Frances
Short description
Frances Farmer is a talented young actress in 1930s Seattle whose outspoken views and trip to the Soviet Union make her suspect in the eyes of a censorious public. She moves into theatre and then into Hollywood, where she wins fame but finds herself pushed into minor parts and unable to live as she chooses. Her drinking worsens after a failed relationship, and her domineering mother, Lillian, gains legal custody of her and has her committed to a psychiatric hospital. A reporter, Harry York, remains her closest ally as her career and freedom slip away.
Graeme Clifford directed this drama, the first of four features he made; the screenplay is by Nicholas Kazan, Eric Bergren and Christopher De Vore, and Jonathan Sanger produced. Jessica Lange plays Frances Farmer, with Sam Shepard as Harry York, Kim Stanley as Lillian Farmer, Bart Burns as Ernest Farmer, Christopher Pennock as Dick Steele and James Karen as Judge Hillier. The film runs 140 minutes and was made for about 8 million dollars, returning roughly 5 million at the worldwide box office.
On IMDb it holds 7.2 out of 10 from around 9,300 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.9 from 128 votes. A critics' rating of 7.4 from 31 reviews places it slightly above the audience scores on both sites.
What's left behind the scenes
- Jessica Lange, who found it emotionally difficult to play her role, insisted that the film be shot chronologically, but due to the small budget (only $10 million), it was not filmed in order.
- The character played by Sam Shepard (1943-2017) is largely fictional, although it is based on a man named Stuart Jacobson, who claimed to have been in a romantic relationship with Frances Farmer (1913-1970). People who knew her personally, however, stated that Farmer wasn't even acquainted with him.
- Graham Clifford claimed that he entrusted the working material for safekeeping, but the footage was thrown away without his knowledge, so all those shots and scenes are lost forever.
- The film features a scene where Walter Freeman performs a transorbital lobotomy on Frances Farmer. However, there is no evidence that Farmer actually underwent such an operation.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
