An Oral History of HEATHERS...and HEATHERS 2

On March 31, 1989, New World Features released their last film before going out of business, a dark high school comedy called HEATHERS. It only grossed a little over a million and was considered a flop. Until, that is, home video made it a high school cult classic with some very quotable lines. I didn't wait for home video and saw it that April in DC (at the Outer Circle) and it blew my mind. Even more exciting was that a friend I'd done summer theatre with was in the film with a couple lines too!

In honor of HEATHERS 25th anniversary, and the recent opening of the HEATHERS musical off-Broadway, Entertainment Weekly has put together a highly entertaining oral history about the making of HEATHERS.  Winona Ryder sounds somewhat obsessed with the film, stating she's seen it over 50 times and always watches til the end if she catches it on TV. And to think that her role could've gone to Jennifer Connelly or Justine Bateman, both of whom turned the part down before it was given to Winona.

There's also some great details here about an idea for a sequel to HEATHERS that writer Daniel Waters was toying with in which Winona's character ends up in Washington working for a "Senator Heather" (played by Meryl Streep!) and goes on to assassinate the president. It almost sounds like a very special episode of HOUSE OF CARDS!

DOWNTON ABBEY And The Case Of The Missing Wedding

When Season 3 of DOWNTON ABBEY made it's premiere this week in the US, there was a good deal of rejoicing after having to wait a few months since the UK premiere last fall.  However, there was also some grumbling over something that seemed missing--that is Lady Mary and Cousin Matthew's actual wedding ceremony. After Mary got her quip off about being unpredictable (which was awesome and so Mary!) there was a clumsy dissolve the her and Matthew driving through the country on their way back from the honeymoon.

Well, the executive producer of the show responded to the fans outcry.  I mean this was the moment that the show has really been leading up to for 3 whole seasons afterall.  His full statement is on EW's website but essentially he said that showing the wedding would have been repetitive as people have seen countless wedding scenes in countless TV shows and movies. Yes, but in SOUND OF MUSIC they did not cut to a car returning from the honeymoon -- you get the whole royal wedding!  (Unless you happen to watch it on NBC).

Despite this misstep, the show did killer ratings for PBS and nearly 8 million people watched, more than double those who watched last years season opener.

Anderson Cooper Makes It Clear: "The Fact Is, I'm Gay."

After months of rumors that CNN anchor and talk show host Anderson Cooper was going to officially come out on TV, he did it today but not in a way anyone quite expected.  In response to a question from friend Andrew Sullivan regarding an EW piece about how coming out by public figures has changed, Cooper sent an email in which he states that he is gay and it's not something he has been trying to hide.  In fact, if you are a gay man living in NYC, this is not news as he is seen out and about and his boyfriend has run two popular gay bars in the East Village.  Then there's the whole Cathy Griffin thing too, of course! ;)

But, in the email to Sullivan, Cooper gives a somewhat reasonable explanation for his longtime public silence on the matter; the fact that as a journalist, the less a subject knows about you the better. Especially when you are in a war zone. These days though, Cooper is not traveling the globe as much so maybe he figured it was time to be crystal clear about the matter. Also, given all the attention to gay teen suicide and bullying, he says he wanted to people to know that being gay something he is happy about and not ashamed of. 

One thing for sure, I can tell you personally that people are obsessed with Cooper in general, especially on the Internets. The most popular post on my blog is about him and his mother with more than 200x the number of hits an average story gets. I'm sure this one will go through the roof too. But I think that's a good thing. And I have to say, I think his decision to come out via a thoughtful, eloquently worded letter to a good friend is really better than it being a very special episode of his talk show.  Congrats to Cooper for keeping it classy while also being out, loud and proud.