Although the natural assumption is that when Carrie Fisher wrote her novel Postcards From The Edge she took her own story and that of her mother Debbie Reynolds. I'm sure a great deal of that story got into Fisher's work, but God only knows as a Hollywood kid she had plenty of other examples and role models to choose from. For myself I saw a bit of Joan and Christina Crawford there as well.
One of Meryl Streep's numerous Oscar nominations is for Postcards From The Edge and she's a working actress and performer freshly out of a drug rehab and she returns to the house of her mother Shirley MacLaine who is a former film queen whose day is passed, but still takes on the airs of a star. Once a star always a star.
These two have generational and personal issues. They can see each other's faults quite clearly, but can't see themselves. That's a bad combination, it leads to a lot of heartache with men and with substances.
MacLaine and Streep play beautifully off each other, it's unfortunate that Streep got the Best Actress nomination and MacLaine received none. These are professionals working in joyous tandem.
A lot of colleagues like Gene Hackman, Richard Dreyfuss and others worked in small parts probably because they wanted to be associated with this project for one reason or another. My favorite was Mary Wickes playing MacLaine's small town hick mother. In just one hospital scene Wickes may have given her best performance since the put upon nurse in The Man Who Came To Dinner. A lot of territory between those two roles.
Besides Streep's nomination Postcards From The Edge received a nomination for Best Song for I'm Checking Out. Streep delivers it in the best Patsy Cline type manner in the final scene. That woman has a lot of country in her.
One of Meryl Streep's numerous Oscar nominations is for Postcards From The Edge and she's a working actress and performer freshly out of a drug rehab and she returns to the house of her mother Shirley MacLaine who is a former film queen whose day is passed, but still takes on the airs of a star. Once a star always a star.
These two have generational and personal issues. They can see each other's faults quite clearly, but can't see themselves. That's a bad combination, it leads to a lot of heartache with men and with substances.
MacLaine and Streep play beautifully off each other, it's unfortunate that Streep got the Best Actress nomination and MacLaine received none. These are professionals working in joyous tandem.
A lot of colleagues like Gene Hackman, Richard Dreyfuss and others worked in small parts probably because they wanted to be associated with this project for one reason or another. My favorite was Mary Wickes playing MacLaine's small town hick mother. In just one hospital scene Wickes may have given her best performance since the put upon nurse in The Man Who Came To Dinner. A lot of territory between those two roles.
Besides Streep's nomination Postcards From The Edge received a nomination for Best Song for I'm Checking Out. Streep delivers it in the best Patsy Cline type manner in the final scene. That woman has a lot of country in her.