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Liz Smith | 01/09/2009 7:30 am

Liz Smith: Anne Hathaway as Holly Golightly? Bruce and Cybill 'Moonlighting'? Stiller and Wahlberg – Joining Forces?

Cybill Shepherd, gorgeous as ever © AP
“Well, that would be simply divine now darling, wouldn’t it?”

That’s Anne Hathaway commenting on the possibility that she might reprise Audrey Hepburn’s Holly Golightly in a remake of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” Anne was spotted by our ubiquitous pal, Hal Lifson, at Billy Reed’s Coffee Shop in Palm Springs. Hal reps the revitalized Riviera Resort and Spa, but he has a knack for star-sighting, and also for just asking the stars, “What’s up?” 

“Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” based on the famous Truman Capote novella, has been on the sometimes fast, sometimes slow track to remake for several years. The problem has always been – who could, who would, dare to slip into Audrey’s little black frock and redo Holly, the stylish high-price call girl? (Yes, most people seem to forget that our sainted Audrey was actually a hooker in this movie!) Challenging the iconic image of Audrey H. is a problem – I think now of the abysmal remake of Audrey’s “Sabrina.” 

But Anne Hathaway has an unusually alert, charming way about her – elfin, sexy, princess – without being prissy. If anybody could be Holly Golightly in the 21st century, it’s Anne. (She survived the saccharine of those “Princess Diary” movies which propelled her to fame a few years back … held her own with Meryl Streep in “The Devil Wears Prada … proved her serious acting chops in “Brokeback Mountain” and in this year’s “Rachel Getting Married.”) 

Before Mr. Lifson let Anne get back to breakfast (she was accompanied by her manager and her brother) he asked what a big movie star was doing at a little coffee shop? “Are you kidding? I’m a Jersey Girl. I grew up going to diners. I live for the next grilled cheese sandwich.”

And here’s a little “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” history. Despite the success of the film, author Truman Capote never thought Audrey Hepburn was right for the role of Holly, nor did he care for director Blake Edwards’s softening and sentimentalizing the hard-edged story. Who did Truman lobby for? He wanted Marilyn Monroe! But studio heads did not agree.

So, instead of chic, Manhattan-based “Tiffany’s,” Miss Monroe went off to the blistering Nevada desert to film the fascinating-but-depressing “The Misfits,” thereby ending her marriage to playwright (and “Misfits” screenwriter) Arthur Miller.

If the movie gets a second life, you can be sure it will be truer to what Capote intended – no dreamy “Moon River” warbling or cutesy skirting the issue of sex-for-cash. (And certainly no Mickey Rooney in offensive Asian makeup as Holly’s crazy landlord!)

——————————

Has it really been 20 years since one of the most brilliant, sexy and funny TV shows ever went off the air? I do mean “Moonlighting,” which launched the career of Bruce Willis and rescued the career of Cybill Shepherd. At its best – the first three seasons, out of five – nothing was wittier, more innovative, daring and enjoyable than watching Cybill and Bruce as detectives who were wildly attracted to each other, but fighting it. (There was contentious real-life drama on the set, too. I remember printing many a spicy item during those years.)

The creator of “Moonlighting” was Glenn Gordon Caron, and a little bird tells us that Caron is hot to reunite Cybill and Bruce for a 20th anniversary “Moonlighting” TV movie. The most surprising aspect of this is that Bruce Willis, who went on to become one of the biggest movie stars in the world (still is), has shown definite interest. An insider says, “Bruce is ready to give it a go. He still holds a lot of fondness for the show. As for Cybill, she has never denied the occasional strife of “Moonlighting” (If you recall she became pregnant with twins during the run, a further burden on everybody’s nerves) but always had a healthy respect for Bruce’s talent, charisma and the quality of the series itself. 

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

Lorraine Bates
Anne Hathaway would make an excellent Holly Golightly. She is a movie star, in the classic, old Hollywood sense of the word.
By Lorraine Bates on 01/09/2009 8:54 am
irish bell
I don’t know who could fill Audrey Hepburns’ shoes in that classic role, maybe Hathaway, maybe not. I’d definitely go a Moonlighting movie in a nanosecond, it was one of my favs ever.
By irish bell on 01/09/2009 9:15 am
Susan B
I’m not opposed to Anne Hathaway in the role of Holly as much as the idea of a “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” redux. Haven’t we learned that remaking classic films does nothing but drag both the original and the new one down a level or two. Two examples that come to mind are the “The Pink Panther” and “Get Smart” remakes. And now they’re talking about doing another — and t;his time, to one of my absolute favorite films! Awful. Sometimes an original film is iconic only because of the performance of the star: Hepburn, Sellers, Adams. Remakes end up looking lame, almost without exception, in spite of the talent they use. There are so many screenplays out there … surely Hollywood can discover and make new classics, instead of cloning some of the best.
By Susan B on 01/09/2009 9:36 am
Grande Camper
Moonlighting was great! I would love to see that.
By Grande Camper on 01/09/2009 9:37 am
Susan B
Me too, Debra! I love both of them, and never missed a Moonlighting episode. But I also say, proceed with great caution, and make sure it lives up to it’s original concept and doesn’t end up an embarrassment.
By Susan B on 01/09/2009 10:46 am
Grande Camper
Agree!
By Grande Camper on 01/09/2009 11:09 am
rocky rocky
Tiffany” a serious hard edged story about a prostitute? Whaddaya know. Cybill and Bruce. Terrific. Sure would arrange to see them as Maddie and David again — I hope they avoid the usual formula: starting out by making clear that they had married and (oh no) divorced, and now trying to start up the old business again (since everything else they’d managed to accumulate Madoff made off with). Hmm who might be their client — their kid?, what would be the mystery (mom I didn’t do it) … nah. I do love Bruce’s films. Only film I didn’t like him in was some weird overdone thing with Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn; yuk. I wish he would do another chapter of “Unbreakable” and the reprise of the role he played in “The Fifth Element.” Can’t seem to develop a taste for Stiller. But wish him well for his parents’ sake.
By rocky rocky on 01/09/2009 11:34 am
Emcye Edwards
If only everyone at wOw could have themselves a week to reboot at the Riviera. The renovation is all in pinks and reds - in homage to the throw-back mid-century style of the town. The hotel is within arm’s reach of the fastest rising mountain escarpment in the US - it’s so…right there. The economy may be sunk, but when you float on your back in their extra-large puzzle-piece pool and take in the warm sun, the bird song, and clear, open, cloudless blue sky - it’s hard to fathom how crazy the world has become. Let’s all meet in the pool!
By Emcye Edwards on 01/09/2009 3:15 pm
Patrice Baldwin
Ahhh, Emcye, the images that come to mind… however today in Tucson has that open, clear, cloudless blue sky and a lovely temperature to wander around in my back yard. And I don’t think my Great Dane, Savannah, would mind sharing her wading pool with anyone as long as they pet her now and then. Don’t know how much actual ‘floating’ you could get done, but that’s just a detail. And we’ve got birds too! OK, you’re all invited to come to my house!
By Patrice Baldwin on 01/09/2009 7:25 pm
Emcye Edwards
I hope you live on a cul-de-sac. Could be quite the raucous party.
By Emcye Edwards on 01/09/2009 10:14 pm
Rain in Minneapolis
Thanks, Emcye for that visual………………
By Rain in Minneapolis on 01/12/2009 8:05 pm
Barbara
I’m opposed to remakes. They are never as good or as magical as the original, no matter how good the actors. I can’t think of a single remake I thought was as good as the original. Let’s get writers employed to write new, original screenplays. We can always replay the oldies with a big batch of fresh popcorn.
By Barbara on 01/09/2009 3:24 pm
Zera Lee
Mostly, I agree with you. It seems like the more they try to copy a successful movie, the more disappointing the results. Sequels commonly disappoint too. The chemistry between the actors may be the hardest element of a good movie to reproduce. The audience changes too. But there are some exceptions. Movies that use major rewrites sometimes do quite well. “High Society” and “Sabrina” come to mind, but they were more cutesy than the originals. I also think that some stories just do not translate well into a different time period. “Battlestar Galactica” is far superior to the original series, which was campy but achieved cult status. “The Miracle Worker” may be the exception you are looking for. The 1962 movie with Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke was a great movie. In 1979, Patty Duke took Anne Bancroft’s place as Annie Sullivan, and Melissa Gilbert played Helen Keller in an equally moving film. In 2000, there was another remake, but I have not seen it - so cannot comment.
By Zera Lee on 01/12/2009 1:28 pm
Richard N
(Yes, most people seem to forget that our sainted Audrey was actually a hooker in this movie!) “. Actually, you are making the same mistake “most” people make. Holly (not Audrey) was not a hooker - the movie chopped out the dialog that Capote’s character uses in the novella to make that point clear.
By Richard N on 01/09/2009 9:31 pm
Rain in Minneapolis
Now I’m curious…..was Holly merely an “escort” in the truest sense of the word?
By Rain in Minneapolis on 01/12/2009 8:06 pm