 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
 The Stepford Wives Production NotesThe wives of Stepford have a secret.
A subversive and comic look at rampant consumerism and the quest for perfection, “The Stepford Wives” exposes what it really means to be human by looking beneath the perfect veneer of an idyllic community nestled in our very imperfect world. Featuring an extraordinary cast, “The Stepford Wives” stars Nicole Kidman, Matthew Broderick, Bette Midler, Christopher Walken, Faith Hill and Glenn Close in a comedic thriller about a community that dares to be perfect and learns that to err is human.
Joanna Eberhart (Nicole Kidman) thinks she's made it to the top of her world. The youngest president in the history of the EBS television network, she also has an attentive husband and two beautiful children. On the surface, Joanna's life appears to be, well, perfect… until one catastrophic day when it all comes crashing down around her. Fired from her job, her perfect marriage in trouble, unable to remember where her kids go to school, Joanna is starting to look like a candidate for electroshock therapy.
Yes, there's nothing like a nervous breakdown to make Joanna and her husband Walter (Matthew Broderick) reexamine their priorities, pack up the family and make a fresh start in the idyllic suburban paradise of Stepford, Connecticut.
But something strange is happening in the quaint little town of Stepford, and Joanna is suspicious. So is Bobbie Markowitz (Bette Midler), who recently moved to town with her irascible frat-boyish husband Dave (Jon Lovitz). And Roger Bannister (Roger Bart), an architect who came to Stepford hoping to save his rocky relationship with his conservative partner Jerry (David Marshall Grant), is wondering what's going on, too.
It's the wives. They're all like Claire Wellington (Glenn Close) - beautiful, happy and unusually creative with crafts. They can bake a cake, paint the house, mow the lawn, play with the kids and still greet their husbands in lacy lingerie at the end of a busy day.
Disturbed by the stunning but subservient women she meets in Stepford, Joanna grows increasingly uneasy. On the other hand, Walter couldn't be happier. He's especially impressed by the Stepford Men's Association, a fortress-like mansion in the center of town. “This town, and the houses, and this place - it's like a dream,” enthuses Walter. “Like the way life should be.”
About the Story
When producers Scott Rudin and Donald De Line, director Frank Oz and screenwriter Paul Rudnick got together to update “The Stepford Wives,” the 1975 motion picture thriller based on Ira Levin's best-selling book, they recognized its potential to become, as Rudnick puts it, “a real modern American comedy.” Although both the novel and original movie were considered a response to the first wave of feminism in America during the 1970s, they all acknowledge that social changes during the last 30 years inspired some new twists in the story.
“In today's world, women can be enormously powerful,” observes Rudnick. “They've made enormous strides, but that still doesn't always sit well with their husbands. So, by creating this town of `model' wives and laughing at the notion of it, I was able to give the story a contemporary spin.”
To Oz, whose previous comedic credits include “Bowfinger,” “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” “Little Shop of Horrors” and “In & Out,” the film's appeal was in the way it mixed comedy with darkness.
“Comedy is kind of a dangerous thing to do when you're dealing with social commentary, with characters' feelings and with darkness and evil,” says Oz. “But I think people will feel that the edginess of our humor is right on target.”
Rudnick, who wrote the original screenplay for the successful 1997 comedy hit “In & Out,” agrees, adding that through the film's unique comedic perspective the underlying themes of consumerism and greed rise to the surface.
“Stepford is the perfect American suburb, which on the surface seems like the ultimate bourgeois dream,” says Rudnick. “It's a town of gorgeous McMansions, SUVs, sports cars, perfect moms, perfectly behaved children and perfectly happy dads…more perfect than humanly possible. And any vision of that nature is a little too perfect to last.”
A skilled satirist, Rudnick looked forward to his reunion with Oz, especially because the director has such a reverence for comedy. “Frank is a writer's dream and a wonderful collaborator, but what I personally adore about him is that he gets the joke,” says Rudnick. “He knows who's funny or how to make someone funny.”
“I'm kind of like a mountain-climbing guide,” laughs Oz. “I don't climb the mountain - the actors do. But I like to show them which way to go.”
One of the actors happy to follow Oz's direction was Nicole Kidman, who earned the Academy Awardâ for Best Actress in 2003 for her compelling performance as author Virginia Woolf in “The Hours.” For Kidman, the change of pace was exactly what she was looking for, not to mention the chance to work with such talented filmmakers and co-stars.
“Coming off of an intense drama I was ready to do something fun, and I loved the idea of teaming up with Glenn and Bette,” says Kidman, who portrays Joanna Eberhart, the perfect example of what women are capable of doing with their lives today. “I also love the way Paul Rudnick mixes politics and pop culture, and of course, Frank Oz is so adept with this sort of material, I knew he could guide me into new comedic territory.”
Much of the humor comes from Kidman's character, a powerful executive whose career has overshadowed her humanity and made her a living example of taking success too far. Also overshadowed, is Joanna's husband Walter, who thanks to modern technology, discovers that in Stepford even the most average guy reigns like a king.
“Stepford is a great concept,” laughs two-time Tony winner (“The Producers,” “Brighton Beach Memoirs”) Matthew Broderick, who portrays Walter. “There's a Men's Association where we go to smoke cigars, have bourbons and wear our special jackets to show that we're part of a club. We have plasma screen TVs, computers, video games - it's a real guy place where we feel comfortable and at home.”
Leading the men of Stepford is Mike Wellington, portrayed by Academy Awardâ winner Christopher Walken, who observes that the men in the fictional town are like modern guys in many ways.
“They're deeply confused by all the social movements of the last half-century,” says Walken. “They feel left behind, picked on…and they're mad as hell. So the Men's Club is very important. It's where the guys hang out, have fun and…plan more Stepford wives.”
Supreme party hostess, organizer of Stepford events, head of the town book club and exercise maven is Wellington's very own perfect wife Claire, portrayed by five-time Oscarâ nominee Glenn Close.
“I suppose Chris Walken's character and mine could be construed as the king and queen of Stepford,” laughs Close. “He made me everything I am, I worship him and together we are the couple that everyone in Stepford aspires to be.”
Close had tremendous fun with an exercise class her character leads at the Simply Stepford Day Spa. The class, called “Claireobics,” teaches housewives to stay fit by combining exercise with daily domestic activities. For example, a good Stepford wife twists her torso vigorously back and forth like a washing machine, thereby whittling away her waistline in no time.
“Glenn's character embodies Stepford in its comedic persona, in its mad passion, and in its dementia,” observes Rudnick, who adds that Close is hysterically “perfect” in the role.
“When I first thought about doing this movie, I thought it would be great fun working with a great ensemble of actors,” remembers Close. “Now I think the film resonates far more than I first imagined because it's about materialism, rampant consumption and appearances - all things our society is obsessed with today.”
Taking full advantage of the technology boom, Rudnick wanted to explore America's absolute mania for makeovers. “We live in a makeover culture, believing that perfection will solve all our problems,” says Rudnick. “This film truly investigates whether perfection is really worth all the trouble we go to in pursuit of it.”
One character who thinks the perfection in Stepford isn't all it's cracked up to be is Bobbie Markowitz, portrayed by two-time Oscarâ nominee and four-time Grammy winner Bette Midler.
“Bobbie is a sardonic character from New York's Upper West Side with a sharp tongue and an even sharper wit,” explains Midler. “She knows there's something strange behind all the beautiful women in Stepford and she makes it her business to find out what's going on.”
Almost immediately, Bobbie connects with new arrival Joanna Eberhart, a fellow New York professional, and the two gravitate to another newcomer from Manhattan, a flamboyant gay architect named Roger Bannister, portrayed by Roger Bart.
Director Frank Oz observes that the reason the New York trio connects is that they feel like aliens in a strange land. “It's like going out of the country and there are no Americans around,” explains Oz. “Then suddenly you see two other Americans, so you all pal around.”
Nowhere is the contrast between the Stepfordites and the New Yorkers more obvious than at the Fourth of July party where these three characters meet for the first time. Filmed on a country property amid rolling hills in rural New Jersey, the fantastical atmosphere of a huge red barn draped in red, white and blue bunting was only heightened by the picture-perfect food, game booths and gingham-dressed Stepford wives teetering around on high heels. It all comes as a shock to urban sophisticates like Joanna, Bobbie and Roger.
Nicole Kidman feels her growing connection with Bobbie and Roger is also a result of how each of them is feeling disconnected from their partners. “At the heart of the film the story is about relationships,” observes Kidman, “and I think that will really resonate with audiences.”
Matthew Broderick agrees, pointing out that a major focus of the film revolves around the marital conflict between Walter and Joanna. “This story is really a romance. It's about a marriage that's lost its footing and about the two people who've come to Stepford to right it.”
Says director Oz: “They come to a place that's perfect, where the women are gorgeous, the men are deliriously happy and the houses are beautiful. But in the end, it's the acceptance of imperfection which makes us more human, and ultimately saves Joanna and Walter.”
“In the course of the film, you see that Joanna and Walter's love is tested in the most extreme degree,” says Rudnick. “I think it's a very modern love story in many ways.”
Rudnick, who further updates the 1970s story with the introduction of a gay couple, Roger (Roger Bart) and Jerry (David Marshall Grant), which in itself isn't unique, adds that what is fresh about their inclusion is how they don't fit in the Stepford community either; and yet, there they are, shooting for perfection just like everyone else.
“A gay couple has every right to the same insane quest for perfection as heterosexuals,” laughs Rudnick. “In fact, Roger and Jerry, like a lot of gay men, are every bit as confused by the enormous and rapid changes of our culture. So when they wind up in Stepford, they get in just as much trouble as every straight couple there.”
Making her feature film debut in “The Stepford Wives” is Grammy Award nominee Faith Hill, who portrays Sarah Sunderson, the former CEO of an airline whose husband turns her into a “robotically challenged” model of a Stepford wife.
“To put it mildly, Sarah is kind of a little off,” laughs Hill. “I think in the process of creating his idea of perfection, my husband Herb - wonderfully played by Matt Malloy - might have made a mistake or two. The character was great fun to play. I mean, when I malfunction, things go a little crazy and the sparks really fly. It was an `electrifying' experience all around!”
A comedic take on the American suburban dream that combines a mixture of satire and thriller, “The Stepford Wives” takes on a little bit of everything - from the battle of the sexes to stereotypes to the need for individuality. And it asks the question: In a world where breaking the mold makes someone special, why is it so dangerous to step out of line...in Stepford?
|
|||||
Sitemaps, RSS Feeds & Social Networks
|
|||||||
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Matthew Broderick as Walter Kresby and Nicole Kidman as Joanna Eberhart in The Stepford Wives.
