Tennant: I don't know why we thought that was really funny. But the main thing that happened when we were down there was we were having lunch and we heard these booms in the distance and it was like, "What the fuck is that?" Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Josh and I continue to lobby Reese, but she's busy. But that's as close as I got. When the movie got to like 13 to 14 years later, I started thinking where they would all be. It's just a lovely scene that has subtext, which Reese played beautifully. She and Jake have a heart-to-heart, and Melanie realises why he never signed their divorce papers. The audience loved the movie up until that shot. ". Learn more about the full cast of Sweet Home Alabama with news, photos, videos and more at TV Guide . 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 neither can escape the fandom people have for "Sweet Home Alabama.". tab. 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. 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. Ridley Scott discusses The Last Duel box office failure, superhero films, Revisiting the 1970s films of Michael Caine: Pulp (1972), The 1950s movie that became the most expensive comedy ever, Revisiting Bandslam, and how it sets itself apart as a teen musical, Quiz Answers: 2nd September 2022 (Inside Number 10), Podcast: in conversation with Aline Brosh McKenna, Remembering The Outsiders: a video Film Stories, By continuing you accept the privacy policy. So, its hard for me to get it back. Andy just kept having my back. (01:08:15). In a 2013 interview, Clayton spoke at length about her decision to take the job. Bloodhounds are the most amazing dogs, but they aren't good film dogs. 15. 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. after that particular line, and the media picked up only on the reference to the people loving the governor. At the end of the movie, when Melanie is on the beach with Jake and she goes to kiss him she has her hands on his face, but in the next shot her arms are stretched out and she wraps them around his neck. Katharine Towne was cast as Witherspoon's character's assistant who ultimately ends up marrying the Patrick Dempsey character, but all other scenes were dropped in the final cut. THEN AND NOW: The cast of 'Sweet Home Alabama' 20 years later. It is , however, a good. Witherspoon landed the lead role ahead of Charlize Theron, who was also considered, and the movie which co-stars Josh Lucas and Patrick Dempsey then plays out as something of a fairy tale. Sweet Home Alabama characters were essayed by Hollywood's top actors. "All Summer Long" also samples Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London", which has similar chord progression to "Sweet Home Alabama". 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. "Sweet Home Alabama" is a song by American southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, released on the band's second album Second Helping (1974). qatar to toronto flight status. 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. Jake and Melanie do this as a practical joke. ", Lucas: I remember the audition so well because I don't know if there's a handful of auditions that I've ever had that I felt worse about. We would have lunch every year or so. Sweet Home Alabama was the first film allowed to shoot in New York City after the September 11, 2001 attacks. ", Tennant: There was never a named actor attached to play Jake. Answer: She had a miscarriage. It was also the first film allowed to film at Tiffany's since Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961). They were laying on the limousine as we drove away. I've been acting for 30 years now and I regularly have people ask me if I've ever made another movie. 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. 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. Song listed in our famous tablatures. 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.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.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. He has the divorce papers, which Melanie hadn't signed. Wanneer u onze sites en apps gebruikt, gebruiken we, gebruikers authenticeren, veiligheidsmaatregelen toepassen en spam en misbruik voorkomen, en, gepersonaliseerde advertenties en content weergeven op basis van interesseprofielen, de effectiviteit meten van gepersonaliseerde advertenties en content, en, onze producten en services ontwikkelen en verbeteren. Free Sweet home Alabama tab for the acoustic guitar. There was a silence on the phone for quite a while. Design and text 1996 - 2023 Jon Sandys. The cat had cancer and Melanie wanted it to die a "humane" death. Spoiler warning: the ending of Sweet Home Alabama is directly discussed towards the end of this article. Lucas: I was scared of being famous. Humor has changed and also I think it's such a dark time right now that the divide between cultures is just not funny. 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. Being from Illinois and I live in New York, I was fascinated by the history and I was always surprised by how generous, kind, and friendly the people in the South were. I'm talking every single person on the movie. 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. (31,898) 6.2 1 h 48 min 2002 X-Ray PG-13. Expand. My memory was that Andy felt I'm the guy and then he really went to bat for me. It is sampled by Kid Rock. D Lord, I'm C coming home to G you. In the present day, Melanie is a successful New York fashion designer who has adopted the surname "Carmichael" to hide her poor Southern roots. I think he was a stock-car driver. Question: In the scene where Jake is driving Andrew to find Melanie, he tells the story about the cat. I'm there tightening up things on the movie. During Melanie and Andrew's wedding at the Carmichael estate, a lawyer arrives and halts the ceremony. "[4] "We thought Neil was shooting all the ducks in order to kill one or two," said Ronnie Van Zant at the time. There, she became a socialite, but after nearly a decade away, she needs to come back home to secure a divorce from her husband. 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. And Sweet Home Alabama, on the surface a pretty frothy romantic comedy, would cement her place as a hugely successful leading actor. Contact me | Privacy policy | Join the mailing list | Links. She would be great." It's not a popular opinion but Wallace stood for the average white guy in the South. It was something I had never experienced before or since. But in a parallel universe somewhere, the alternative version went out. In 1975, Van Zant said: "The lyrics about the governor of Alabama were misunderstood. Learn to play Lynyrd Skynyrd with easy chords for beginners. sweet home alabama ending credits pictures. It was only humane from Melanie's skewed, immature-at-the-time perspective, believing the cat would be killed instantly. "Sweet Home Alabama" is a song by American southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, released on the band's second album Second Helping (1974). Courtesy of Songs Of Universal, Inc. on behalf of itself, and EMI Longitude Music, Universal Music Corp. on behalf of itself and EMI Full Keel Music Official Licensed Product. Trivia. Tell the truth The script was just as bad as I thought it was before, but I thought the idea was great. "[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. I still like the plaque that hangs here in my office that says I'm an honorary member of the Alabama State Militiasigned personally by George C. Sure, the man had his flaws. 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. My producing partner and my editor, who are both women, were in the edit room with me. That Jake would have mid-life issues and that there are differences where Jake and Melanie landed. Cast Of Sweet Home Alabama: How Much Are They Worth Now? [13] Van Zant said: "Wallace and I have very little in common. Lucas: Absolutely I remember that. 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? Its evenly balanced. And they were both like, "Put it back.". About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features Press Copyright Contact us Creators . D Now we all C did what we could G do. The film although predictable is full of funny moments and a lot of heart. Tennant: Rick and I drove around Alabama. 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). I don't like what he says about colored people. The supporting cast includes Fred Ward, Mary Kay Place, Jean Smart, Candice Bergen, Ethan Embry, and Melanie Lynskey. In her recollection, her initial response was negative: "[Clydie King] said the song was 'Sweet Home Alabama.' I said, Youre the girl from Man in the Moon. ", Tennant has written a treatment for a sequel to "Sweet Home Alabama.". Melanie's New York friends arrive for the event. Reese and I met each other for like thirty seconds on American Psycho, so we had no comprehension of each other whatsoever, and she didnt have any memory of meeting me, whatsoever, he laughed. When you get slapped and it's cold, it's a lot worse. He would see me and just walk the other way. (01:08:15) Continuity mistake: At the end of the movie, when Melanie is on the beach with Jake and she . But he spoke for the common man of the South. In addition, Dakota Fanning and Thomas Curtis appear briefly as the childhood versions of Melanie and Jake, respectively. Buy our Film Stories and Film Stories Junior print magazineshere. Use them in commercial designs under lifetime, perpetual & worldwide rights. 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. That part was eventually cut out of the movie. It's just a thing. Thank you for visiting! I'm in many ways a lot like him. Visible crew/equipment: As Melanie is walking across the battlefield looking for her father she steps across 'dead bodies'. Add to favorites. "When we showed it to a test audience the whole room was just like, 'What the fuck!'" he said. ", Lucas: I think that was true for Andy. Sweet Home Alabama was the first film allowed to shoot in New York City after the September 11, 2001 attacks. You can see tucked into the top of her left boot the battery pack for her microphone and the wires going up her skirt. Melanie confesses that she still loves Jake and cancels the wedding. So we kept in touch. Director Andy Tennant did test the ending too, ultimately conceding that no one though it was funny. 7. The song is credited to Matthew Shafer, Waddy Wachtel, R.J. Ritchie, Leroy Marinell, Warren Zevon, Edward King, Gary Rossington and Ronnie Van Zant. When Melanie's mom says stuff like, "Go get them Yankees," and we play it for laughs, I don't know. Apparently, I did. So I think there was an intensity to the work experience that I think in some ways Andy was able to utilize. Jake and Melanie do this as a practical joke. It did free me. Boo!' She is forced to return home after becoming engaged to a man named Andrew and must procure a divorce from her childhood sweetheart and estranged husband, Jake. I had remembered it being a decent rom com with some heart, but as I watched it, I realized that it followed the exact same pattern of a Hallmark Christmas movie: 1. And I was like, "I cut six frames out of his close up." Then he auditioned to play the male lead, Jake, in "Sweet Home Alabama. People still revisit it not as a guilty pleasure but more as a soothing pleasure. If youd like to support our attempts to make a non-clickbaity movie website: Follow Film Stories on Twitterhere, and on Facebookhere. "[13] "The line 'We all did what we could do' is sort of ambiguous," Al Kooper notes, "'We tried to get Wallace out of there' is how I always thought of it. (Insider contacted Lynskey to be interviewed for this story but didn't get a response.) Lucas: I did think the ending would work. I think we all got to be precise with each other. Imagine if the credits had rolled at just that point. Vinyl Records, CDs, and More from pop. When Melanie announces her engagement, her father Earl asks her mother, Pearl, to pull the bologna cake out of the freezer. Print. Andrew Hennings , Sweet Home Alabama. Melanie Carmichael: The truth is I gave my heart away a long time ago, my whole heart, and I never really got it back. Intimidated by the city and her success, he returned home to make something of himself first. I never had that mentality. Sweet Home Alabama was a good movie but something you would only want to see once. Journalist Al Swenson argues that the song is more complex than many believe and is not an endorsement of Wallace. Free or royalty-free photos and images. Melanie realises she didn't sign the divorce papers at the altar so she is still married to Jake. Tennant: Even Reese's lawyer loved the treatment. 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. We were just catching up and I asked, "What have you been up to?" Reese Witherspoon was just coming off the success of "Legally Blonde" when she agreed to play the southern troublemaker turned New York City fashion designer Melanie Carmichael. Then Ronnie wrote the lyrics and Ed and I wrote the music."[10]. I mean, truly attacked. Question: In the scene where Jake is driving Andrew to find Melanie, he tells the story about the cat. What I think worked for us is it was all true. "Southern Comforts: 25 Best Songs About the South", "Unfurling 'Sweet Home Alabama,' A Tapestry Of Southern Discomfort", "The 25 Greatest Lynyrd Skynyrd Songs of All Time", Cash Box Top 100 Singles, October 19, 1974, "Lynyrd Skynyrd Chart History (Hot Rock & Alternative Songs)", Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 28, 1974, "Danish single certifications Lynyrd Skynyrd Sweet Home Alabama", "Italian single certifications Lynyrd Skynyrd Sweet Home Alabama", "British single certifications Lynyrd Skynyrd Sweet Home Alabama", "American single certifications Lynyrd Skynyrd Sweet Home Alabama", Recording Industry Association of America, "Lynyrd Skynyrd Song Turns Alabama Tourist Theme", State's New License Plates Feature Beach Scene and 'Sweet Home Alabama', "Dave Mustaine wrote a Metallica song ripping off "Sweet Home Alabama". "The audience loved the movie up until that shot." "[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. June 5, 2022 0 Comments the father paul slaps anthony . UK DVD and Blu-ray release dates confirmed: up to mid-2023, Passion Of The Christ 2 set to be on eve of production, James Cameron reveals The Abyss and True Lies getting 4K disc releases this year. I knew Reese because I had done a TV movie with her when she was 15. Both Josh Lucas and Reese Witherspoon are from the south. Melanie follows and gets drunk, insults her old school friends, and outs her longtime friend, Bobby Ray. Josh has that kind of charisma and star power that's rare. Sweet Home Alabama. I think my big takeaway for the rewrite for me and my writing partner, Rick Parks, was that in the original script, I think the fianc of Reese's character was a complete tool and the guy down South was a hunky, handsome guy. Charlize Theron was attached to play the lead role before Reese Witherspoon. Because you can leer, you know, and because people definitely have the full thing, and with that you can over do it. I might have been the lowest-paid actor in the entire movie. Tennant: "Sweet Home Alabama" is on all the time. He was a Jefferson County Commissioner and is credited with helping bring the University of Alabama Medical Center to Birmingham. All this stuff boiling. See production, box office & company info, Reese Witherspoon sweet performance makes this work. "The audience loved the movie up until that shot." And hardly anyone in America noticed. YOU'VE REACHED YOUR MONTHLY ARTICLE LIMIT. Netflix April 2020: Whats Coming & Going, Binge-Worthy Iconic Movie Franchises And How Long It Takes, Netflix October 2019: Whats Coming & Going, Netflix September 2019: Whats Coming & Going, 7 Things You Didnt Know About Sweet Home Alabama. I really broke my accent years ago. 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"). Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. I thought it was funny and silly and weird. It was released in the United States on September 27, 2002, by Buena Vista Pictures. paul pion cantor net worth. Fred Ward's character is racist, says Tennant. Sweet Home Alabama is a 2002 American romantic comedy film directed by Andy Tennant. [10], Last edited on 25 February 2023, at 05:08, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Various - Sweet Home Alabama (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) on Apple Music", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sweet_Home_Alabama_(film)&oldid=1141461745, Hollywood Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Guild Award, Gary Rossington, Ronnie Van Zant, Edward King, Avril Lavigne, David Alspach, Lauren Christy, Graham Edwards, Matt Cantor, Pete Chill, Aston Harvey, Tenor Fly, "Felony Melanie - Sweet Home Alabama Suite (Score)", This page was last edited on 25 February 2023, at 05:08. And on top of that Josh's character comes in and says he's really happy for her. 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. 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. Tennant: When we showed it to a test audience the whole room was just like, "What the fuck!" I would do everything and anything to work with Melanie Lynskey again. Melanie finds Jake at the beach planting lightning rods in the sand during a rainstorm to create more glass sculptures. (01:06:40). Tennant recalled taking a trip to the South before rewriting the movie, and that helped cement its southern feel. In the two decades since it was made, "Sweet Home Alabama" went from an unwanted script to a surprise box-office hit to a rom-com classic. 3:58. It wouldn't be appropriate. All rights reserved. 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. As Melanie is walking across the battlefield looking for her father she steps across 'dead bodies'. So I had to throw him off the dock and from that moment on he hated me. And then Reese called me and said, "You are never going to believe this, they sent me your script! (Witherspoon's rep told Insider she was unavailable to be interviewed for this story. Kepulangan Melanie ke Alabama pun berubah menjadi momen kurang mengenakkan bagi orang-orang di sekitarnya. 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. 1 Comments. Jake announces, "Melanie Carmichael is dead" but then a few seconds later he says, "Long live Felony Melanie." Lees ons privacybeleid en cookiebeleid voor meer informatie over hoe we uw persoonsgegevens gebruiken. 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! As my mom and I left, I got attacked basically by paparazzi. "When we showed it to a test audience the whole room was just like, 'What the fuck!'" he said. I think what we were going for was she's slapping him because she's embarrassed that she suddenly showed some vulnerability. Now, not the way Patrick's character did it where it's private after-hours, but that began the idea. (01:36:20), Revealing mistake: When Reese is leaving the dog cemetery, she brushes against one of the tombstones that has a stone dog on the top of it, yet as she walks past the dog begins to rock back and forth - clearly this is not a stone headstone. 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. The early stuff in the movie, Melanie coming to Jake's house with the divorce papers for him to sign, we rehearsed that and there's a friction in the relationship and a real sense of love and passion underneath the surface. His mother hates her, and Melanie's ex-husband hasn't signed . The two return to what should have been Melanie and Andrews reception and have their first dance. During the end credits some photos are shown with the cast. 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. I've done two movies with her, I did "Ever After" and this. Melanie visits Jake, who has repeatedly refused to sign divorce papers over the years since she left for New York. I totally remember you.'. (01:08:15), Continuity mistake: At the end of the movie, when Melanie is on the beach with Jake and she goes to kiss him she has her hands on his face, but in the next shot her arms are stretched out and she wraps them around his neck. It's silly but it was really fun to make." You can unsubscribe at any time. But I was terrified I was going to be fired before we even started. 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. Thanks to the on-screen chemistry between Witherspoon and Lucas that fuels the movie along with the great supporting cast that included Fred Ward, Jean Smart, Melanie Lynskey, Ethan Embry, Mary Kay Place, and a very young Dakota Fanning "Sweet Home Alabama" has become a beloved rom-com classic. So I enjoyed Witherspoon and the local color, but I am so very tired of the underlying premise. All rights reserved. And then that Friday the movie opened and Sunday I started getting calls from my agent telling me how huge the movie opened. I agree with TheWrap's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy and provide my consent to receive marketing communications from them. "I don't care about your past, all I want to know is if there's a place for me in your future.". Indeed, the film grossed $180 million worldwide and is a constant fixture of cable TV. New York fashion designer Melanie (Reese Witherspoon) suddenly finds herself engaged to the city's most eligible bachelor. She is a director's dream. 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: What happened was Reese's daughter, Ava, went to school with my son, so I would see Reese on occasion. Sweet Home Alabama. "[2] At Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 45 out of 100 based on 35 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". But in the original ending, there was a fake-out that made audiences believe that Melanie died out on that beach. It's a joke.". I caught some of "Sweet Home Alabama" on tv the other day. It reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1974, becoming the . And I was like, "What?" 2 Credits. At the end of the movie (spoiler alert), Melanies wedding to Andrew is disrupted when its revealed she never signed her divorce papers. Bobby Ray backs up her pretense that she is a relative and the family mansion is her childhood home. Andy told me there would be an honesty to it. January 1, 2002 13 Songs, 48 minutes This Compilation 2002 Hollywood Records, Inc. Lynyrd Skynyrd, Second Helping , 1974, 4/4, 98bpm. of them Melanie's parents are "scared" by a punk with a pierced tongue, He tells everyone "Melanie Carmichael is dead." Reese brings that in the scene and I think I do too. I knew from then on that this was unique. Danganronpa has little in the way of straight-up romance, but boy do the creators love teasing the hell out of some ships, especially ones that end in . We needed someone who looked like Reese, and Dakota was 40 years old when she was 10. Now Watergate does not bother me You can unsubscribe at any time. You can see tucked into the top of her left boot the battery pack for her microphone and the wires going up her skirt. She ends up marrying him instead of her fiance. We were the first movie to shoot there on the location since "Breakfast at Tiffany's.". I don't like my words when I listen to it. she would say to me. By this stage in the early 2000s, shed built a career quickly and impressively off a mix of very smart choices and very savvy commercial picks. . We had to build a fake dog head to come out of the water because the dog was just in an ideal world that dog was supposed to jump into the water.