Allison Anders Rebounded to Make 'Grace of My Heart' — SkimNews
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- Allison Anders made "Grace of My Heart" after "Four Rooms" (Miramax interference) and the collapse of "Paul is Dead" left her at what she called "a personal and professional hell"
- Martin Scorsese executive-produced, set up the Universal deal through his pact there, and shielded Anders by taking studio feedback and filtering it so she wouldn't be "creatively paralyzed"
- Producer Larry Klein paired veteran Brill Building-era songwriters with contemporary ones — including a first-time Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello collaboration that sparked later joint work — to create close to 30 original songs for the film
- The $5 million budget from Universal's specialty division Gramercy enabled period-appropriate musical numbers, while Scorsese's longtime editor Thelma Schoonmaker shaped the post-production, including an improvised scene where John Turturro and Eric Stoltz talk while dancing
- Illeana Douglas, who had worked as a publicist in the actual Brill Building, drew on personal romantic tribulations she shared with Anders to inform lead character Denise Waverly's journey
- Daniel Hassid, who produced Anders's earlier "Gas Food Lodging" and "Mi Vida Loca," oversaw day-to-day production on what was his first major studio job
Why it matters: This 30-year retrospective frames "Grace of My Heart" as a rare indie-to-studio success story: Anders got a major studio's resources — a $5 million budget, Scorsese's Universal deal, Gramercy distribution — without the creative interference that sank "Four Rooms," because Scorsese functioned as a literal firewall against studio notes. For indie filmmakers, the film stands as evidence that an established champion inside the system can preserve authorship where the last project broke the director.
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