Roles Liza Minnelli could have tackled
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Liza Minnelli
brookwriter — 15 years ago(February 21, 2011 01:42 AM)
Minnelli's health was up and down and all around after her triumph in "Cabaret", but it's not inconceivable she could have been offered the following properties (and I have no idea she wasn't, for that matter).
Nothing against the divine actresses who eventually got these parts (and often Oscar noms/wins), but I can see Minnelli in these roles:
Dolores Claiborne in "Dolores Claiborne", Anne Wilkes in "Misery", Roberta Hertzel in "About Schmidt" and Libby in "Primary Colors" (all played by Kathy Bates)
Helen Sinclair in "Bullets Over Broadway", Holly in "Hannah and Her Sisters" (Dianne Wiest)
Florine Werthan in "Driving Miss Daisy" (Patti LuPone)
Mama Morton in "Chicago" (Queen Latifah)
Fiona in "Away From Her" (Julie Christie)
Barbara Covett in "Notes on a Scandal" and Mrs. Henderson in "Mrs. Henderson Presents" (both Judi Dench)
Julia Lambert in "Being Julia" (Annette Bening)
Carol Lipton in "Manhattan Murder Mystery", Erica Barry in "Something's Gotta Give", Annie Paradis in "The First Wives Club", Mary in "Manhattan", Bessie in "Marvin's Room" (all Diane Keaton)
Ruth Fowler in "In the Bedroom" (Sissy Spacek)
Sara Goldfarb in "Requiem for a Dream" (Ellen Burstyn)
Sarah Cooper in "The Big Chill" (Glenn Close)
Donna in "Mamma Mia", Roberta Guaspari in "Music of the Heart", Kate Gulden in "One True Thing", Francesca Johnson in "The Bridges of Madison County", Suzanne Vale in "Postcards from the Edge", Madeline Ashton in "Death Becomes Her", Susan Orlean in "Adaptation", Jill in "Manhattan", Dr. Carolyn Ryan in "Before and After", Clarissa Vaughan in "The Hours" (all Meryl Streep)
Sally in "Husbands and Wives" (Judy Davis)
Alice in "Alice", Judy Roth in "Husbands and Wives", Halley2000 Reed in "Crimes and Misdemeanors", Hope in "Another Woman", Cecilia in "The Purple Rose of Cairo", Tina Vitale in "Broadway Danny Rose", Hannah in "Hannah and Her Sisters" (all Mia Farrow)
Brenda Cushman in "The First Wives Club" (Bette Midler)
Helen Sharp in "Death Becomes Her" (Goldie Hawn)
Karen Hill in "Goodfellas" (Lorraine Bracco)
Audrey Minelli in "Twice in a Lifetime" (Ann-Margret)
Marge Gunderson in "Fargo" (Frances McDormand)
Sister Helen Prejean in "Dead Man Walking" (Susan Sarandon)no chance of this with Tim Robbins directing
Ouisa Kittredge in "Six Degrees of Separation" (Stockard Channing)
Michaela Odone in "Lorenzo's Oil" (Susan Sarandon)
Joy Gresham in "Shadowlands" (Debra Winger)
May-Alice in "Passion Fish" (Mary McDonnell)
Thelma or Louise in "Thelma and Louise" (Geena Davis & Susan Sarandon)
Lily Dillon in "The Grifters", Marcia Fox in "Manhattan Murder Mystery", Dolores Paley in "Crimes and Misdemeanors" (Anjelica Huston)
Wendy Stern in "Crimes and Misdemeanors" (Joanna Gleason)
Shirley Valentine in "Shirley Valentine" (Pauline Collins)
Kate Miller in "Dressed to Kill" (Angie Dickinson)
Loretta Castorini in "Moonstruck" (Cher)
Alex Sternbergen in "The Morning After" (Jane Fonda)
Carol Wetherly in "Testament" (Jane Alexander)
Victor/Victoria in "Victor/Victoria" (Julie Andrews); Liza actually filled in for Julie in the subsequent Broadway production; I saw the opening night performance and she was superbvocal problems unfortunately curtailed her one-month stint
Georgia in "Only When I Laugh" (Marsha Mason)
Toby in "Only When I Laugh" (Joan Hackett)
Marilyn Hornberg in "Starting Over" (Jill Clayburgh)
Casual moviegoers may not realize that Liza has played a writer and mother with a terminally ill teenage son ("A Time to Live"), a dance instructor ("Stepping Out"), an unhappy, terminally perky college-reunion organizer ("Parallel Lives"), and an overweight, lonely Upper West Side matron ("The West Side Waltz"). All of these were well-received, excellent performances (all but "Stepping Out" were TV-movies). She has been sorely underused as a film actress.
Wellthat's enough to chew on. I expect to get flamed, but consider the possibilities! -
SimplemindedSociety — 15 years ago(March 12, 2011 01:59 AM)
well.. we could say that about any good actress then.
The factor you're not considering is how looks affect casting,especially for 'leading ladies'. Liza has very specific looks,which are great for some things, not for others.
Liza is not going to be cast as the sexier young woman played by Ann Margaret in Twice in a Lifetime, or sexy Angie Dickensen's role in Dressed to Kill. -
mit800 — 15 years ago(March 21, 2011 07:03 AM)
I saw Liza in Victor/Victoria and she was completely wrong for the part.
Shes a terrific actress but (like her mother) she allowed drugs and alcohol to get in the way. Dorothy stop that, Mr. Ha Has lookin at you!! -
brookwriter — 12 years ago(March 05, 2014 07:11 PM)
Give UP, Ellen.
Seriously, I agree withi you. I saw Liza in Victor/Victoria and as much as I love Julie Andrews, Minnelli gave not only the superior performance, but was strikingly convincing in the male drag sequences. -
michaelm6000 — 13 years ago(December 05, 2012 09:50 PM)
Back in the 70s, there was talk of pairing Liza with Goldie Hawn in the film version of Chicago. That would have been nothing less than spectacular. Not many people know that Goldie was quite good as a singer and dancer.
More recently there was talk of Liza doing Sunset Boulevard (the musical), though I'm not sure she could have handled it vocally. The booze and cigarettes had taken their toll. -
csmsplce — 13 years ago(December 15, 2012 07:58 PM)
Wow, that's a lotta Liza! Some of these choices are ingeniousthe ones that stand out to me are all the Kathy Bates parts and "Notes on a Scandal"yes! Although Judi Dench was so brilliant. The only one I'd leave as originally cast: Cher in Moonstruck. All the rest, yes, I'd love to live on Planet Liza. So glad she got to shine in Cabaret.
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rrb — 12 years ago(February 16, 2014 10:59 AM)
OP: you're not gay by any chance, are you?
Liza Minnelli has given good performances, and was one of the best entertainers in the world - 40 years ago. Sadly, troubles have bedeviled her from her 30s onward. Though now not without talent, she's lost much of what she had through physical ailments and addictions. And her strange behavior, most notoriously on that embarrassing Larry King episode, have understandably made her a target for mockery.
You wildly overrate her as an actress. She has nowhere near the craft or versatility that Bates, Bening, Streep, Huston, Spacek, McDormand and Dench have (few do), and can't compete with Keaton or Farrow in the roles Woody Allen wrote for them. She was 45 & too old for Thelma (don2000e to perfection by Geena Davis); too quirky and uncertain for the decisive Louise. Her best roles were off-beat, vulnerable waifs: Pookie and Sally Bowles. She did acquit herself well in the roles you mention in your penultimate paragraph; but she is not the supreme talent you fantasize her to be. -
rrb — 12 years ago(March 10, 2014 08:30 PM)
ROTFLMAO!!!
What a pathetic response! I'm a gay man - with a sense of humor, unlike yourself - so trying to come back at me by calling me a homophobe is beyond ridiculous.
You find irrelevant questions "always educational"? Uhokay.
It's one thing that you're just a gushing Minnelli fan (nothing gay about that) with no perspective on her talent - your attempt at a zinger rejoinder is laughably off-base. Can't wait to see what you try next! -
brookwriter — 12 years ago(March 20, 2014 07:46 PM)
I hope you made it off the floor.
I have known several homophobic homosexual men. You are not the first. You talk too loud in bars, are usually in the company of an overweight girl, and strain mightily to top everyone around you with what you perceive to be caustic wit.
Is this enough? -
Lee1179 — 12 years ago(April 01, 2014 05:01 AM)
I agree rrb. Just cause you asked if he was gay doesn't make you a homoph111cobe. There is nothing wrong with being gay. For him to get so offended by your questions proves that he is not comfortable in his own skin.
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SimplemindedSociety — 12 years ago(April 03, 2014 02:48 PM)
'For him to get so offended by your questions proves that he is not comfortable in his own skin.'
I doesn't prove anything. You don't know the man to know if he's comfortable in his own skin. Maybe some people don't think everything revolves around sexuality. That's what that 'proves'. -
WarpedRecord — 12 years ago(March 29, 2014 07:16 PM)
Interesting list. Can't say I agree with all of them or many of them because the actresses in most of these roles were very strong but I wish Liza had taken more nuanced roles in addition to the bombastic, self-referential parts she often seems to play.
Here's another possibility: How about Mary Ann Bankhead in "Love Liza," originally played by Kathy Bates. Or would that just confuse the issue?