My Stepmother Is an Alien
Short description
My Stepmother Is an Alien follows a widowed physicist, Steven Mills, whose experiments draw the attention of a distant civilisation. That civilisation sends an agent, Celeste, to Earth in the form of a striking young woman, with instructions to get close to him and learn what she needs from his research in order to save her own world. Celeste adapts badly to everyday life on this planet, and her feelings for Steven grow as she becomes attached to him and to his young daughter. The film was directed by Richard Benjamin, the fourth of the twelve features he made, and it was written by Herschel Weingrod, Timothy Harris and Jonathan Reynolds. Dan Aykroyd and Kim Basinger play Steven and Celeste, with Jon Lovitz as Steven's brother, Alyson Hannigan as his daughter Jessie and Seth Green as Fred Glass, among a credited cast of thirty-five and a crew of forty-two.
Released in December 1988, the film is a comedy with science-fiction elements, and it did not recover its twenty-million-dollar budget. It took roughly fourteen million dollars worldwide, and its ratings sit in the middle range, with 5.4 out of 10 on IMDb from about twenty-nine thousand votes and 5.8 out of 10 on TMDB from far fewer voters. A critics' score of 4 out of 10 from twenty-five reviews places it below even the modest audience response.
What's left behind the scenes
- Initially, Shelly Long was cast in the role of Celeste.
- On January 25, 1988, Jericho was credited as a screenwriter on the original script, and it was also noted that Frank Galati, Richard Banner, Susan Rice, Herschel Weingrod, Timothy Harris, Paul Rudnick, Debra Frank, and Carl Sotter made changes. It was also indicated that the script was rewritten by Jonathan Reynolds. However, in the final film credits, only four out of the ten screenwriters were ultimately listed.
- To play the role of Celeste, Kim Basinger turned down the opportunity to play Sarah Tobias in 'The Accused' (1988).
- This film marked the acting debut of Juliette Lewis.
- In one scene, the bag character imitates Carl Sagan. Sagan was one of America’s most prominent astronomers and cosmologists. He also wrote the novel 'Contact,' which was adapted into a film of the same name (1997).
- In the scene where Celesta starts the car by inserting her finger into the ignition, as the vehicle begins to move, two crew members are visible in the rear window on the passenger side.
- When the characters first find themselves in the electrical panel room, one of the crew members is visible on the floor.
- During the sex scene between Celesta and Steve, Celesta's armpit is visible twice. Both times, tape covering her breast is noticeable.
- One of the three members of the alien council (the one to the left of Tony Jay) never speaks.
- The original screenwriter, Jericho, envisioned this story as a dark allegory for child abuse. This is how he presented it to Paramount Pictures in 1981. Although the company never produced the film, they still purchased the rights to the story.
- Some scenes were filmed in Thousand Oaks, California. The beach where Celeste lands at the beginning of the film is the same one featured in the series 'Beverly Hills, 90210' (1990–2000).
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
