A Woman Under the Influence
Short description
A Woman Under the Influence centers on Mabel Longhetti, a Los Angeles housewife and mother of three whose erratic behavior sets her apart from those around her. Her husband Nick, who works as a foreman for a municipal construction crew, tries to hold the household together even as her moods grow more unpredictable and her conduct in company becomes difficult to manage. When her instability begins to affect the children, Nick makes the decision to have her committed for a period of treatment, leaving him to raise their sons alone while he waits for her to come home.
John Cassavetes directed and wrote the film, which followed his 1968 release Faces in his filmography and was produced by Sam Shaw. Gena Rowlands plays Mabel opposite Peter Falk as Nick, with supporting roles filled by Fred Draper, Lady Rowlands, Katherine Cassavetes and Matthew Labyorteaux among a credited cast of thirty-two. Made for about one million dollars, the film took roughly twelve million dollars worldwide.
Audiences rate it 7.8 out of 10 on TMDB, a strong figure for a drama of its length, and on IMDb the film critics' rating stands at 8.2 out of 10 from thirty-five reviews, placing professional assessments above the general audience score.
What's left behind the scenes
- After completing filming, John Cassavetes could not find a distributor and, at one point, was simply carrying boxes with the film under his arm, going around to cinemas in search of one. Eventually, it turned out that Martin Scorsese was a big fan of Cassavetes, having gained prominence after the release of the thriller "Mean Streets" (1973). Scorsese threatened that if a distributor was not found, he would withdraw his drama "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" (1974) from the program of a major New York film festival.
- Initially, Cassavetes planned to write a play for the stage, but his wife, Gena Rowlands (who played the main role in the film), convinced him to make a movie, stating that playing her role night after night would be incredibly difficult.
- To finance the film, John Cassavetes mortgaged his own house, and Peter Falk (1927-2011) contributed a portion of his earnings from filming the series "Columbo" (1968-2003). When difficulties arose with the distributor, Cassavetes found $750,000 (a significant part of which came from his own savings) and used the advice of young distributor Jeff Lipsky, who helped him rent entire theaters to show the film.
- According to Falk and Rowlands, there were no rehearsals, and they were not allowed to discuss their roles with each other. Falk said that Cassavetes constantly came up with something new for the shooting (such as Falk’s blue hat, which Cassavetes brought to the set and put on his head at the last moment), and sometimes signaled the cameraman to shoot when the actors were completely unprepared (he believed that this would make their acting more authentic and sincere).
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
