Mystic Pizza
Short description
Mystic Pizza is a 1988 coming-of-age comedy-drama set in the coastal town of Mystic, Connecticut, where three young Portuguese-American women work at a local pizzeria whose reputation rests on a secret sauce. Kat and Daisy are sisters, and JoJo is their close friend. Over the course of a summer, each navigates a different romantic situation: Kat, preparing for university, becomes involved with an older man; Daisy takes up with a wealthy young man from a background unlike her own; and JoJo reconsiders her plans to marry her childhood sweetheart. Their ambitions and relationships pull the three friends in separate directions.
The film was directed by Donald Petrie and written by Alfred Uhry, Amy Holden Jones and Perry Howze, with Mark Levinson and Scott M. Rosenfelt producing. It was Petrie's first feature as director, arriving well before the comedies that would define the next two decades of his career. Julia Roberts plays Daisy, alongside Annabeth Gish as Kat and Lili Taylor as JoJo, with Vincent D'Onofrio, William R. Moses and Adam Storke in supporting roles.
Made for about 6 million dollars, Mystic Pizza took in roughly 13 million worldwide, a return that made it a modest success. On IMDb it holds 6.3/10 from over 31,000 votes, and on TMDB it also sits at 6.3/10, though from a much smaller base of 601 votes. A critics' score of 6.8/10 from 27 reviews places it slightly above those audience figures.
What's left behind the scenes
- A more accurate translation of the title is "Pizza in Mystic."
- "Mystic Pizza" is Matt Damon's debut film. He appears in the film around the 87th minute with a single line: "Mom, do you want my green stuff?"
- The film was not shot at an establishment with that name in the town of Mystic. Only one scene, with a bridge and fishing boat, was filmed in Mystic itself. Mystic is a fairly popular resort town with a constant influx of tourists (perhaps even too many to comfortably film a movie there). The film was shot in the sleepy town of Stonington, Connecticut. The restaurant scenes were filmed at a location on Water Street.
- After the initial auditions, Julia Roberts stated that she was suitable for the role, but some changes to her appearance would be necessary. For the next audition, she dyed her hair black. According to her, all the other actresses invited to audition diligently learned their lines, while she sat with headphones on, listening to her player and singing along loudly, only removing the headphones right before the casting director.
- "Mystic Pizza" is a real pizzeria located at 55 West Main Street in Mystic, Connecticut. Screenwriter Amy Holden Jones once vacationed there, saw the pizzeria, and came up with the idea for a similar plot. After the film's release, the establishment became so popular that long lines of visitors began to form.
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