Lucas: There were a few dogs who played Bryant, but the main one, in the scene where he jumps off the dock and swims for the bone, in order to do that scene the dog needed to jump and he wouldn't do it. "When we showed it to a test audience the whole room was just like, 'What the fuck!'" he said. Tell the truth Also, I had four young kids to feed at the time. (01:08:15). 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). Kid Rock's 2008 song "All Summer Long" interpolates "Sweet Home Alabama" on the chorus and uses the guitar solo and piano outro, as well as the "turn it up" shout before the guitar solo; Billy Powell is featured on the track. Does your conscience bother you? The song is credited to Matthew Shafer, Waddy Wachtel, R.J. Ritchie, Leroy Marinell, Warren Zevon, Edward King, Gary Rossington and Ronnie Van Zant. The historic homes shown at Melanie's return to Pigeon Creek were shot in Eufaula, Alabama. Its now been 15 years since the film was released, so heres a look back at 7 things you probably didnt know about Sweet Home Alabama! I would do everything and anything to work with Melanie Lynskey again. It was funny on paper and then when we shot it, when Josh says Melanie Carmichael is dead and you cut to Mary Kay with that reaction that her daughter is dead it was just like, Who thought this was funny? Apparently, I did., Tennant continued, When we showed it to a test audience the whole room was just like, What the fk! The audience loved the movie up until that shot. Posted by Simon Brew | Nov 16, 2021 | Feature. Melanie visits Jake, who has repeatedly refused to sign divorce papers over the years since she left for New York. Take a look at the cast of Sweet Home Alabama. (Witherspoon's rep told Insider she was unavailable to be interviewed for this story. 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. They are accusatory and condescending, not fully thought out, and too easy to misconstrue."[12]. Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. It was also the first film ever allowed to film in Tiffanys since Breakfast at Tiffanys in 1961. The 2002 romantic comedy "Sweet Home Alabama" ends predictably enough, with Reese Witherspoon's character matched with the right guy but the original ending to the film threw audiences a . Reese Witherspoon's Sweet Home Alabama Co-Star Explains The 'Issue Sweet Home Alabama - Genius Sweet Home Alabama - Plugged In But that's as close as I got. Although the film takes place primarily in the fictional town of Pigeon Creek, near a fictional Greenville, Alabama, it was mostly shot in Georgia. Sweet Home Alabama is a 2002 American romantic comedy film directed by Andy Tennant. Since "Sweet Home Alabama" opened in theaters Tennant made another rom-com hit, "Hitch," starring Will Smith and Eva Mendes. One . Vinyl Records, CDs, and More from pop. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a critical score of 38% based on 159 reviews, with an average rating of 5.19/10. At the reception at the end of the movie, Mel's dress is clean and dry. It reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1974, becoming the . On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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. 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. In an interview with Garden & Gun, Rossington explained the writing process: "I had this little riff. With a $35.6 million opening weekend, the movie held the record for the best-ever September opening for 10 years. Lucas: She rung my bell a couple of times. Tagged: Sweet Home Alabama, First Love. We shot it at the actual Tiffany's in New York City. More trivia for Sweet Home Alabama. Free or royalty-free photos and images. It stars Reese Witherspoon, who plays an Alabama-born fashion designer living in NYC. With a reported budget of US$30 million, it was a box office hit, despite the mixed reviews. 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. But at the same time, we were also making a comedy. 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. She ends up marrying him instead of her fiance. ", 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. The film takes its title . 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. That's exactly what happened, though. [11] In addition to the original appearance on Second Helping, the song has appeared on numerous Lynyrd Skynyrd compilations and live albums. Apparently, the clincher was the moment when the parents were looking at their dead daughter didnt get any laughs. So, its hard for me to get it back. 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! It's a riddle to me. Reese Witherspoon was at the height of her box office powers when she decided to take the lead in Sweet Home Alabama.By this stage in the early 2000s, she'd built a career quickly and impressively off a mix of very smart choices and very savvy commercial picks. You can see tucked into the top of her left boot the battery pack for her microphone and the wires going up her skirt. But I was terrified I was going to be fired before we even started. I'm there tightening up things on the movie. Tennant: I don't know why we thought that was really funny. I knew Reese because I had done a TV movie with her when she was 15. The romantic comedy originally ended with a fake-out that Reese Witherspoons character was dead. Tennant: That's a scene you don't expect in this kind of movie. 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. I said, Youre the girl from Man in the Moon. All rights reserved. And it was cold out that night. sweet home alabama ending credits pictures after that particular line, and the media picked up only on the reference to the people loving the governor. In her recollection, her initial response was negative: "[Clydie King] said the song was 'Sweet Home Alabama.' I was pretty uncomfortable, so that doesn't make the person working across from you comfortable. as well as other partner offers and accept our. Josh came in from New York and we had several women producers and casting directors say he was gorgeous, great, charming, and had a great voice. It's the "almost" part that makes the movie work. Tennant: I didn't realize how funny that line would be, but when Melanie [Lynskey] does her whole thing about Jaclyn Smith and the designer, she is just brilliant and can make anything work. She and Andrew wish each other well, though Kate berates Andrew and insults Melanie, her family, and the entire town, for which Melanie punches her in the face. Saksikan kelanjutan kisahnya dalam film Sweet Home Alabama yang akan segera tayang . Tennant: I was given the script; it wasn't very good. [5], The song remains a staple in southern and classic rock, and is arguably the band's signature song. Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Fred Ward, Patrick Dempsey, Josh Lucas, Ethan Embry, Candice Bergen, Rhona Mitra, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Courtney Gains. Sweet Home Alabama - Full Cast & Crew - TV Guide But poor Josh was whacked a good number of times. The home that Melanie tries to pass off as her childhood home, the Carmichael Plantation, is actually the Oak Hill Berry Museum, which is a historic landmark in Georgia. He claimed that the song was originally intended as the unabashed defense of Alabama, and even Wallace, that the song appears to be: {{blockquote|I can understand where the "boo boo boo" would be misunderstood. They were developing it for Charlize to star. And my memory is on the second or third day, Andy came up to me and said, "Disney absolutely loves what you're doing, we're free." Jake's glassblowing shop was filmed at an old mill named Starr's Mill, in Fayette County, Georgia. "The audience loved the movie up until that shot." So I enjoyed Witherspoon and the local color, but I am so very tired of the underlying premise. 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. Tennant: I may have had Reese slap him a few more times just to fuck with him. to get Wallace elected. Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. There was a silence on the phone for quite a while. Despite the cognitive dissonance that Jewel's glossy cover of Skynryd's title track causes, it's actually not a bad reworking of the Southern rock classic into an adult alternative single. Tennant has written a treatment for a sequel about Witherspoon's character's child going to college. Now we all did what we could do She tells him they are still married, they return to what would have been Melanie and Andrew's reception, and finally, have their first dance as husband and wife. And I was like, "I cut six frames out of his close up." We needed someone who looked like Reese, and Dakota was 40 years old when she was 10. The film was directed by Andy Tennant, from a screenplay by C Jay Cox (with story credit going to Douglas J Epoch), and it tells the story of Melanie Smooter, a woman who left her home in Alabama for New York City. It is , however, a good. How come it took this long? The much darker original ending to Sweet Home Alabama The script was just as bad as I thought it was before, but I thought the idea was great. Literally, Nina Jacobson, head of Buena Vista Pictures, walked up the aisle before the lights had even come up and said to me, Were reshooting the ending., Lucas told Insider that he liked the original ending I thought it was funny and silly and weird, he remembered and was worrid when word came down that they were reshooting it. Answer: She had a miscarriage. Lucas: We did that six to 10 times. 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." [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. 7 biggest mistakes in Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens, The 20 biggest mistakes in The Wizard of Oz, 40 biggest mistakes in The Big Bang Theory, 6 Cool things you've never noticed in movies, The biggest mistakes in the Harry Potter movies, 25 mistakes you never noticed in great movies, 7 mistakes in Beetlejuice you never spotted, More questions & answers from Sweet Home Alabama. Josh has that kind of charisma and star power that's rare. Lynyrd Skynyrd and Neil Young: Friends or Foes? The film although predictable is full of funny moments and a lot of heart. Show 1 more answer. Melanie reconciles with her friends and learns that after she split with Jake, he had followed her to New York to win her back. My producing partner and my editor, who are both women, were in the edit room with me. Melanie confesses that she still loves Jake and cancels the wedding. It's just a lovely scene that has subtext, which Reese played beautifully. There was this scene late in shooting where we were in the bar and we were playing pool and I had done something, I don't even remember what I did, but Andy turned to me and was like, "My God, when did you become funny? 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? Learn more about the full cast of Sweet Home Alabama with news, photos, videos and more at TV Guide . The two return to what should have been Melanie and Andrews reception and have their first dance. [7] By the end of its run in the United States, Sweet Home Alabama grossed over US$130 million, and another US$53,399,006 internationally. "Sweet Home Alabama" is a song by American southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, released on the band's second album Second Helping (1974). Question: In the scene where Jake is driving Andrew to find Melanie, he tells the story about the cat. For Reese, her accent came very quickly. George Watters II. 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. Tennant: Yeah. He was a Jefferson County Commissioner and is credited with helping bring the University of Alabama Medical Center to Birmingham. Fred Ward's character is racist, says Tennant. He made her feel things she didn't want to feel anymore and it erupted. I caught some of "Sweet Home Alabama" on tv the other day. beatles mono cd box set fake. Sweet Home Alabama was a good movie but something you would only want to see once. It works because of the talents of those two actors. There was an intensity of pain and past and history. 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. In the original ending of the movie, Melanie leaves her wedding and races to the beach to reconcile with Jake. Witherspoon plays Melanie, a successful fashion designer who's based in New York and engaged to McDreamy. A list about the best ships in the DR franchise so far!Enjoy!Sources: thetoptensMusic: Despair Searching - Remix Cover (Danganronpa V3: . It was a Civil War reenactment going on eight or 10 miles away. On a beach in the fictional town of Pigeon Creek, Alabama, 10-year-old Jake Perry and Melanie Smooter inspect the result of lightning striking sand. Thank you for visiting! The scene cuts to Fred Ward, playing Melanie's father, giving a snarky look as the two talk. Add to favorites. During the end credits some photos are shown with the cast. 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. Reese Witherspoon terrific heartfelt performance makes this movie work. 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. Jake and Melanie do this as a practical joke. And she asked me what I was doing, and I was like, "We just wrote a movie, but I don't know if it's ever going to get made." ", Lucas: I think that was true for Andy. Since "All Summer Long"'s release, the original song has also charted at number 44 on the UK Singles Chart. Director Andy Tennant did test the ending too, ultimately conceding that no one though it was funny. 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. Tennant: I think we were tipping our hand to racial undertones. And thats just what the movie-going audience was looking for back in 2002. That I wasn't working. Tennant: When we showed it to a test audience the whole room was just like, "What the fuck!" Andrew is engaged to a girl named Erin Vanderbilt. It's a joke.". of them Melanie's parents are "scared" by a punk with a pierced tongue, 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." Tennant said Parks had a dog who would jump in the water and fetch rocks that were at the bottom. It was also covered by The Jacquie Young Band, Alabama, Wild Junkers, Chihiro Onitsuka and other artists. Arthur Bremer may or may not have been a yankee but he sure destroyed whatever chance Wallace had to be president. It was written in response to Neil Young's 1970 song "Southern Man", which the band felt blamed the entire South for American slavery;[4] Young is name-checked and dissed in the lyrics. Tennant: Melanie slapped Jake for a variety of reasons. Where are those four characters now: Melanie, Jake, Andrew, and Melanie Lynskey's character, Lurlynn? Jake announces, "Melanie Carmichael is dead" but then a few seconds later he says, "Long live Felony Melanie." Indeed, the film grossed $180 million worldwide and is a constant fixture of cable TV. It's silly but it was really fun to make." The Reese Witherspoon-headlined romcom Sweet Home Alabama nearly took a bit of a dark turn. During that time, he was offered "Sweet Home Alabama.". In a sequence of them Melanie's parents are "scared" by a punk with a pierced tongue, Mel's co-worker from the beginning of the movie, who comments on her accent when she dreams. Tennant: "Sweet Home Alabama" is on all the time. She begins to cry, but about much more than the loss of her dog. ", Tennant has written a treatment for a sequel to "Sweet Home Alabama.". "[4] "We thought Neil was shooting all the ducks in order to kill one or two," said Ronnie Van Zant at the time. THEN AND NOW: The cast of 'Sweet Home Alabama' 20 years later. Some of it was, "Josh, punch line. In the present day, Melanie is a successful New York fashion designer who has adopted the surname "Carmichael" to hide her poor Southern roots. These numbers may not look so striking now, but they were, in the context of 17 years ago, really quite something. Then he says, "Long live Felony Melanie" and Melanie, who was just playing dead, gives him a kiss. Filming in New York City. You can see tucked into the top of her left boot the battery pack for her microphone and the wires going up her skirt. "All Summer Long" also samples Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London", which has similar chord progression to "Sweet Home Alabama". Mel's co-worker from the beginning of the movie, who comments on her accent Lucas: Reese was very unsure of me and had no reason not to be. After wealthy Andrew Hennings proposes, Melanie returns to Alabama to announce her engagement to her parents and finalize a divorce from her husband Jake, whom she married as a pregnant teenager and left after she miscarried their baby. Visible crew/equipment: As Melanie is walking across the battlefield looking for her father she steps across 'dead bodies'. And she told me how a former boyfriend had proposed there. It was a real surprise that my life and career were going to change over this. When the movie . It was interesting because I had this moment where I was like, "Really?" But things get complicated once Melanie comes face-to-face with Jake again. June 5, 2022 0 Comments the father paul slaps anthony . It is sampled by Kid Rock. D Lord, I'm C coming home to G you. I don't like my words when I listen to it. Download Sweet Home Alabama stock photos. That Jake would have mid-life issues and that there are differences where Jake and Melanie landed. 7. 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? Tennant: I think what happens is you get the cast you deserve Reese was coming off a huge hit with "Legally Blonde," Patrick Dempsey had done movies before but he was the '80s heartthrob and this was his start as a leading man, and then Josh was unknown so I think if there was any kind of nervousness on Josh's part he should have seen what it was like in my head. 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. Everyone was pretty much in the same zone, said Lucas in an interview with IGN. AmyM. About as unconventional as you can get for the end of whats effectively a fairy tale romantic comedy. Bobby Ray backs up her pretense that she is a relative and the family mansion is her childhood home. She and Jake have a heart-to-heart, and Melanie realises why he never signed their divorce papers. It was also the first film allowed to film at Tiffany's since Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961). I mean, truly attacked. Jake announces, "Melanie Carmichael is dead" but then a few seconds later he says, "Long live Felony Melanie." "[4] Andrew Sarris, critic for the New York Observer, said that the movie "Would be an unendurable viewing experience for this ultra-provincial New Yorker if 26-year-old Reese Witherspoon were not on hand to inject her pure fantasy character, Melanie Carmichael, with a massive infusion of old-fashioned Hollywood magic. Sweet Home Alabama was the first film allowed to shoot in New York City after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Director Andy Tennant directed TV shows in the 1980s ("The Wonder Years," "Parker Lewis Can't Lose," "The Adventures of Brisco Country, Jr"), then moved to feature films in the mid-1990s ("It Takes Two," "Fools Rush In," "Ever After: A Cinderella Story"). I would say in some ways we pushed each other to try, I think, to find truth. It's the little picking part and I kept playing it over and over when we were waiting on everyone to arrive for rehearsal. Earl Smooter: You can't ride two horses with one ass, sugarbean. Jake pulls her away and tells her to go home, back to New York City. Apparently, I did. Is "Sweet Home Alabama" the progenitor of Hallmark Christmas movies? [13] Van Zant said: "Wallace and I have very little in common. "[13] Toward the end of the song, Van Zant adds "where the governor's true" to the chorus's "where the skies are so blue," a line seemingly contradictory to the previous lyrics. Why don't we do a love triangle where the love choices are between a great guy and the right guy? Tennant: What happened was Reese's daughter, Ava, went to school with my son, so I would see Reese on occasion. raywest. She is cornered there by Kate's assistant, sent to gather information on Melanie's background. I originally had my doubts about seeing this one but I bought the DVD and I highly enjoyed the movie. Reese Witherspoon was at the height of her box office powers when she decided to take the lead in Sweet Home Alabama. 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. FILM REVIEW; A Vexed Heart: Grits or Foie Gras? Sweet Home Alabama Lyrics . I'm in many ways a lot like him. All rights reserved. Get it? When Melanie's mom says stuff like, "Go get them Yankees," and we play it for laughs, I don't know. Lees ons privacybeleid en cookiebeleid voor meer informatie over hoe we uw persoonsgegevens gebruiken. Neil Young pays tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd's Ronnie Van Zant: Alabama / Sweet Home Alabama - 11-12-77. She is a director's dream. They were like, "What did you do?" Jake announces, "Melanie Carmichael is dead" but then a few seconds later he says, "Long live Felony Melanie." I think he was a stock-car driver. I totally remember you.'. Sweet Home Alabama. The streets and storefronts of Crawfordville, Georgia, were used as the backdrop for the Catfish Festival and other downtown scenes. In the final scene, we see Ui-Myeong, the other special infectee, escape in the SWAT truck in his 'slime-form'. So I think there was an intensity to the work experience that I think in some ways Andy was able to utilize. Lucas: I was scared of being famous. Literally, Nina Jacobson, head of Buena Vista Pictures, walked up the aisle before the lights had even come up and said to me, "We're reshooting the ending.". Trivia. Sweet Home Alabama Trivia Questions | Page 2 | Movies Q-T Andy told me there would be an honesty to it. Pop Market DiscogsPop culture, or popular culture, is the collection of ideas, opinions, and images popular within a culture at a given time. Lucas: In the movie, he's my best friend but in reality, that dog was terrified of me. paul pion cantor net worth. Melanie , Jake , Sweet Home Alabama. ), Lucas: I frankly haven't run into Reese since making the movie. Sweet Home Alabama is a romantic comedy starring Reese Witherspoon, Patrick Dempsey and Josh Lucas. "I don't care about your past, all I want to know is if there's a place for me in your future.". "[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].