Terms of Endearment
Short description
Aurora Greenway is a widow who has raised her daughter Emma largely on her own, and the two remain close even as their relationship grows strained. Emma marries a young professor, Flap Horton, over her mother's objections, and the film follows the pair across a span of years as Emma builds a family and faces trouble in her marriage, while Aurora, left alone, begins a tentative connection with her neighbor Garrett Breedlove, a retired astronaut with a fondness for drink. Mother and daughter keep turning to each other as each looks for reasons to keep going and to find some happiness.
The film is an adaptation of Larry McMurtry's novel, written, produced and directed by James L. Brooks. It was the first film he directed, ahead of Broadcast News, As Good as It Gets, Spanglish, How Do You Know and Ella McCay. Shirley MacLaine plays Aurora and Debra Winger plays Emma, with Jack Nicholson as Garrett, Jeff Daniels as Flap, and Danny DeVito and John Lithgow in supporting roles.
Released in November 1983, Terms of Endearment cost about 8 million dollars and took in roughly 164 million worldwide, a wide margin that reflects its popularity with audiences. On IMDb it holds 7.4/10 from around 70,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.1/10 from 859 votes. A critics' rating of 8.1/10 from 108 reviews places it above both audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Initially, Jennifer Jones (1919-2009) owned the rights to the novel, and she wanted to play the role of Aurora herself. Sissy Spacek was initially considered for the role played by Debra Winger. Jones and her millionaire husband Norton Simon (1907-1993) bought the screenplay from James L. Brooks, but he decided it would be better not to tailor the character of Aurora to a specific actress, and convinced Paramount Pictures to acquire the rights from Jones and Simon. When receiving the 'Oscar' for this film, Brooks specifically thanked Jennifer Jones Simon.
- During filming, Debra Winger was characterized by somewhat erratic behavior, as she was at the time recovering from a serious cocaine addiction. At one point, she and Shirley MacLaine nearly came to blows.
- The character of Garrett Breedlove does not exist in the original novel; he was specifically introduced into the script in the hope that Burt Reynolds (1936-2018) would agree to the role. Reynolds read the script, liked it, but was already committed to filming Hal Needham's (1931-2013) comedy-drama 'Stroker Ace' (1983). Paul Newman (1925-2008) and Harrison Ford also turned down the role of Breedlove, before Jack Nicholson accepted it. In preparation for the role, Nicholson specifically traveled to Houston, where he spoke with astronauts.
- According to Shirley MacLaine, Jack Nicholson also behaved quite strangely during filming, and once showed up on set almost naked. Many of the scenes they performed were pure improvisation.
- The role of Emma was originally written for actress Sissy Spacek.
- This is not stated explicitly, but the main part of the plot unfolds in the 1970s. Approximately midway through the film, a 1979 calendar can be seen on the wall. During this period, NASA had absolutely no need for Garrett's services. The last mission of the Apollo program ended in 1975, and the next crewed spaceflight was the first Space Shuttle flight in 1981.
- John Lithgow ended up in the film's cast because he was replacing another actor. All of his scenes were filmed in three days during a break from filming with Herbert Ross (1927-2001) on the drama 'Bound for Glory' (1984).
- Towards the end of filming, the director and one of the screenwriters, James L. Brooks, were congratulated on the upcoming completion of the first film and given a comic book 'Life in Hell' by Matt Groening. Brooks was so impressed with the comics that he asked Groening to create short animated films for 'The Tracey Ullman Show' (1987-1990), which subsequently gave rise to the animated series 'The Simpsons' (1989).
- Shirley MacLaine turned down the offer to play Dr. Lesh in Tobe Hooper's horror film *Poltergeist* (1982) to star in *Terms of Endearment*. Playing the role of Aurora earned the actress an Academy Award for Best Actress. Dr. Lesh in *Poltergeist* was played by Beatrice Strait.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
