![]() ![]() Lange says that on set the Maysles film became an obsession for her. Sucsy drew from all of these sources to develop the screenplay - and even some of the dialogue. He interviewed family members and friends, some of whom also provided journals, letters and poetry. Jackie Kennedy-Onassis (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and the Maysles brothers (Ayre Gross & Louis Ferreira) also play key roles in “Grey Gardens” the movie.įor the script, Sucsy says he used primary sources including letters and journals kept by Little Edie to flesh out the story. It also involves several other characters including Big Edie’s husband and Little Edie’s married man with whom she had an affair. But Sucsy’s feature film reconstructs what happened in the Beales’ lives during the 30s 50s & 60s and beyond. The Maysles exploration of the private lives of the Beales took place entirely in the here and now. Every question answered provided one more potential storyline to include in his screenplay.Įvery question answered provided one more potential storyline to include in his screenplay. To kick-start his research, he made a list of questions that weren’t answered in the film. THE GRAY GARDEN STORY MOVIEHow did this happen, how did that mansion become so dilapidated? We had to do that by watching, listening, by paying attention.” Sucsy’s “Grey Gardens” reenactmentĪfter watching the Maysles film many times, Sucsy says he thought there was a bigger movie in the clues the documentary provided. “There was so much mystery attached to it,” said Maysles. Tabloid headlines of the era shouted: “Mother and daughter told to clean house or get out”, and “Jackie cleans up East Hampton mansion for kin.” Grey Gardens (1975) ![]() By then mother and daughter had gained considerable notoriety. The Maysles, however, would include the newspaper clippings from the day in the introduction to their doc, for which they approached the Beales independently years later. Thus, Radziwill soon abandoned the film project. This included an hour of footage showing the two Edies fending off local health officials threatening to evict them. They shot for about two weeks all over the Hamptons. ![]() Item #34 on the list he recalls was “my very eccentric aunt and cousin.” Albert Maysles remembers Radziwill handing them a shot list. In 1970, Lee Radziwill, Jackie Kennedy’s sister (Big Edie’s niece) approached Albert and David Maysles to make a film about her childhood in the Hamptons. Although crafted antithetically to the Maysles’ ‘whatever happens, happens’ shooting style, “Grey Gardens” the movie depends entirely on the 1975 film for its inspiration and much of its execution.īut why? Why make a feature-length documentary reenactment of a vérité cult classic? It turns out the reasons are pretty much the same reasons the Maysles made their film in the first place. In the audio commentary to their film, Sucsy with producer-collaborators Lucy Barzun Donnelly and Rachael Horovitz as well as the actors unpack the anatomy of their project. The feature-length film is a course of study in harnessing the cinematic arts to craft a reality-based screen story. The question that both films ask is, how did two Park Avenue debutants end up living in squalor? More specifically, how did they find themselves living in a decaying Long Island mansion with six cats and dwindling means?įor fans and students of docudramas, “Gardens” the movie serves as a bona fide film school. Big Edie and Little Edie Bouvier-Beale, two New England aristocrats from the Hamptons, have stepped out of high society to lead reclusive lives. Still, at its heart “Grey Gardens” is a mother-daughter love story. The filmsīoth films are intimate character studies of Jackie Kennedy’s aunt and first cousin, whose private behavior is very much on public display. THE GRAY GARDEN STORY TVIt won two Golden Globes, an Emmy for best TV movie and another 28 wins and 30 nominations across screen craft categories from best screenplay to excellence in production design. In a word, the film achieved classic status in its own right. Sucsy’s “Grey Gardens,” made for HBO in 2009 starred Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore. One of the most ironic turns in documentary creation occurred when one of the most iconic cinéma vérité films, “ Grey Gardens” (1975) by the Maysles brothers, inspired and informed “ Grey Gardens” the movie (2009), a meticulously reenacted docudrama directed by Michael Sucsy. ![]()
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