Allison Anders on How Scorsese Saved 'Grace of My Heart' — SkimNews
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- Allison Anders came off the disappointments of 'Four Rooms' (Miramax interference) and 'Paul is Dead' (an actor dropped out) to direct 'Grace of My Heart,' released 30 years ago this month through Universal's now-defunct Gramercy specialty label.
- Martin Scorsese executive-produced the film through his Universal deal, telling Anders he'd be given final cut and personally filtering studio notes so she wouldn't be 'distracted or creatively paralyzed' by them.
- Larry Klein produced close to 30 new songs for the film, pairing legacy Brill Building-era writers with contemporary artists — including Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello in what became their first collaboration, leading to further work together later.
- Klein also scored the film after gaining approval from Elmer Bernstein via Scorsese, then took a small acting role as a music producer that earned him a compliment from Scorsese: 'You're a good actor.'
- Illeana Douglas starred as songwriter Denise Waverly, drawing partly on her own experience working for a Brill Building publicist; her most intense scene — a one-take breakdown with John Turturro — was unscripted in terms of rehearsal after Turturro refused to rehearse.
- Thelma Schoonmaker edited the film, transforming a heavily improvised scene where Turturro and Eric Stoltz's characters talk while dancing into one of the movie's most memorable moments through inventive cross-cutting.
- Producer Daniel Hassid said the $5 million budget was 'huge for us' but 'minuscule by Universal's standards,' enabling period-staged musical numbers alongside the film's most intimate, carefully designed scenes.
Why it matters: The retrospective lays out the concrete mechanics that let Anders land major studio backing — Scorsese's executive deal and a $5M budget her producer called 'huge for us' but 'minuscule by Universal's standards' — while shielding her from the interference that had derailed her previous projects.
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