#305 Illeana Douglas Discusses Connecticut in the Movies

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Jeff Dwoskin 0:28

All right, Jay, thank you so much for that amazing introduction. You get the show going each and every week, and this week was no exception. Welcome, everybody to Episode 305 of classic conversations. As always, I am your host, Jeff Dwoskin. Get ready for the most Connecticut focused episode in our four year history. My guest today is actor and author Illeana Douglas we're diving deep into her book Connecticut in the movies from Dream houses to dark suburbia. You're gonna love this conversation and that's coming up in just a few seconds and in these few seconds do not miss my conversation with Leah roofdeck from last week viral sensation and hilarious Comedian but right now you love during Goodfellas Cape Fear action Connecticut zone Illeana Douglas. Enjoy. All right, everyone. I'm excited to introduce my next guest, actress, writer, producer, director, author of I blame Dennis Hopper and the book we're gonna dive in today Connecticut in the movies Welcome to the show the amazing Illeana Douglas,

Illeana Douglas 1:43

thank you. Thank you for that burst of vocal Applause

Jeff Dwoskin 1:50

So so I so here's my attempt to Connecticut impress you, okay, if it falls flat, we'll just let it out. But here's my attempt to catch you can impress your favorite. Taipei's Sally's Sally's or modern pizza favorite pizza.

Illeana Douglas 2:05

It's almost impossible. They're all good for First of all, it is better than the art pizza. They're all great. And they vary in very subtle ways. But New Haven pizza for people that don't know it's coal fired, though that California wood fire we use coal, and it gives it a distinctive char around the edge Pepe is is famous for its white sauce with clams. Sally's litchart Sally's has a very specific kind of pizza with potatoes on it. I think. Sally's a little more tomato forward. And I'm not as familiar with modern, but it's between Sally's and Pepe. It's

Jeff Dwoskin 2:45

out of also accepted mystic.

Illeana Douglas 2:48

Yes. Or when it's almost impossible to have bad pizza.

Jeff Dwoskin 2:52

That is true. I have a friend, dear friend, he lives in Connecticut. He's like, Oh, I'm to two towns away. Ask her about pizza. Oh, that's

Illeana Douglas 2:59

so funny. They talk a lot about pizza here. So funny. Now they're gonna be talking about movies and pizza,

Jeff Dwoskin 3:05

your new book, Connecticut in the movies, as a love letter to movies and Connecticut want to get into that. But I do want to kind of just say off the bat that you kind of got me obsessed with like, digging into Connecticut. I love it. And digging into I'm from Michigan. So yeah, just outside of Detroit. So I started looking at all the movies and stuff that were made in Michigan.

Illeana Douglas 3:28

Thank you that that's what I wanted. I anybody can do this about their own state movies do especially in the past certainly represent our culture, our culture. And you learn so much about the history of your state through these different films I did. And you could do that with different states, you know, the movies about the Midwest, or Vermont, I guess. But I felt like that Connecticut was so undervalued in terms of its cinematic contributions. And I'd always sort of felt that way. And then as I started digging in and writing about it, I realized oh, actually is looking at all these genres of films that nobody's ever written about, you know, that 60 Sex comedies, horror films, comedies from the 1930s that are all conveniently placed in Connecticut. Eugene O'Neill wrote about London. So it's just an homage to all the great films that were put here, all in one book, one after another after another, I'm a little pedantic, trying to prove my point, like, look at all these great movies and all the variety, but it is a love letter to the state, hopefully, no,

Jeff Dwoskin 4:40

it is i It was very informative. I liked the way you you broke it out. And you did and like I said, it would it inspired me to kind of figure out more. And it was cool to like in the context of the Connecticut world that you were building just to see like, oh, Crystal Skull, you know, like all these movies that Yeah, yeah, I guess Yeah. Okay, you know, so like you start seeing all the connections that you mentioned in the book, because there's so many I imagined there was so many you had to leave out? Yeah,

Illeana Douglas 5:10

there's many I left out. Because again, it's not that I watched a ton of movies. And I just, you know, what is my criteria? I have my own eclectic, which I write about in the in the introduction. This is a, you're taking a cinematic road trip with the through the state. So these are my personal favorite films that I think tell the story of Connecticut, of its people and of its history and how its perception has some has been correct, and how sometimes it's kind of wildly wrong. But they're the people that say, Oh, you didn't put Beetlejuice in and you can't. First of all, it was made in Vermont. And this is precisely why I didn't put movies in that in because it's a deflection of what the book is about, just because they say Connecticut, but the movie is filmed in Vermont. And actually, most of it's on the soundstage. It doesn't fall into what I really consider to be Connecticut movie and the book is I break it up with funny, lighthearted moments. So there's a whole chapter on Connecticut cameos, you know, where for instance, there's a Barry Levinson movie called what just happened. The entire film was made in Connecticut, but it takes place in Hollywood. So it's like a bizarro Connecticut cameo. And so that fits in for me by eclectic taste, I guess so that's it that's there in the film. And Barry Levinson lives in Connecticut so therefore it's all little hidden little things that I put it

Jeff Dwoskin 6:42

in that chapter. Yes. Talk about It's A Wonderful Life. Yes. So every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings. That is from Connecticut. Why now never

Illeana Douglas 6:51

even spells. I didn't know that until I was started combing again combing through these movies. I had never once in any book heard anything that the bell whole big thing in the movie of him getting his wings and that the bell is from Bevins bells, which is in a town called East Hampton, Connecticut, which once boasted so many Bell factories that it was called Bell town, and it's still called Bell town today. Although the only remaining factory is Bevins bells. They're still in business.

Jeff Dwoskin 7:26

Wow, that is a expect about story. You never know what you're gonna get when you're doing these great these interviews. Yeah,

Illeana Douglas 7:32

well, that's what I'm saying. You know, it's a road trip.

Jeff Dwoskin 7:35

The Cannonball Run started in Connecticut and mighty wind took place there. We

Illeana Douglas 7:40

have these little Yeah, you have these little like, No, I didn't know that. But then there are big glaring ones that I just I just didn't put down just to be contrary and have people. Why didn't you include that? Because it's I didn't want to write didn't sometimes there were certain movies. I just didn't. I don't like the movie. I find it very hard. I can't just include the movie just because and then there's this because I'm not that kind of a writer. It's more polite to just not include it for various reasons. And that's that's what I did. Every film that is in the book is a movie that I truly feel deserves a second look.

Jeff Dwoskin 8:18

Yeah, there was. It was definitely the one that I wrote down that I wanted to dig into myself. Hang on, I wrote down. I'm curious. The one where he'd be tends to be Jewish to oh,

Illeana Douglas 8:30

oh my god. I've never seen gentlemen's agreement. gentlemen's agreement. Thank

Jeff Dwoskin 8:33

you. No, no, I was like, Oh my God, I've heard of it. I was like, Oh, I got to see this gentleman's

Illeana Douglas 8:38

agreement is not only a great film, it's something you know, in my day that teachers used to actually show movies to kids with sort of moral that we'd have discussions. There was a you know, we were I remember we watched a film called The OxBow Incident, which is about a man who is wrongly accused of a crime and hung by fellow citizens. And you know, these things cut. I don't know who did it. But someone in the film industry used to have edited versions of films, you know, that were maybe 45 minutes long, and you'd watch them in school and have a discussion about it. But gentleman's agreement was filmed in 1947. Ely. khazana is just an extremely important film in terms of America. It's about restrictive covenants that were started in Darien, Connecticut, to keep out blacks and Jews and the reporter. And it was written by a woman who was Jewish, who assimilated and didn't want anyone really to know that she was Jewish. So it you know, so she's a Connecticut author. The book takes place in Connecticut in Darien and Gregory Peck is the main the star of the film, and what I write about it is at the time in the 40s, his own agent didn't even want him to be in the movie. It was that much of a hot topic. And Darryl Zanuck who was the producer who was not Jewish He was the only person who would take on the subject matter. And it's something what is so important about the film is it's not about blatant bigotry. It's about people that are afraid to speak up that don't want to rattle the neighbors that think they're basically nice, good people but turn the other way when bad things are happening. And so you can't look at the film without sort of examining your own path examining what could I do better cetera. It's an incredible film. It handles both blatant bigotry. But then, as I said, kind of bigotry that you don't know you have when somebody tells a joke, and it's a little off putting but you don't say anything. Because you you don't you're trying to fit in. So and I think that there's that aspect of it. But hey, you know, covers both idyllic Connecticut and then, you know, bad dark things that happened in suburbia. And this is one of one of the darkest periods. One

Jeff Dwoskin 10:58

of many thanks to you, that'll be on my list. Somebody at Amazon's gonna be like, Why? Where's all these 399 charges going?

Illeana Douglas 11:08

Yeah, well, it's it was, you know, in writing about in gentlemen's agreement, I discovered that even though the movie came out in 1947, and won Best Picture and won all this acclaim, it actually wasn't until 1968, with the Fair Housing Act that some of these covenants were finally defeated. And in some places, again, there's that subtle feeling that it still is going on, gentlemen, it what a great title gentlemen's agreement. You know, it's just a subtle underhand agreement that we don't really know about that is going to keep out the wrong type of people, whoever they are in the same book. This is why it was very important movie to add, even though it's a more contemporary movie, but along the same lines, terrific film direct by Ernest Dickerson for Showtime called Good fences, which is about a black family in the 1960s, who moved to Connecticut and try to assimilate and are not accepted in their own neighborhood. And this this whole thing about again, this wanting this upward mobility in Connecticut, and it's terrific film, it's sort of turns a little bit into a horror movie towards the end. Wasn't really crazy about the ending, but up until then, it is a really unexpected satirical look at a black family trying to move to Connecticut. It's terrific film. Terrific.

Jeff Dwoskin 12:34

All right, another one. Yeah, there's so many that's gonna be Goldberg right?

Illeana Douglas 12:38

Yeah. Whoopi Goldberg and Danny Glover who's always terrific and Monique. Monique. There's a yes she's incredible in the film. This is way before precious. She moves in the there this you know, black family living in Connecticut and then Monique wins the lights so great and satirical. Monique wins the lottery. And she moves in next door. And Whoopi Goldberg is thrilled because she's got like a friend now and somebody to talk to you just feel so alone that the only they're not the only black family and her husband, Danny Glover. It's the same thing that happens in gentlemen's agreement. He doesn't want her to be friends with her because she's not the right it's not the right kind of friendship that she wants and Whoopi Goldberg is trapped like again, it's it's the black perspective on white suburbia. So it's terrific, terrific film, they should reach out to all of these films so I can get to talk about because they're all and they all take place in Connecticut so that's what was fascinating to be legal wall which is the real Connecticut Is it is it this is a good fences is gentleman's agreement, or is it Christmas in Connecticut? You know, how can one small state have this much diversity? I I'm find that to be fascinating to goldmine.

Jeff Dwoskin 13:59

Do you think cinema kind of focused on Connecticut? But you know that that is true? In a lot of places?

Illeana Douglas 14:05

Yeah, very much. So. And again, I don't really know why, but got into proximity to New York. But so does you know, Westchester, and so does New Jersey, but why? You know, so when they were making good fences, they could have gone to us to an upwardly mobile area in Westchester. But what is it about connect? You know, it was something about the shorthand of like, yeah, it just works better. Just working in the kitchen somehow. It just sort of works better in a lot of these cases. You know, I don't really know why that that was, I guess that was the, you know, the riddle I was trying to solve with the movie like how could one state be? And I use this example in the book, Alfred Hitchcock, the movie rope, which is about the Leopold and Loeb murders which are two students from Chicago who murdered their classmate. Well in rope he He changes the location to New York City. And there are the two guys go to Yale that one guy comes from a very wealthy Connecticut family and kids. So Connecticut as mentioned quite a bit. And so I delve into why did why wasn't it Chicago? What was it about what was the shorthand for Hitchcock that we could believe is a little more sinister to have some wealthy old money guy from Connecticut be this you know, this cold blooded killer? And but yet it does. It works. I hate to say it, it works a little better. The whole beginning of the movie, the movie opens with them murdering their friend really ghastly. And then they they have very, they have put the body temporarily in hiding it temporarily, like right in plain sight under this table setting and they keep all of us braggadocio. They keep saying we're gonna go up to Connecticut for a few weeks. And we know we've heard off camera them talking that the plan is they're going to bury the body at their mother's country is state and Connecticut. Why was that better than go into the countryside of Chicago? I guess maybe that just seems sort of more ordinary.

Jeff Dwoskin 16:14

I know you're from Connecticut. So this answer won't resonate with you. And maybe it's just because when you think of Connecticut, I don't think anything good. I don't think anything bad. So you can just frame how I feel about Connecticut? Just yeah, making fun

Illeana Douglas 16:28

of the plot. Yeah, exactly. You can, you know, you can use you know, both you can use it for anything. And now I theorize in the book, it begins really with The Stepford Wives is that after The Stepford Wives, shorthand for something really bad is going to happen to these people have them go to Connecticut, is we something like just really, you know, the minute they get in the car, and they start driving towards Connecticut, we go, oh, something's gonna be bad, they're hot, their houses gonna be on it, or something really horrible is gonna happen to these people. And that sort of really, really began with The Stepford Wives. And we haven't really escaped that we've been sort of painted with that brush. And part of the book too, was to was to, you know, kind of dismiss that as hey, we're so much more than you know, Stepford Wives and missing pizza.

Jeff Dwoskin 17:21

I mean, it does not get crazy, more than

Illeana Douglas 17:25

it was great to reexamine Mystic Pizza again, not just as 80s rom com, and Julia Roberts, you know, big surf to view and to start a is a point of view I had was really that it was about another area in Connecticut that we don't talk about too much, which is Stonington, and Groton, and mystic, which is where all the Portuguese fishermen were and how big the fishing community is. And Connecticut again, it's something nobody when we think of lobster and things like that we really think of Maine, but Connecticut is right on the Long Island Sound and fishing and New London was a really major, major part of Connecticut and seat seed light Seaman captains, you know, going back so that, again, is a whole nother area of Connecticut nobody ever had talked about. So that was my approach and in Mystic Pizza. Yeah,

Jeff Dwoskin 18:16

you got me thinking about a lobster when I was reading that. There was a quote, I even wrote down a quote, he said, Don't get between a woman and her lobsters on an app yet, Jane,

Illeana Douglas 18:25

it happened in another graphic. And that's an example of a movie that is about how idyllic everything is, it's shot in a very small town of Chester. That is a snapshot of the past. And it remains that way. Today. Somehow this town has been kind of untouched by anything commercial. And even within the telling of the film within the film. There was a joke well, it stars Doris Day and Jack Lemmon directors Richard Klein and Richard Coyne discovered the town just by driving out of New York and went into this town said this is it this is where I want to shoot my movie. And they all lived in the town which you wouldn't think of a big studio movie from the 50s inhabiting the small town and having neighbors come over and bring them food and jam and they all fell in love with jester so much so that one of the actors Max show Walter ended up buying a house and living there for the rest of his life. But the whole idea of the movie which is this woman is you know, the bad the evil train guys shut down the the train to her small town, and now she can't she has no way to sell her lobsters. And the whole town gets together and they fight this capitalist and in the end, they win. And the whole movie The making of the film was exactly like the movie and that really, really fascinated me so they were using local artisans to build the props and not the entire town is in the film, you know in the background, and it's just really fun like to see Are there Cub Scouts? Kids? Local, you still meet people to this day, my neighbors like, I know the guy who built the train. And you know, all everybody does. It was so exciting, man. I'm a big Hollywood movie here. So that stands out, again as the best of what Connecticut can be, you know, Yankee ingenuity.

Jeff Dwoskin 20:20

I have to say, I haven't been to Maine. But to your point, I want to go to Maine because in my mind, it's the land of lobster. And I can eat all the lobster I want. Even though I grew up Jewish, that's still a dream of mine. And I love it. But now in this book, and then you just saying what you're just saying about Connecticut now? The game? Oh, maybe maybe there's an alternative here. Yes, unintended side effects your book. But there we are. Let me ask you a question. I dug into Michigan, you're jogging? The Connecticut. I know. You're like your movie expert historian. All that kind of good stuff. Are there any states where movie hasn't taken place?

Illeana Douglas 20:57

Oh, gosh. That's a tough question. I'm sure there are. I don't know if I can think of any off the top of my head of whether they really I mean, obviously, the Midwest and Nebraska. Quite a bit. Iowa. Good question. Florida. I know there's been movies in Florida, Maine. I think Stephen King, Misery. Sure. There's one that we don't get a movie in Hawaii? Yeah, sure. There's been movies in Puerto Rico and San Juan.

Jeff Dwoskin 21:26

I was just curious if there's a poor state, it's it's they're Googling and they're like, sorry, Google says, Sorry, you should move. There

Illeana Douglas 21:33

probably is one. I mean, obviously states certain states, Georgia is used quite a bit. It's no Connecticut. It's no Connecticut. You know, that would be an interesting theory. I don't know. I mean, except for New York and LA. To me, Connecticut has such a fascinating I don't think there's any other state that has this many of a variety of films all made in one state.

Jeff Dwoskin 21:55

We've got Detroit as Robocop True Romance. Yeah,

Illeana Douglas 21:59

you have the that great documentary about the musician, sugar man. Oh, sir.

Jeff Dwoskin 22:04

Yeah, he just passed away in search of syrup. Sugar Man, what a great documentary that is.

Illeana Douglas 22:10

Would that be considered a Detroit movie?

Jeff Dwoskin 22:13

Are we counting documentaries? What was your Connecticut code for the book when it came to documentaries?

Illeana Douglas 22:18

I did not do any documentaries. Yeah, that's a genre because that's specific. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, at a certain point, you have to stop. Right? So I'm saying you had a code. Ito becomes diluted, but I could always do a secondary volume and clewd documentary.

Jeff Dwoskin 22:34

Oh, so the other piece of Mystic Pizza trivia that I got from your book, first screen appearance of Matt Dillon. Matt, Matt. Dan, did my first screen appearance of Matt Damon? Yes, it did. I'll set it right. The I wrote it down. Yeah, Damon sounds better. Sorry to interrupt have to take a quick break. I do want to encourage everyone to buy my new book 101 Incorrect Mystic Pizza trivia questions available wherever you by books. But seriously, I've take quick break. I do want to thank everyone for their support of the sponsors. When you support the sponsors. You're supporting us here at Classic conversations. And that's how we keep the lights on. And now back to my discussion with Ileana Douglas, where I talk a little dinero is in this is the location, location, location kind of section of the book. You You talk a lot about Robert De Niro. Mr. Bobby. Yeah, I don't know. Mr. Generic. So he's done a bunch of movies you've worked with you wrote an essay from your first book on working with Mr. Generic Yes. Fear and or two. You've worked with him twice?

Illeana Douglas 23:37

Yeah, of course. I mean, he's, you know, one of our greatest actors so, so thrilled, thrilled of course to to work with them and, and it was fun to be able to write about him I used the two primary films they talked about of his that he made in Connecticut were Stanley and Iris, which was made in Waterbury, and then a movie called Jackknife, which was filmed primarily in Meriden and Cromwell, but some other towns around and they're very blue collar kind of industrial films. And it's really to talk about the industrial sort of part of Connecticut and what I liked about his performance, especially in Stanley and Iris, but also a little bit in Jack Knight is that there's, you know, there's two kinds of I mean, I don't want to say there's two kinds obviously, he's done such a variety of films, but what he's known for is these kinds of larger than life, you know, Capone Goodfellas, but then there are these other films that he did awakening, Stanley and Iris Jackknife where he plays a character that almost that is very clumsy, not very literate does have a great ability to speak. Well. can't communicate well, though. And for me, because I believe the first time I saw Robert De Niro on screen, which I write about was in a movie called bang the drum slowly and I was so affected by it, I watched it a drive and I was so Come on God says movie I've ever seen. And so I wrote about it from that perspective, that's always been, you know, I started out as a wanting to be an actor, but I'm a fan of I was I'm a movie fan first. So I saw these people in movies and looked up to them and admired them. And then in some instances, I was lucky enough to work with them, get to know them in a certain way. And so when I write about them, it's a little bit from both the perspective of working with them getting to know them a little bit, and then maybe seeing something in them that has not been pointed out. That is not the more obvious thing. And so what I loved about Stanley and Iris was what's so powerful to me was his inability to express himself and how I find it to be more those are the my favorite performances of of his because they seem truer to the person in some ways that I knew, you know, worked with shot eight, hard to communicate yet bubbling up with a great, great deal of emotion. That's why I chose to write about it. And that's one of my favorite essays, of course, is the Stanley Stanley and Iris, you know, I just always like to write about I mean, as I am repeating myself, but I just love actors so much. I love movies, and I, you look through the catalog, and as I'm writing the book wasn't my intention, like okay, now I'm gonna go off the beaten path and write about Robert De Niro. But you just feel like, I don't know, I feel like it's my job sometimes to just do that, like note, like, take a moment and write a little bit about an actor who is terrific. And I admire and, and write, you know, again, writing about things that are the more obvious things that other people write about a lot of other actors like that, too, believe me, I have a mole in the back of my head that I like I want to write, either write about them or interview them. There's certain certain other people that I really admire. I got to do that a little bit with Jane Fonda. Because I idolized Jane Fonda, you know, growing up, first of all, she was in every movie. In my age group, it was like, no, another game product. There was always that like, there was that comfort of seeing a Jane Fonda movie, she was always in the movies, you know, like George Segal or somebody. And then I got to interview her twice. And that was really great. So it was like years of watching her. And then getting to interview her a couple times was just really great. And I'm doing it as a public service for other people so that they can discover other aspects of her and I wrote about her quite a bit in Stanley and Iris to, of how her performance must have shifted, because she, you know, she signs on to do this movie, well meaning movie, teaching this guy how to read. And then they decided to shoot it in Waterbury. And all these veterans came out of the woodwork and they wanted to stop her filming, which I never knew this whole story. And it happened in Connecticut. Like there was a lot of anti chain fund a feeling in Connecticut. And it really surprised me because I always thought of kinetic as being somewhat liberal, but no, they were, they were really vehemently against her. And she did a lot of listening sessions and raised money for the veterans. And so I wrote about that, again, from that perspective, how did that I mean, she was picketed while they were shooting the movie, and people outside like she's doing a movie and they're booing her, you know, and picketing her telling her to go home. And that really surprised me that people you know, did that but I wondered how against an experience like that affected her. Her acting when we met we were talking about clewd but I was telling her at the time I said you know if they ever do it's daily and Iris criterion, and just would absolutely love to talk to you about it. And she writes a little bit about it in her book, but it was a big shift for her because the hanaway Jane you know, label that she got had its resurgence when she went to do Stanley and Iris and I found that to be again very, very interesting. And you know, it's a stain I think it's you know, it's a stain on on Connecticut, obviously, it's very complicated and but the fact that she took the time and listen to the veterans and it turned out to be okay, and they made the movie out of it. I just thought wow, there's just such a layered Holly's things went on behind the scenes in this movie. So that was a fun one to really write about.

Jeff Dwoskin 29:38

When you meet someone like Jane Fonda, or is there someone that Where are you kind of like you need a minute. You know, I mean, like, I can't believe I'm, yeah, right. Like, because you've been here you've interviewed some really great people. I was watching. There was a clip I saw you with Jerry Lewis. Some big names. You don't mess around. Well,

Illeana Douglas 29:57

I just I admire these people. So much. I've been watching them all my life. You know, I'm not just someone who says, Okay, I'm going to have two days of prep, and assisting give me some notes about this person. I've been watching them since I was a kid and formulating my own opinions about them, studying them, you know, because I'm an actor, and I love watching other actors, that's probably a different perspective. You know, I always use the Richard Dreyfus example, because I watched him so much as a kid. And then I got to act in a movie with him. And then I got to interview him later on. So I had every perspective of being able to interview him as both an insider and an outsider. I watched him on screen, then I watched him off camera. And then now I'm interviewing him. So I don't ever have a the instinct that some people that some interviewers have to have a gotcha moment is just not my thing. You know, there may be if I don't like something, I just sort of keep it to myself. It's just not, I don't know, it's so hard. So hard to act in a movie, make a movie, get a movie out that I just don't, I can't in good conscience, even when I want to write or say something negative publicly about a film. I just can't. And I feel lately today, it's so easy for people to just be critical or dismissive. And it's just not helpful. I wish we thought more of artists. That's why I write books the way I do. It's just like, Okay, now it's a book tear forever. Let's take a second look at this film that got overlooked. Or let's take a different look at this at this actor. It's a reminder of all these great people, and I wish our culture I wish we honored, you know, people in the arts a little bit a little bit more. And hopefully, again, the book will be that kind of a blueprint that people will say, you know, I want to go back to Connecticut and make more movies with me. And

Jeff Dwoskin 32:04

obviously, with you in Ireland, we wouldn't it wouldn't be a Connecticut movie without you in it. No, I agree with that point of view. I think people like to hear stories, they want to hear the history they want to hear. They just want to hear it. They just like hearing it from the person that you're talking to as well. I think, you know, just to kind of firsthand account of things from people they grew up watching, listening to admiring.

Illeana Douglas 32:25

And yeah, if you give someone context, I think it's the movie becomes a little bit more enjoyable. It's very easy to just dismiss it as like, oh, Mystic Pizza. Yeah, it's chick flick from the 80s. I don't want to, but you know, when you rewatch the movie, and as I did, you know, it's filled with all sorts of great surprises. You know, you don't you don't see there are no, no female bonding movies like Mystic Pizza done. I can't remember when the last female binding movie I saw and step back, like when you want, you know, when you watch the movie, or lay some really good movies, ideas like are, they're good. It's about these women coming out of school and they really don't know what they're going to do with their lives. One girl is really smart, but she doesn't have enough money to go to Yale. And then one girl is really pretty and doesn't think she's very smart. So she relies on her looks. And one girl just is very satisfied to just kind of, you know, run a pizzeria. And like, has no aspirations wants to, you know, live and die in the town she grew up in and then all these ideas as you're rewatching and you're like, they should be making more movies like this, you know, because it gives you an avenue to talk about

Jeff Dwoskin 33:50

No, I agree with you. 100% I could always do a sequel where she made a bazillion billion dollars on a slice. I haven't merch. Yeah, it's funny. A question I was who was raised here to work with Buddy hacking or Jiminy Glick?

Illeana Douglas 34:08

Oh, geez, that's totally buddy. But a I hear strange in with Buddy Hackett which he reminded me of. I knew Buddy Hackett of course from watching him on Hollywood Squares and on The Tonight Show, but he reminded me that when I met him, he'd actually worked with my grandfather. My grandfather had produced a show called call me Mr. Which they found talented, you know, this was in the army, you know, when they were in the army and people, you know, were in the army that were still were comedians and singers and dancers and things like that. So he was in, he was part of that troupe of calming misters. So he knew he knew him previously. So he was always pretty, you know, pretty, pretty nice to me, but, you know, because he was, he was older, you know, there was limited, limited in terms of, you know, the time time he could work and and so that may, you know that would make it problematic and he was way out of sync obviously, with the current time so he didn't think it was, you know, bad to come up and grab you and things you probably be arrested for now, but that was buddy

Jeff Dwoskin 35:14

buddy, Hackett's hilarious Martin Short is Gemini, like interviewing you.

Illeana Douglas 35:18

He's a J. Martin. Sure. He's a genius as far as I'm concerned. So you know, that was that was just as much of an honor for me is to be in Cape Fear, because I idolize comedians, anyway. And so some of these people that I've worked with, you know, whether it's Garry Shandling even briefly, Martin Short had done a television show. Do you think I was on a short live talk show? So I got to be on this talk show. But I was just such a fan of, of Martin Short. So to be on Jiminy Glick was, was really, yeah, it was an honor. Totally kidding.

Jeff Dwoskin 35:53

That character is so funny. It was it was really funny. And then I was excited to see that you worked with Kevin Bacon, because now that means I'm just you know, oh, and Jeff Dwoskin. And another

Illeana Douglas 36:06

terrific guy, he's, you wouldn't be one of those people. I'd love to have an excuse to write about Kevin Bacon, because I just he's such a terrific actor, and he's done so many great things just terrific. It's like he can't imagine you're like, wait a minute, he's never won an Oscar. How's that possible? Terrific person, interesting person, versatile, and would absolutely love to work with him again, work with him twice. And I also loved him. You know what I mean, in movies. He's another example, is in diner and now we're doing a movie. I'm just as excited to have the bucket list of I saw him in a movie, and now I'm acting in a movie I'd still sort of really gets me excited.

Jeff Dwoskin 36:49

Even more exciting and Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, you're you're a direct connection.

Illeana Douglas 36:54

That's true. I guess, within the culture? I don't although I don't really understand it. But I guess it's good.

Jeff Dwoskin 37:00

Yeah. Was there any what was the one movie that you discovered while you're doing your research that maybe you had kind of forgotten about and rediscovered and Oh,

Illeana Douglas 37:11

boy. I mean, there's so many, even just right off the top of my head, rewatching Ormiston and realizing how much how important it is in terms of Connecticut. And I think the movie again is, you know, it's got some problems in it. Some of the casting is maybe not great, but it's, you know, but it's it's Spielberg. And the one note that I make in the movie is Could he be criticized for sort of does unifying events that occurred, possibly, but yet he's such a master filmmaker, doesn't mean that somebody else can't tackle the same subject. And I really, that one of the things of the book is almost odd is was so much larger story again, you know, growing up here, you hear about honesty, but I didn't really know, like, Okay, I'm Stein. And there's Yes, I know, we did something, the case, the case of OmniSTAR, and the slaves that were here and how they were eventually free. But as I read more and more about the story, I was like, Oh, my God, this should have been a mini series, there's just, there's so much more to it. Spielberg decided, I guess, for action reasons to concentrate most of it on the trial. And what was more interesting was, was to me good and bad how the people of the abolitionist of Connecticut, both were terrific in that they, you know, helped eventually free the slaves, but on the other hand, were really exploited the slaves, they charge people money to, and none of that is in the movie, you know, they to show like, look at how bad and this is here and nickel to come in and take a gander. So you know, wealthy women, it was like a sport or, you know, just awful, you know, imagine exploiting these poor people that are that are revered, but for a good what they thought was a good cause. What's also not explored is that they the men were they kept the men in prison, but the women stayed in various houses around New Haven. Now that to me is another Whoa, like that's another whole movie. They were you know, taking in his people didn't land it somehow in Connecticut. And now you're living in this house with these people who are in your, you know, they they think they're doing something good, but who the hell knows. Anyway, it was. It's so late, it was so layered, both good and bad, and a more nuanced movie could be made about Alma staad. However, the power of the film and of the message of the film does retain and so in that sense, I really I like watching First of all the acting is unbelievable. Morgan Freeman is terrific. And Anthony Hopkins. That's a complicated show for me complicated. The

Jeff Dwoskin 40:08

one movie that I stumbled on that I thought was really interesting was remade as the money pit with Tom Hanks and shall move on. But Mr. Blandings builds his dream house, which also starred a two time Academy Award winning actor Melvin Douglas, any relation kidding? Yes, Your grandpa and Cary Grant, and I ended up Googling and as I guess there's at least at least one of these houses I guess they built 70 of them.

Illeana Douglas 40:36

Yeah, throughout the United States. Yeah, there's at least one in Omaha, Nebraska. So well, there's four in Connecticut, I photograph two of them for the book, and they are complete replicas of what was built in the movie. So again, that is something that is really important it's a sort of a cornerstone of the book because again, it's this you know, this myth of suburbia told through you know, made and made in Hollywood but the original story by our conscience is Connecticut store it happened in Connecticut and the producer was his neighbor dirty Sherry And and so that is like Connecticut thrown through to me, was it just hysterically funny movie

Jeff Dwoskin 41:16

you're a tidbit in the book about GE General Electric napping happy with a place I didn't get in. You don't think product placement in the late 90s movie

Illeana Douglas 41:26

was wall to wall product placement is the first films that I really could discover that had that much product placement in it. Everything in the movie, all the appliances, Cetera, Cary Grant's driving a Ford. In fact, there's a scene where I remember watching the movie and like, Hey, why are they driving? Like there's a lot of jumping shots and the smithy. And it's because it's product placement, you know, but it's the selling of America. And the idea of the movie is, you know, just keep spending and spending and spending. And somehow it'll all work out. And that's, we're that's where we are today. And so I thought well, that's really interesting, because again, this myth of suburbia, it's not Ohio or New York, or, you know, anywhere else. It's Connecticut. That's where they chose. This idea of superior living in suburbia is Connecticut. And so Connecticut therefore must be recognized. Is it is it are we to blame, you know, because the movie created this myth of suburbia. Well,

Jeff Dwoskin 42:33

I like to think of it. It's real and it's the dream and I kind of I can hear people right now keep listening to the end. They're packing because they're already looking at Zillow is in Connecticut. Their head yeah, you've done your Yeah, you're gonna fill up Connecticut. Thank you so much for hanging out with me. And this was your amazing to talk to you so much knowledge and I know you're just scratching the surface of everything you know about these movies and stuff like that, but just fascinating. And the book is amazing.

Illeana Douglas 43:02

Thank you. Well, I hope everybody you know, it's good to read and it's good to read. There's I think there's a movie you know, really for everybody again, I didn't want to not have our movies in there. I just I tried to hit every there's even a religious Phil. I even found a religious film which is called come to the stable based on a completely true story of these nuns coming to Bethlehem and and building an abbey here and it's where sister Doris Hart who's the famous nun that turned her back on showbiz. She did a movie with Elvis turned her back on showbusiness became a nun. Guess where she lives, Connecticut. It's got all the eyes they said try to have a movie for everybody. Katharine

Jeff Dwoskin 43:47

Hepburn, the Sherlock Holmes stuff in the book. I know there's so much it's all in one book can see in the movies.

Illeana Douglas 43:56

I always wanted to do like a throwback coffee table book. I grew up with the you know, I'm like the coffee table book needs to come back. Don't you think

Jeff Dwoskin 44:04

it does Burt Lancaster and from the swimmer on the cover candidate wrong. You'll be the head of the party when they come to your house and see Connecticut in the movies. Yes.

Illeana Douglas 44:14

Okay, so speaking of Connecticut, now I get now getting put on my other hat and actually work on my do some kinetic things. Some real Connecticut things around the house. Awesome.

Jeff Dwoskin 44:24

Thank you so much for sharing all the stories of fun.

Illeana Douglas 44:28

Appreciate it. Thanks. You have a great day. You too. Bye.

Jeff Dwoskin 44:31

All right. How amazing was Illeana Douglas Oh great. Nobody knows movies more than her. I tell ya, you gotta get her book Connecticut in the movies from Dream houses to dark suburbia. You can get it on Amazon or wherever you buy books. If you love deep dive into movies, especially classics really across the board. This book is for you. Well with the interview overcoming me one thing I know another episode has come to an end And one more huge thanks to my guest Illeana Douglas. Another huge thanks to all of you for coming back week after week. It means the world to me, and I'll see you next time.

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