 1930s Los Angeles while filming on location in New York
State, utilizing city streets in the town of Peekskill, the coast of
Long Island and sound stages.
"The story is set in realms," explains Friedberg. "We wanted to make
sure that as Mildred travels from realm to realm, that they are both
historically accurate but also distinct from one another. For Mildred,
her decision to be a waitress in a diner represents her first foray
into life outside of her home. We wanted what goes on outside the
diner's windows on the streets of Hollywood in the '30s to be as
interesting as what goes on inside. Quaint Peekskill in northern
Westchester County worked particularly well for us."
Finding period Spanish architecture on the East Coast to duplicate the
Los Angeles suburbs proved to be easier than the filmmakers originally
thought. Locations scout John Spady found a unique neighborhood on
Long Island called The Gables, which was built as a ten-block housing
development in the '30s and designed to attract movie people to work
in New York. The historical integrity of the bungalows' construction
had been maintained throughout the years and it was the perfect place
to shoot the exteriors of Mildred's neighborhood.
"The big challenge of making this film on the East Coast was that it's
not a tropical part of the world, and Los Angeles is," explains
Friedberg. "The real sense of the desert and the real sense of nature
that happens in Los Angeles just does not happen in New York City or
its surroundings. We sent trucks and trucks and trucks of succulents
and palm trees and orange and avocado trees up from Florida to
decorate our various neighborhoods with the right look for that time
period in Los Angeles."
Haynes' vision of what the film should look like was artfully executed
by Ed Lachman, his director of photography on "Far from Heaven" and
"I'm Not There."
Says the director, "Revisiting this classic novel and unearthing
certain aspects of it, I saw the project akin to the great revisionist
films of the 1970s, which brought smart, relatable naturalism and
frankness to updated genre films such as 'Chinatown,' 'The Godfather'
or 'The Exorcist.' I saw the film's visual style reflecting the
long-lens new naturalism of '70s period films, the first era to really
dress down the costume drama with the same subtle performances,
natural light and unvarnished productions that so often imbued classic
genres with fresh relevance and sophistication."
The work of mid-century American photographer Saul Leiter also
inspired Haynes and his team to convey the period of the film in a
unique way. Leiter's use of windows and reflections and dusty surfaces
as refractions to his images influenced a style of lensing that
affected the way sets were built, the kinds of glass put into the
houses at the different locations and the way that space was
structured.
The challenge of evoking the era, as well as the social and
professional evolution of the characters, through the costumes was met
by industry icon and award-winning designer Ann Roth, who previously
worked with Winslet on "The Reader."
Says Winslet of Roth's passion for her job, "She's such a brilliant,
amazing woman. Her attention to detail is just remarkable and it's
such a privilege to be dressed by her and to discover a character with
her."
Roth was meticulous about costume choices for each scene and how they
informed the character's mood and social status, or how period
undergarments could affect an actor's posture or movement.
"With Ann, it's never just about a piece of clothing," says Haynes.
"It's about the character, about the nuance of that character - some
habit or behavior that dictates how a sleeve is rolled up or something
is creased or even stained or torn. It's the imperfections that really
mark a narrative experience in ways only clothes can."
A consummate professional, Roth's diligence for detail was not
reserved for just the main actors. On the days a big crowd scene would
shoot, Roth could be found on set at 4:30 a.m., adjusting the tilt of
the hat or the length of the sleeve or jacket for each extra.
"There were 2000 extras - that's 1000 girdles," observes Roth. "So
many times I'd hear the women standing in the fitting room, putting on
their period girdles or hooking up their seamed stockings, ask, 'Why
don't we dress like this now?' But no one would go to all that fuss
anymore, and they recognize that it's not just how you look, it's a
whole philosophy of life."
March synopses:
PART ONE
Debut for PART ONE and PART TWO: SUNDAY, MARCH 27 (9:00-11:05 p.m.
ET/PT)
Other HBO playdates for PART ONE and PART TWO: March 27 (1:20 a.m.),
29 (10:00 p.m.), 30 (midnight) and 31 (8:00 p.m.), and April 2 (4:15
p.m.)
HBO2 playdates for PART ONE and PART TWO: March 28 (9:00 p.m.) and
April 2 (11:00 p.m.), 3 (7:00 p.m.) and 22 (7:00 p.m.)
Glendale, California, 1931: Mildred Pierce (Kate Winslet), a young
mother with a talent for baking, is left a "grass widow" after
throwing her husband, Bert (Br?an F. O'Byrne), out of the house.
Forced to hunt for work to support herself and her two young
daughters, 11-year-old Veda (Morgan Turner) and seven-year-old Ray
(Quinn McColgan), Mildred visits an employment agency, only to
encounter job opportunities she feels are beneath her. Amidst her job
search, she receives dating advice from her friend and neighbor, Lucy
Gessler (Melissa Leo), and begins an unexpected affair with an
ex-business partner of her husband's, Wally Burgan (James LeGros).
When Mildred receives a call from the agency regarding an opening as a
housekeeper to a wealthy socialite, she reluctantly agrees to meet
with her. After cutting the acerbic interview short, Mildred seeks
refuge at a local diner, Cristofor's Caf?, where fate, and a waitress
named Ida (Mare Winningham), will play a role in shaping her future.
PART TWO
Debut for PART ONE and PART TWO: SUNDAY, MARCH 27 (9:00-11:00 p.m.)
Other HBO playdates for PART ONE and PART TWO: March 27 (1:20 a.m.),
29 (10:00 p.m.), 30 (midnight) and 31 (8:00 p.m.), and April 2 (4:30
p.m.)
HBO2 playdates for PART ONE and PART TWO: March 28 (9:00 p.m.) and
April 2 (11:00 p.m.), 3 (7:00 p.m.) and 22 (7:00 p.m.)
1931: Mildred's business prospects get a boost when she starts selling
her homemade pies at the diner. With the help of Wally Burgan, Bert's
ex-business partner, she finds a perfect space to launch a
chicken-and-pie restaurant as business booms, though her marriage to
Bert threatens to short-circuit its financing. After an amicable
divorce, Mildred becomes the owner of her own restaurant, but her
relationship with her precocious daughter Veda is fraying. On her last
day at the diner, Mildred finds unexpected romance when she
impulsively joins a handsome customer, Monty Beragon (Guy Pearce), on
a holiday at the Santa Barbara shore. Unfortunately, her happiness is
short-lived, as tragedy strikes when the pair returns home.
hanc...@bbs.cpcn.com
> HBO Miniseries' MILDRED PIERCE, starring Kate Winslet in the title
> role, brings to life the memorable character introduced in James M.
> Cain's classic 1941 novel. The five-part drama offers an intimate
> portrait of a uniquely independent woman who finds herself newly
> divorced during the Depression years, as she struggles to carve out a
> new life for herself and her family. The story explores Mildred's
> unreasonable devotion to her insatiable daughter, Veda, as well as the
> complex relationships she shares with the indolent men in her life.
This was an excellent WB movie, starring Joan Crawford.
Today, Summer Glau could play Veda, she is a dead ringer for Ann Bythe
who played it originally, and could play a cold, manipulative spoiled
girl with ease.
The story isn't really a "Depression" story, Mildred has a nice middle
class modern home and keeps it. Her finanicial challenge is more of
spoiling her older daughter with the best clothes, dancing and riding
lessons, etc. after she splits up with her unfaithful husband, not the
tough economic times. The story is more of Mildred focused on her
daughter, doing whatever it takes to keep her in nice things.
She bakes pies from home and works as a waitress which embarasses her
snooty daughter. This would be an easy theme to modernize for a
contemporary audience--show the family house in an upscale
neighborhood and the daughter hanging out at expensive stores, fancy
car, etc.
I guess WB doesn't own the rights to the novel since another studio is
doing it now.
> Containing no murder or other criminal storyline,
> "Mildred Pierce" was unique in its depiction of ambitious and
> successful women in the work world, and bold in its sexual honesty and
> detail.
Umm, not correct about the story line. It may have been "sexual
honest" in 1945, but very tame today.
> Explains Haynes, "Most domestic dramas inevitably concern female
> characters confronting social constraints, suburban repression and
> vulnerability. 'Mildred Pierce' is an exception."
The "social constraints" and "repression" that were a major part of
society in 1945 do not exist today. In 1945 divorce was seen as
undesirable, as was women working outside the home after the war
ended. Those two facts would catch an audience's attention in 1945,
but would be meaningless to an audience today since they're so
commonplace. Mildred Pierce's divorce, pie baking, and restaurant
were eye-openers in 1945, not today. Hopefully in today's adaption
those events will just be used as background to the story as opposed
to the story itself.
> Haynes appreciated the beauty and stylistic references of the original
> Michael Curtiz film, which brought Joan Crawford an Academy Award(R),
> but found himself more attracted to the unique relationship between
> mother and daughter spelled out so vividly in the novel, as well as
> the complexity of both characters. What especially captured Haynes was
> the unique place Veda occupies in Mildred's life, which to him seemed
> almost more akin to a tragic story of unrequited love.
That is the main point of the story and that could translate well to
today.
> Haynes surrounded himself with talented people behind the camera as
> well. Production designer Mark Friedberg, with whom Haynes had worked
> on "Far from Heaven," was given the task of creating the dusty reality
> of living in 1930s Los Angeles while filming on location in New York
> State, utilizing city streets in the town of Peekskill, the coast of
> Long Island and sound stages.
Geez, the setting will be the 1930s? Bad idea! The original film was
not set in the 1930s and it wasn't a 'period piece'.
The unhealthy mother-daughter relationship could easily be adapted to
today's circumstances and attract an audience, much more so than a
Depression story.
> Finding period Spanish architecture on the East Coast to duplicate the
> Los Angeles suburbs proved to be easier than the filmmakers originally
> thought.
It is not necessary for the story line to take place in Los Angeles.
The original took place in the _suburbs_, indeed, the family's home in
the original film looks like a suburban home today. The restaurants
were suburban with cars and parking (indeed, cars play a part in the
story line). So, any suburban setting could be the story set today.
Indeed, it would relate better to audiences, perhaps showing an empty
strip shopping center as the 'before' and then the 'after' with a busy
Mildred Pierce restaurant in it. Another scene takes place in an old
fashion that Pierce modernized.
> "The big challenge of making this film on the East Coast was that it's
> not a tropical part of the world, and Los Angeles is," explains
> Friedberg. "The real sense of the desert and the real sense of nature
> that happens in Los Angeles just does not happen in New York City or
> its surroundings.
That "desert" was not part of the story line of Mildred Pierce. The
old film was in b&w and didn't have nature scenes in it. IIRC, the
family house had no trees in front being a new house. IIRC, almost
all scenes took place indoors, not outdoors.
> and a waitress
> named Ida (Mare Winningham), will play a role in shaping her future.
In "St. Elmo's Fire", didn't Winningham's character be an employment
counselor (not a very good one)?
tomcervo
so busy congratulating himself for rebooting "All That Heaven Allows"
that he forgot to note that he'd made a tedious bore of a movie,
wasting a talented cast and crew. The thing was an instant fossil;
while the original remains as fresh as paint.
Maybe he should stick to a cast of Barbies.
tdciago
> Geez, the setting will be the 1930s? Bad idea! The original film was
> not set in the 1930s and it wasn't a 'period piece'.
This miniseries is based on the *novel*, which was indeed set in the
1930s during the Great Depression. And apparently they have dropped
the murder storyline, which author James M. Cain did not care for at
all in the film.
> It is not necessary for the story line to take place in Los Angeles.
The novel is set in Glendale, in Los Angeles county.
tdciago
> diner's windows on the streets of Hollywood in the '30s to be as
> interesting as what goes on inside. Quaint Peekskill in northern
> Westchester County worked particularly well for us."
I lived in Peekskill for 7 years. I guess the cameras never caught
the 1970s-era high-rise where I lived.
:)
I would love to see this, but I'll have to wait for the DVD.
Steve Newport
SN: But without the talent.
hanc...@bbs.cpcn.com
> I lived in Peekskill for 7 years. I guess the cameras never caught
> the 1970s-era high-rise where I lived.
> :)
Did you get to see Mrs. G, Jo, Natalie, Tootie, and Blair?
hanc...@bbs.cpcn.com
> This miniseries is based on the *novel*, which was indeed set in the
> 1930s during the Great Depression. And apparently they have dropped
> the murder storyline, which author James M. Cain did not care for at
> all in the film.
The novel set it there because that's when it was written. I think
the novel intended "present day".
You need a story line that would hook a modern viewer in a desired
demographic. Isn't that young people? I don't think young people
give a hoot about the Depression. Advertise that and they'll think
boring b&w and TCM. Heck, they could watch the original, TCM runs it
often.
I think a modern suburban setting would be more relevant to the viewer
and thus more interesting.
> > It is not necessary for the story line to take place in Los Angeles.
>
> The novel is set in Glendale, in Los Angeles county.
Many TV and movie works are set in or near LA because that's where
it's shot and that's what the writers/producers know. Also, sometimes
there's a "glamour" aspect to LA.
But in this case the producers went to a lot of trouble and expense to
make a place _look_ like LA even though the location is irrelevent to
the story for this movie. It could've have easily took place in an
unnamed generic suburbia location; or just pick a town and film it in
the cheapest workplace.
tdciago
> Did you get to see Mrs. G, Jo, Natalie, Tootie, and Blair?
Not only didn't I see them, but I didn't see handyman George Clooney
either, darn it!
I also missed Mel Gibson and the Peekskill meteorite:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peekskill_meteorite
And when I lived there, downtown Peekskill was anything but "quaint."
I avoided it. I'm glad to hear it's better now.
Steve Newport
demographic. Isn't that young people? I don't think young people give a
hoot about the Depression. Advertise that and they'll think boring
SN: Fuck 'em!
Steve Newport
was so busy congratulating himself for rebooting "All That Heaven
Allows" that he forgot to note that he'd made a tedious bore of a movie,
wasting a talented cast and crew.
SN: I agree.