Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Recasting 1983 (supporting): "The Big Chill"

Not long after I started my original recasting project in mid 2020, I started preparing my list for which supporting roles I thought would be fun to tackle. Part of the fun of doing all this is revisiting movies I enjoy, as well as experiencing some that I've never seen. I knew Glenn Close had been nominated for her supporting role in The Big Chill, so I thought I'd check it out to see if it'd be something worth considering for this series. To my surprise, it's been a film that I've since revisited a handful of times, as I've thoroughly enjoyed its smart screenplay and excellent performances from the cast. The soundtrack is also one of the best of all time. 

Something else that surprised me was that I ended up preferring the role of Meg, originated by Mary Kay Place, to Close's. And it's ultimately the one I chose for this week's selection. A bit of plot background: Seven 30-something college friends reunite for a weekend in South Carolina following the suicide death of another member of their close-knit group. Among the friends is Meg Jones, a successful, single lawyer who feels her biological clock ticking and wants badly to have a baby. She sort of sizes up her four male friends, deciding which of them she should ask to sire her offspring, no strings attached. 


I found a quote from director Lawrence Kasdan in which he describes what he thinks The Big Chill is about: 

The Big Chill deals with members of my generation who have discovered that not everything they wanted is possible, that not every ideal they believed in has stayed in the forefront of their intentions. 'The Big Chill' is about a cooling process that takes place for every generation when they move from the outward-directed, more idealistic concerns of their youth to a kind of self-absorption, a self-interest which places their personal desires above those of the society or even an ideal.

I found this to be an interesting and likely accurate summary. I suspect part of what drew me to the film was that I'm not that far off from being a similar age as these characters, and have had many of the same experiences they describe and depict in the film. It's wild to think about my close group of friends from undergrad and grad school, and the extent to which our lives have either diverged or stayed on a similar path, regardless of geography. The excellent ensemble of actors cast in this movie were able to convey a real sense of history and camaraderie. The tone is funny and at the same time kind of bleak, with the vacillating between ovations of love for each other to castigation and accusation. Aside from the somewhat lonely place the character of Meg seems to be coming from, there's so much to do for all of these characters, as they're interacting with so many sub-groups of friends in their group over the scope of the weekend. Were Meryl to have had the chance to participate, she would've shared individual scenes with Glenn Close, Kevin Kline (coming off their pairing in Sophie's Choice), William Hurt (fifteen years prior to One True Thing), and Jeff Goldblum, in addition to the above scene with Tom Berenger. 

The Big Chill was generally well-received in 1983. While Close was the lone acting nomination (losing out to Linda Hung in The Year of Living), the film was nominated for Best Picture, and Kasden shared an Original Screenplay nod with Barbara Benedek. I maintain that the role of Meg is the most interesting of the three in the friend group. And I'm not alone in that sentiment. Both Close and co-star JoBeth Williams are reported to have commented that they would have preferred to portray Meg in the film. But the director already had them both in mind for the roles which they ultimately ended up plahing. It would've been fun to see the layers Meryl would have brought to the character. And what she would've brought out of her co-stars! 

For my 1984 selection, I'm bumping up a film that was released in early 1985, with a role that is arguably a lead one. I'll share my rationalizations for why it's appropriate for this current project in my next post. 

5 comments:

  1. I would need to see this film again to comment, I suspected you'd chose this movie but not this role!

    I'm going to be a bit lazy and go for the role of Dolly in Silkwood. Although, if we are still keeping Meryl in her leading roles I will pick "Elvira" opposite Pacino in Scarface. A total departure in genre at this point. Meryl would have been stunning

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've never seen Scarface! Do you recommend?

      Delete
    2. Absolutely. My brother was very into that genre when we were teens but I don't particularly like the movie myself, although it has become revered and something of a classic. I mainly picked this so Meryl could work with Pacino in something totally different, and look stunning doing it!

      Delete
  2. I've just learned that Ridley Scott wanted Meryl to play Ellen Ripley in Alien but production was to start shortly after Cazale's death. Interesting.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I knew she was considered for the role, but I don't think I was aware that she was Ridley Scott's first choice. I just read the CBR.com article, where they have some quotes from Screen Rant and The Hollywood Reporter. If those are true, it's kind of ironic that they chose to "let Streep take some time" after Cazale's death and therefore casted Weaver instead. Streep filmed The Seduction of Joe Tynan a month after Cazale's death, in which she's stated in interviews she was sort of on autopilot during production. I wonder if she had been ultimately offered the role of Ridley, would she have taken it? It didn't start filming until after The Seduction of Joe Tynan, at least according to IMDb.

      Delete