The Liz Smith Column | 08/20/2009 11:00 pm

Liz Smith: Casting About for Kate Winslet's 'Mildred Pierce'

Also in Our Gossip Girl’s Friday dish: A PR icon weighs in on the Jackson family … and remembering Don Hewitt.

Kate Winslet © Getty Images

"You think just because you’ve made a little money you can get a new hairdo and turn into a lady. But you can’t, because you’ll never be anything but a common frump whose father lived over a grocery store and whose mother took in laundry!"

That was Ann Blyth at her malicious peak in 1945’s "Mildred Pierce,’ ripping into anguished mom, Joan Crawford. (Ms. Blyth spent most of her screen career chirping prettily in musicals, but her amoral Veda Pierce is unforgettable.)

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It is unlikely that anything can truly surpass the classic movie version of "Mildred Pierce," based on the bestseller by James M. Cain. Crawford won an Oscar and resurrected her career with this grim noir about mother’s love gone awry. (As Eve Arden wisecracks to Mildred, "Alligators have the right idea, they eat their young.")

But how fascinating is the news that Kate Winslet is set to reprise ambitious-but-put-upon Mildred, in a six-part miniseries that will include all that could not go into the big-screen version? (Cain’s heroine was considerably grittier than 1940’s movie censors allowed.)

This new "Mildred" will be made for cable, because the lush miniseries genre – which peaked in the 1980s/’90s – is pretty much dead on network TV. No room for glamorous drama when reality-show garbage dominates.

Oscar-winner Winslet will probably be terrif – what a role to sink one’s teeth into! (Entertainment Weekly, in reporting on this, said flatly, "Just give her the Emmy now.") But director Todd Haynes is going to be hard-pressed to find the right supporting actors to flesh out Mildred’s story. The above-mentioned Eve Arden, the great Jack Carson as Mildred’s smarmy would-be beau and the suave sophisticate Zachary Scott as the man between Mildred and Veda. But most of all, the role of Veda, the daughter from hell, is a challenge. Christina Ricci has the right nasty edge, and though she is about 30, still looks teen-age.

But if you want a young beauty who will be convincing slapping her mother around, sleeping with mom’s lovers, blackmailing and putting bullets in those who irk her … I vote for the talented Lindsay Lohan.

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Received an e-mail this week from one of Hollywood’s rare professionals, the PR man Dale Olson. He was congratulating the column for writing about the Jackson family making hay on Michael.

Dale offered some interesting insider background info: "You are the only person who has come right out and said that with the exception of Janet, the Jacksons would not have had a career without Michael.

"I was there in the beginning when, at the Rogers & Cowan PR firm, Warren Cowan, Paul Bloch and I introduced the then-five-year-old Michael at a party for the press in The Daisy in Beverly Hills. It was hosted by Diana Ross. He was the cutest and most talented child I have ever seen. The next night, Diana introduced him to the public in his first public performance at her gala concert at the Forum. In those days it was the major venue for a musical act in Los Angeles.

"All the media has talked about is how he started with The Jackson Five, but this was his own start and a solo. The Jackson Five would never have worked without Michael and they used him throughout his entire life and now, with Joe, are trying to capitalize on his death."

33 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

i agree with Liz - Lohan has the right attitude to nail this role - have you watched her in A Prairie Home Companion? Even the magnificent Meryl took her under her wing during production, and with Bob Altman directing, Lohan delivered a spot-on performance. The chemistry between Winslet and Lohan directed by Todd Haynes would be dynamite! Lohan has the making of a very good actress, and many of her critics are tooo influenced by reports on her private life, alas no longer private with a pap behind every bush

By brian burnett on 08/21/2009 9:59 am

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As viewers of Mildred Pierce, Ann Blyth’s reptilian trashiness was revealed to us over the course of the movie. Lindsay Lohan is already held in disrepute by many. Get an unknown.

By Paul Smith on 08/21/2009 10:04 am

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Hmmm. I thought that yes, Lindsay Lohan could do this role. She could prepare for it by letting the hair go back to its natural color, red, stop drinking and drugging and try leaving the past behind. With a good therapist and the ambition to rise above the hardships and hurdles in her life she could certainly show the world what she was born to do, which is to act. Not act up. She has the chops, she just let herself get swallowed up by her parent’s drama and then she just veered off course spectacularly. Love - it’s a strange beast but it can resurrect a career if one starts showing some of that to themselves. I wish her well.

By Eileen Alannah on 08/21/2009 10:50 am

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Is Lindsay’s era of " It’s All About Me" finally over? Could she be trusted to show up on the set on time with no hangover/drugover? Could she be trusted to show up at all?

The wonderful Kate will be over the top, and I will look forward to her performance. You are spot on about that rash of below par reality shows during prime time. Viewers have two choices: reality drama showcasing people with questionable character, or it’s all crime and all the time.

By Maggie W on 08/21/2009 11:37 am

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I have never believed in remakes of masterpieces, but the thought of a mini-series opening up the story line of Mildred Pierce "fills me with anti-ci-pa-tion". I will overlook your suggestion for the role of Veda. Yes, she WAS good in Parent Trap and Mean Girls. How many years ago are we talking? Anything AFTER Mean Girls was crapola. Hollywood is shortsighted but may like the sleaze factor. Speaking of which, the less said of the endless circus side-show that surrounds the entire Jackson family, the better. Vile Bodies indeed!

By John Dillon on 08/21/2009 1:46 pm

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Liz,I love you!! I love this piece. And you’re right about the networks. I don’t watch much anymore. I do during the day for my soaps(CBS), but for night time it is cable. I do have 5 favorite network shows, Ghost Whisperer, Medium(Moving from NBC to CBS) and Law and Order (all of them.) and CSI (All of them.), and NCIS. The rest are on USA, TNT or TLC. I do wish they’d bring back the mini series for the networks.

By Beth Cornell on 08/21/2009 2:20 pm

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Mildred Pierce…my goodness, I haven’t thought about that film in years. My mother named me after Ms. Crawford as a result of her performance in that film (I was born in 1945). Once the book "Mommy Dearest" came out, my mother told me she wanted to change my name. Good thing I wasn’t having an identity crisis at the time. As for casting Veda - how about that terrific actress, Natalie Portman!

By Joan Gosewisch on 08/21/2009 3:07 pm

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Lindsay Lohan .. to "low rent" to get the snooty side of Veda, IMHO. Why do they have to remake the classic movies that were great to begin with? Ugh.

By christine w on 08/21/2009 3:15 pm

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What about Hayden Panettiere .. she looks like she could be Kate’s daughter and has that certain look.

By christine w on 08/21/2009 3:16 pm

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And speaking of Miss Ross, I always thought she would have been wonderful as Mildred in a remark of Mildred Pierce.

By Larry Murrill on 08/21/2009 3:43 pm

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Lohan is probably just an OK actress. The problem is that she looks much older than she is

By Franco Albo on 08/21/2009 5:00 pm

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I don’t know about Lindsey Lohan in that role. there are so many really talented teens and young adults out there right now. I can’t think of their names but the girl who plays the teenage bride of "the prophet" in tha hbo show "big love". she is AMAZING. and boy can she do WICKED. the girl who is the teen daughter of the polygamist family is incredible. she was the young star in Mamma Mia with Meryl Streep.

OR the girl who plays Mia in Californication. She plays that lolita bitchy thing incredibly well…

By Chrome Toe on 08/21/2009 6:04 pm

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If anyone can make a go of the re-make of Mildred Pierce, it will be Ms. Winslet. I’d like to see La Lohan get a shot at Veda, actually. I think she has talent, and I think she’s overdue for a vehicle that will challenge her to grow up and be a professional. This could be it for her. But we’ll see. there’s many, many a slip between the cup and the lip - especially in the entertainment world. (Of course, here’s another film that Carol Burnett satirized perfectly. In her inimitable take, she was Mildred Fierce, with a pair of bold eyebrows and a pair of h-u-g-e shoulderpads so wide that she had to sidle edgewise through the door of the set! Priceless!)

As for the ongoing Jackson saga, it is nauseating. Just nauseating. I can only hope his children will somehow survive this legacy of dysfunction, familial greed and utter insanity and will have happier and more productive lives than those who currently surround them. From my mouth to God’s ear - please!

This has been a summer of great losses. And Mr. Hewitt’s like will not be seen again any time soon. He was a man of character and conviction, and the courage to live up to both. A rare being in this world of ours. He will be missed.

By Susan Crawford on 08/21/2009 9:00 pm

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It’s time for Hollywood to STOP attempting to replace the classics and put their good writers to work, or put their readers to work to find some good writers. Isn’t "Mildred Pierce", the one that finally won Joan Crawford an Academy Award?

I have a novel idea. Why don’t they put a stop to all of those horrible Reality TV Shows!? They are horrible! They’re also part of the reason this country is going to hell in a handbasket, so to speak.

We used to be able to turn on TV Land and watch the older television shows that had morals and values. But now? Even they’re starting to cave-in. Can we please get back to television that doesn’t make political statements on things like gitmo to name a few (Heros did that and I’ve now turned them off completely).

The majority of America doesn’t care to hear what actors have to say about politics. Remember what happened to that movie that Cruz and Streep made? See? I can’t even remember the name of it. Many people didn’t agree with the Iraq war, but they also didn’t need Hollywood actors preaching to them about for 90 minutes either.

Come up with something original. Something that puts America and it’s people in the good light that we deserve to be in. Not the horrible "apology tour", that our president took so many months ago. We need more shows like "Andy Griffith", "The Cosby Show", or "Sandford and Son".

Sorry, I didn’t mean to go on a rant. I just really want real televison back. Original movies of the week back. And actors to keep their political opinions to themselves.

By Ashely Harvey on 08/22/2009 3:36 pm

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I love the old classics. I don’t have a preference for casting. Actors have a way of rising to the occaision.

Hollywood stars have as much right to speak their minds as anyone else. Their are conservative voices in hollywood as well as liberal.

I am grateful that the liberal voice can be heard. Fox news presents the conservative side of politics 24/7 and the so called mainstream media isn’t so main stream. Rupert Murdock has purchased so many media outlets such as the wall street journal to spread conservative slants.

By starry Nite on 08/22/2009 10:52 pm