". Sweet Home Alabama was the first film allowed to shoot in New York City after the September 11, 2001 attacks. The cat had cancer and Melanie wanted it to die a "humane" death. It's now been 15 years since the film was released, so here's a look back at 7 things you probably didn't know about Sweet Home Alabama! Welcome to Sweet Home Alabama Road Sign in Alabama USA, Entering Sweet Home Alabama Road Highway Welcome Sign, Sweet home alabama welcome sign at rest area stop off highway, Welcome Sign to Sweet Home Alabama Road along Interstate 10 Photo Image, Aerial photo Welcome to Sweet Home Alabama USA, Alabama We Dare Defend Our Rights State Motto, George Wallace Plaque Alabama Visitors Center, Old used ticket for the concert of Lynyrd Skynyrd at Shoreline Amphitheatre. 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. I'm in many ways a lot like him. They were like, "What did you do?" Lucas: We did that six to 10 times. Then he says, "Long live Felony Melanie" and Melanie, who was just playing dead, gives him a kiss. Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. June 5, 2022 0 Comments the father paul slaps anthony . The song is credited to Matthew Shafer, Waddy Wachtel, R.J. Ritchie, Leroy Marinell, Warren Zevon, Edward King, Gary Rossington and Ronnie Van Zant. In the original scene, she slaps him and walks away. ", Tennant: There was never a named actor attached to play Jake. Alabama Crimson Tide "Sweet Home Alabama" Iron Bowl Alabama vs. Auburn 2012 Als u niet wilt dat wij en onze partners cookies en persoonsgegevens voor deze aanvullende doeleinden gebruiken, klik dan op 'Alles weigeren'. Tennant: I wrote a treatment and a lot of it has to do with Reese's character and Melanie Lynskey's character taking their kids on a college tour. Some of it was, "Josh, punch line. 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. 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. as well as other partner offers and accept our. And then that Friday the movie opened and Sunday I started getting calls from my agent telling me how huge the movie opened. 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. In the original ending of the movie, Melanie leaves her wedding and races to the beach to reconcile with Jake. Period.'" You can see tucked into the top of her left boot the battery pack for her microphone and the wires going up her skirt. How come it took this long? The scene cuts to Fred Ward, playing Melanie's father, giving a snarky look as the two talk. Reese got me good every single time. According to Rolling Stone, he's never played "Alabama" again since. 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], 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. We would have lunch every year or so. 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. It was always let's just find someone good. * Sales figures based on certification alone. Turns out this incredibly dark turn was intended in the original script as a joke, though. Its evenly balanced. "[14], Music historians examining the juxtaposition of invoking Richard Nixon and Watergate after Wallace and Birmingham note that one reading of the lyrics is an "attack against the liberals who were so outraged at Nixon's conduct" while others interpret it regionally: "the band was speaking for the entire South, saying to northerners, we're not judging you as ordinary citizens for the failures of your leaders in Watergate; don't judge all of us as individuals for the racial problems of southern society."[15]. And my agent said, "We spoke to them and they thought you were great and they are going to bring you back." Boo! Tennant: When we tested the movie, people really didn't like the slap so we cut around it. It was something I had never experienced before or since. I haven't seen her in years. [5], The song remains a staple in southern and classic rock, and is arguably the band's signature song. 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. From Reese Witherspoon to Josh Lucas. 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. Stay up to date with what you want to know. When Melanie announces her engagement, her father Earl asks her mother, Pearl, to pull the bologna cake out of the freezer. It was also covered by The Jacquie Young Band, Alabama, Wild Junkers, Chihiro Onitsuka and other artists. 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. 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). The film takes its title . 5:02. 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. One . You can see tucked into the top of her left boot the battery pack for her microphone and the wires going up her skirt. He has the divorce papers, which Melanie hadn't signed. Reese Witherspoon terrific heartfelt performance makes this movie work. [6] For a decade, the film would hold this record until 2012 when Hotel Transylvania took it. But even in Witherspoon's most optimistic moments, she probably didn't imagine that teaming up with filmmaker Andy Tennant, who just a year earlier helmed a movie that performed so poorly he was thrown in "director jail," and starring opposite an unknown leading man by the name of Josh Lucas would lead to enormous success. Josh Lucas was the first to admit in his interview with IGN that hes not the best at comedy, so he relied on his co-star, Reese Witherspoon for help. 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. 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." 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. George Watters II. 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. Tell the truth They then go and dance as the Lynyrd Skynyrd song "Sweet Home Alabama" plays. D Carry me C home to see my G kin. In addition, Dakota Fanning and Thomas Curtis appear briefly as the childhood versions of Melanie and Jake, respectively. Andrew is engaged to a girl named Erin Vanderbilt. Melanie's New York friends arrive for the event. It did free me. 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'. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features Press Copyright Contact us Creators . You can see tucked into the top of her left boot the battery pack for her microphone and the wires going up her skirt. ", Tennant has written a treatment for a sequel to "Sweet Home Alabama.". U kunt uw keuzes te allen tijde wijzigen door te klikken op de links 'Privacydashboard' op onze sites en in onze apps. ", The only reason "Sweet Home Alabama" was made was because of "Legally Blonde. What is humane about blowing it up and if it was gonna die of cancer all those years ago why is it still roaming around town? But it's still one of the best choices I ever made. ", 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. 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 don't like what he says about colored people. This was first film to shoot in New York City after the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a critical score of 38% based on 159 reviews, with an average rating of 5.19/10. Melanie , Jake , Sweet Home Alabama. With this film, Witherspoon solidified herself as a rom-com queen. Weekend Song. I don't know if anybody else wanted me, and I mean Disney (which released the movie by its then theatrical distribution arm, Buena Vista Pictures) and everyone from the power positions. 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. Jake and Melanie do this as a practical joke. Everyone was pretty much in the same zone, said Lucas in an interview with IGN. Tennant has written a treatment for a sequel about Witherspoon's character's child going to college. 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. 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. But he spoke for the common man of the South. Jake asserts that they will be married one day, whether they are cousins or not. I really broke my accent years ago. But theres still something of a case of what-if here. Jake announces, "Melanie Carmichael is dead" but then a few seconds later he says, "Long live Felony Melanie." She is cornered there by Kate's assistant, sent to gather information on Melanie's background. Melanie visits Jake, who has repeatedly refused to sign divorce papers over the years since she left for New York. 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." I felt that I had become a star overnight and I had zero anticipation of that. YOU'VE REACHED YOUR MONTHLY ARTICLE LIMIT. At the end of the movie (spoiler alert), Melanies wedding to Andrew is disrupted when its revealed she never signed her divorce papers. 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. It's just a thing. Also, I had four young kids to feed at the time. after that particular line, and the media picked up only on the reference to the people loving the governor. Charlize Theron was originally sought out to play the lead role of Melanie Carmichael, but because there was an actors strike at the time, she had jumped to do the film Trapped. About as unconventional as you can get for the end of whats effectively a fairy tale romantic comedy. You can unsubscribe at any time. She can be found in the finished version of the film at the end when Melanie is shown a newspaper wedding announcement during the closing credits. I knew Reese because I had done a TV movie with her when she was 15. qatar to toronto flight status. Free or royalty-free photos and images. Sweet Home Alabama was a good movie but something you would only want to see once. Earl Smooter: You can't ride two horses with one ass, sugarbean. 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. The film tells the story of Melanie Smooter, a Southern girl from a small town who becomes estranged from her past after she moves to New York to become a fashion designer. But poor Josh was whacked a good number of times. In a 2013 interview, Clayton spoke at length about her decision to take the job. In the movie's most dramatic scene, Melanie goes to see the gravesite of her old dog Bear. There was a silence on the phone for quite a while. We all talked about accents and stuff in terms of toning ithaving a gentle, subtle, quiet element to it. Most of the downtown scenes were filmed in Crawfordville and Taliaferro County. Lucas: I know Andy has written something but I've never read it. She's recalling the life she had with Jake and the baby they lost due to her miscarriage. Tennant: The studio felt the movie needed a better opening. Reese Witherspoon was at the height of her box office powers when she decided to take the lead in Sweet Home Alabama. Baca juga: Sinopsis Serial Grown-ish, Tayang di Disney+ Hotstar. Song listed in our famous tablatures. The film although predictable is full of funny moments and a lot of heart. Jake announces, "Melanie Carmichael is dead" but then a few seconds later he says, "Long live Felony Melanie." Although centered in a fictional version of the town of Pigeon Creek, near a fictional version of Greenville, Alabama, the film was mostly shot in Georgia. In an anniversary interview with Insider, its revealed that as originally shot, the ending found Melanie racing off to the beach where lightning strikes and it cuts to the wedding reception. Tennant: I don't know why we thought that was really funny. Trivia: 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. ", Lucas: I think that was true for Andy. paul pion cantor net worth. Als u uw keuzes wilt aanpassen, klik dan op 'Privacyinstellingen beheren'. Copyright 2000-2023 Dreamstime. Tennant: What happened was Reese's daughter, Ava, went to school with my son, so I would see Reese on occasion. "sweet home alabama" written by ronnie van zant, gary robert rossington, edward c. king. It's just a lovely scene that has subtext, which Reese played beautifully. 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. It is , however, a good. I really was. But Melanie's past holds many secrets, including Jake (Josh Lucas), the . She calls off the wedding and heads down to the beach to plant lightning rods to create glass sculptures, where she confesses to Jake that she still loves him. "Sweet Home Alabama." "Sweet Home Alabama" premiered on September 27, 2002 20 years ago today. 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. She's great and committed, I knew she was going to be big. But in a parallel universe somewhere, the alternative version went out. 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?" He later returns, saying he still wants to marry her, and the wedding is immediately set in motion. Sweet Home Alabama. Use them in commercial designs under lifetime, perpetual & worldwide rights.