Grace of My Heart
Encyclopedia
Grace of My Heart is a 1996 film written and directed by Allison Anders
, set in the pop music
world, starting off in New York
's Brill Building
early 1960s era, weaving through the California Sound of the mid '60s and culminating with the adult-contemporary scene of the early 1970s.
The plot follows the personal life and career trajectory of its protagonist, Denise Waverly. The soundtrack features a variety of songs by such artists as Burt Bacharach
, Elvis Costello
, Joni Mitchell
, and Jill Sobule
, which replicate the musical style that emerged from the Brill Building
, New York
's music factory during the heyday of girl groups and "pre-fab" acts like The Monkees
.
, Philadelphia, who wants to be a singer and enters a local talent contest. She plans to sing "You'll Never Walk Alone
," until, backstage, she meets a blues singer named Doris Shelley (Warren) who is belting out "The Blues Ain't Nothin' (But a Woman Cryin' for her Man)." Doris advises Edna to follow her heart, so Edna sings "Hey There
" instead and wins the contest. She uses some of her own money to record a demo of her first original song, "In Another World". Record producer Joel Milner (Turturro) likes the demo but says he cannot market a girl singer-songwriter. He becomes her agent, renames her "Denise Waverly" and invents a blue-collar persona for her. Milner also reworks her song for a male doo-wop
group, the Stylettes, and the song becomes a hit.
Denise moves to New York
and becomes a professional songwriter in the Brill Building
. She worries that she will not be able to pen a follow-up to "In Another World," but Milner encourages her to look at the world around her. She meets fellow songwriter Howard Caszatt (Stoltz), and after a difficult first encounter she becomes professionally and romantically involved with him. She also meets Doris, an unsuccessful young singer, and persuades Milner to let Doris and her group audition. Milner likes the group and the song Denise has written, and he renames them the Luminaries.
The group is a success, and disc jockey
John Murray (Davison) credits Denise with "sparking the craze for girl groups." Denise and Howard write a song about the condition of working class black girls in New York City. Denise then suggests that she and Howard should write a wedding-themed song for the Luminaries. Howard refuses, but when Denise reveals that she is pregnant with Howard's child they get married and have a daughter. However, Howard starts flirting with Cheryl Steed (Kensit), a newly hired English songwriter.
Joel asks Cheryl and her husband Matthew (Isaak) to write a song for the Luminaries. The result becomes a hit. Howard, annoyed, concedes that Denise's instincts were right. Then Joel asks Denise and Cheryl to collaborate on writing a song for closeted lesbian ingenue singer Kelly Porter (Fonda). Denise agrees, even though she dislikes Cheryl, but when she arrives home unexpectedly and finds Howard in bed with another woman, she takes her child in a cab to the studio and tells Cheryl what has happened. Cheryl comforts Denise and the two become friends.
Denise throws herself into her work and becomes a highly successful songwriter. Having broken up with Howard, she has a brief but unhappy affair with the married John Murray, which ends when he moves with his family to Chicago. She learns that she is pregnant with Howard's second baby; Cheryl convinces her to go to an obstetrician, who safely performs an illegal abortion.
With the British Invasion
, the Brill Building songwriting machine has become obsolete. Milner tells Denise she should not be so sad, because she forced him to take chances he would have never had the courage to tackle alone. He finally allows her to become a singer, and introduces her to Jay Phillips (Dillon), the singer, songwriter and producer of a popular surf-rock group. Denise initially hates Jay's music, but agrees to let him produce her. She writes and sings "God Give Me Strength," and she is delighted when he gives the song a skilful orchestral arrangement. However, the record bombs, and Denise blames herself for making the song too personal. Denise and Jay become a couple and resettle in California
at the height of the hippie movement. Cheryl is songwriting in Los Angeles. She and Denise collaborate on songs for a Bubblegum pop
TV show called Where the Action Is
.
Jay is affectionate but also childlike, reclusive and a heavy drug user, and becomes increasingly paranoid
. He disapproves of Denise writing songs for the TV show, insisting that it's beneath her. His bandmates distance themselves from him, leaving him to work alone in his studio. In a fit of paranoia, he accuses Denise of stealing tapes from him, but when it turns out that he threw the tapes over the studio balcony in a fit of irritation and then forgot that he had done so, Denise is distressed. He also takes his and her children to the museum and forgets to bring them home. While Denise is at a club with Doris, Jay, directionless and in despair at his inability to be more responsible, wanders into the ocean and drowns. Numbed by Jay's death, Denise retires with her family to a hippie commune
and adopts yet another father-figure in the commune's guru.
Joel Milner visits Denise in the commune and takes her and her children out to dinner. That night, he confronts her with her constant reliance on men for guidance and her failure to take responsibility for her own talent. Denise's suppressed anger spills out, and she screams at Milner that he is a "fucking leech" who exploited her. He agrees with her, and the more he agrees with her the angrier she becomes, until he deliberately provokes her by throwing his drink into her face. She strikes him and then collapses in tears, grieving for Jay. Milner consoles her and the two are reconciled.
In the closing sequence, Denise is seen confidently recording and producing her first solo album Grace of My Heart with her extended family and friends in attendance.
, which was itself covered to great success by jazz guitarist Bill Frisell
.
Released in 1999 on Decca Records, The Sweetest Punch
consisted of jazz arrangements of the Painted From Memory songs done by Frisell and his studio group, featured vocals by Costello on two songs, and jazz singer Cassandra Wilson on two songs, one of which is a duet employing both.
were based in the Brill Building
and penned such hits as "Will You Love Me Tomorrow
" (recorded by The Shirelles
), "The Loco-Motion
" (introduced by Little Eva
, the Goffin-King's babysitter), "One Fine Day
" (a hit for The Chiffons
) and many others. In Grace of My Heart, "One Fine Day" is paid tribute in "Born to Love That Boy," the first song Waverly composes for The Luminaries (per the lyric, "I don't care what the other girls say/One fine day he'll marry me"). "Born to Love That Boy," written by Goffin and Larry Klein, also recalls the thematically similar "He's A Rebel
," a Gene Pitney
penned tune made famous by The Crystals
, after being turned down by Vicki Carr. Louise Goffin
, daughter of Goffin and King, shares songwriting credit with her father on "Between Two Worlds" (performed on the soundtrack by Shawn Colvin
). The elder Goffin's stamp can also be found on "In Another World," the tune that establishes Waverly as a hit songwriter; the band Los Lobos
also contributes to the track. Finally, the album that shares the film's name, Grace of My Heart, is analogous to King's 1971 breakthrough album Tapestry. The Grace of My Heart album is depicted as Waverly's second attempt to sing her own songs in a commercially viable way, and she succeeds on a platinum scale (sales over one million). In real life, Tapestry was King's second serious attempt to sing her own songs in a commercially viable way, and she succeeded on an even greater scale than is shown in the film, as Tapestry sat at U.S. #1 for 15 weeks and stayed on the charts for over six years, going platinum 10 times over.
and Don Kirshner
, while The Luminaries' Doris Shelley suggests both Shirley Owen and Doris Coley
of The Shirelles
. Also, former teen duo, David and Andrew Williams (nephews of crooner Andy Williams
), are featured as Everly Brothers soundalikes. Similarly, Bridget Fonda
has an extended cameo as Kelly Porter, a dewey faced ingenue not unlike Lesley Gore
, known for bubblegum angst like "It's My Party
" and "You Don't Own Me
." The lush ballad "My Secret Love" hints at Porter's lesbianism in a nod to Gore's own professed sexuality
. Not incidentally, Gore herself co-wrote the song, which is sung on record by Miss Lily Banquette of retro-lounge
band Combustible Edison
. Furthermore, the radio moniker of Davison's character, John Murray, evokes memories of Murray the K
. Just as in real life Murray the K was an early, ardent supporter of The Beatles
, in the film John Murray explains to Denise Waverly how The Fab Four are about to revolutionize the music industry.
Besides King, Goffin and Spector, the Brill Building was home base for songwriting duo Ellie Greenwich
and Jeff Barry
, as well as Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. In Grace of My Heart, these artists, and Greenwich in particular, are referenced musically via "I Do", The Luminaries' stylistic match for "Chapel of Love
," originally written by Spector, Greenwich and Barry for The Ronettes
but best remembered for the version produced by Leiber and Stoller for The Dixie Cups
. The "doo-whaddy-whaddy" refrain of "I Do" also invites comparisons to Greenwich's "Doo-Wah-Diddy", which was recorded by The Exciters
and Manfred Mann
. Like King, however, Greenwich has no actual contributions to the movie soundtrack. '"I Do" is instead credited to Carole Bayer Sager
and Dave Stewart
(formerly of Eurythmics
).
band who is highly respected for his creative genius. However, he becomes obsessed with his latest musical project (replete with theremin
) and becomes a self-destructive recluse. In all these aspects, his character begs comparison with real-life Beach Boys' driving-force Brian Wilson
.
However, while in the movie his character becomes romantically involved with Waverly and eventually commits suicide
by drowning, in real life Wilson and King were not romantically involved, and Wilson is still alive. (It is worth noting that his brother, Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson did perish in a drowning incident). In fact, the finale more closely parallels the classic closing scenes to the first remake of A Star is Born
starring Judy Garland: suicide at sea, survivor talked out of her despondency by long-time professional friend, and a musical redemption (art triumphs over human frailty).
In a scene where Jay is sampling his 'new sound' for band members, ironically it is a member played by J Mascis
of Dinosaur Jr. who comments on how "out there
" the music is. J Mascis
is almost singly responsible for bringing the extended guitar solo to grunge, and his experimental and soulful wailings make him an ideal 'tongue-in-cheek' commentator.
in the 1976 workshop production before going to Broadway the following year.
In the beginning of the film, her character Edna/Denise performs a version of "Hey There
," which was originally heard in the musical The Pajama Game
, and was later popularized by singers such as Rosemary Clooney
. Another of Denise's big musical moments occurs when she goes into the studio to lay down vocal tracks for "God Give Me Strength," an expensively produced single that fails to generate much excitement on the charts, thus alluding to Spector's recording of "River Deep, Mountain High" for Tina Turner
(written by Spector, Greenwich and Barry). Singer Elvis Costello
, who co-wrote "God Give Me Strength" (with Burt Bacharach
) for the film, also wrote "Unwanted Number," which, in the movie, is crafted by Denise and Cazsatt as a tune for The Luminaries. The song causes a scandal because it tells a sympathetic story of an unmarried pregnant preteenager — bold for the early '60s, though comparable to similarly groundbreaking real-life songs of the era such as "He Hit Me (It Felt Like A Kiss)
" about Little Eva, the Goffin-King's babysitter who was being regularly beaten by her boyfriend at the time.
, perform a half dozen tunes onscreen but are limited to three selections on the CD: Born to Love That Boy, I Do, and Unwanted Number. Likewise, the Williams Brothers
, nephews of Andy Williams
perform two songs in the film, Heartbreak Kid and Love Doesn't Ever Fail Us, but only the latter song appears on the soundtrack disc. Both Kristen Vigard's renditions of Hey There in the form of the contest version and the more polished demo are excluded from the CD, and her In Another World is jettisoned in favor of the fictional Stylettes' rendition (via Portrait
). Vigard's performance of God Give Me Strength is also not on the soundtrack; instead the Elvis Costello
/Burt Bacharach
performance appears.
sings the countrified waltz
"Truth Is You Lied," complete with easy listening
-style background chorus reminiscent of The Anita Kerr
Singers.
"Man From Mars" was written by Joni Mitchell
, and the song appears on the CD with Kristen Vigard singing the vocal from the film (dubbing Illeana Douglas's performance). A version of the song which featured Joni Mitchell's vocal, with the same music, was on the initial pressing of roughly 40,000 soundtrack CD copies. This CD version was recalled and the soundtrack was re-released one week later with Kristen Vigard's vocal, as heard in the movie. Mitchell later re-recorded the song with different-styled music for her 1998 album Taming the Tiger
. The Mitchell version of "Man from Mars" from Grace of My Heart is very hard to come by.
The soundtrack was produced by Larry Klein
, who had been Joni Mitchell's husband and producer for years but had divorced her prior to the making of this soundtrack. He contributed to the writing of several songs on the soundtrack and appears briefly several times in the movie as a recording engineer.
is listed in the credits as Grace of My Hearts executive producer, and the film was co-edited by Thelma Schoonmaker
, who won Academy Awards for her work on Scorsese's Raging Bull, The Aviator, and The Departed
. Francois Sequin is the production designer, and the costumes are by Susan Bertram. The cast is rounded out by Lynne Adams
, Peter Fonda
, Chris Isaak
, Lucinda Jenney
, Patsy Kensit
, Christina Pickles
and Richard Schiff
.
' directorial debut That Thing You Do!
, which likewise covered the early to mid 1960s pop music scene and featured original, retro
-styled songs on the soundtrack.
Grace of My Heart was Anders's fourth feature film, and followed her Border Radio
(1987), Gas Food Lodging
(1992), and Mi Vida Loca
(1993).
Allison Anders
Allison Anders is an American film and television director. Anders has directed many independent films, on which she frequently collaborates with fellow UCLA film school graduate Kurt Voss.-Biography:...
, set in the pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
world, starting off in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
's Brill Building
Brill Building
The Brill Building is an office building located at 1619 Broadway on 49th Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, just north of Times Square and further uptown from the historic musical Tin Pan Alley neighborhood...
early 1960s era, weaving through the California Sound of the mid '60s and culminating with the adult-contemporary scene of the early 1970s.
The plot follows the personal life and career trajectory of its protagonist, Denise Waverly. The soundtrack features a variety of songs by such artists as Burt Bacharach
Burt Bacharach
Burt F. Bacharach is an American pianist, composer and music producer. He is known for his popular hit songs and compositions from the mid-1950s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David. Many of their hits were produced specifically for, and performed by, Dionne Warwick...
, Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
, Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
, and Jill Sobule
Jill Sobule
Jill Sobule is an American singer-songwriter best known for the 1995 single "I Kissed a Girl", and "Supermodel" from the soundtrack of the 1995 film Clueless...
, which replicate the musical style that emerged from the Brill Building
Brill Building
The Brill Building is an office building located at 1619 Broadway on 49th Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, just north of Times Square and further uptown from the historic musical Tin Pan Alley neighborhood...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
's music factory during the heyday of girl groups and "pre-fab" acts like The Monkees
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...
.
Plot
Edna Buxton (Douglas) is a steel heiress from Chestnut HillChestnut Hill
-Geography:* Chestnut Hill, Cumbria, England* Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States* Chestnut Hill Cove, Maryland, United States* Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States* Chestnut Hill, West Virginia, United States...
, Philadelphia, who wants to be a singer and enters a local talent contest. She plans to sing "You'll Never Walk Alone
You'll Never Walk Alone (song)
"You'll Never Walk Alone" is a show tune from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel.In the musical, in the second act, Nettie Fowler, the cousin of the female protagonist Julie Jordan, sings "You'll Never Walk Alone" to comfort and encourage Julie when her husband, Billy Bigelow, the...
," until, backstage, she meets a blues singer named Doris Shelley (Warren) who is belting out "The Blues Ain't Nothin' (But a Woman Cryin' for her Man)." Doris advises Edna to follow her heart, so Edna sings "Hey There
Hey There
"Hey There" is a show tune from the musical play The Pajama Game, written by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. It was published in 1954.It was subsequently recorded by a number of artists. The recording by Rosemary Clooney reached #1 on Billboard's chart in 1954. Another version was also recorded about...
" instead and wins the contest. She uses some of her own money to record a demo of her first original song, "In Another World". Record producer Joel Milner (Turturro) likes the demo but says he cannot market a girl singer-songwriter. He becomes her agent, renames her "Denise Waverly" and invents a blue-collar persona for her. Milner also reworks her song for a male doo-wop
Doo-wop
The name Doo-wop is given to a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music that developed in African American communities in the 1940s and achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. It emerged from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and...
group, the Stylettes, and the song becomes a hit.
Denise moves to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and becomes a professional songwriter in the Brill Building
Brill Building
The Brill Building is an office building located at 1619 Broadway on 49th Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, just north of Times Square and further uptown from the historic musical Tin Pan Alley neighborhood...
. She worries that she will not be able to pen a follow-up to "In Another World," but Milner encourages her to look at the world around her. She meets fellow songwriter Howard Caszatt (Stoltz), and after a difficult first encounter she becomes professionally and romantically involved with him. She also meets Doris, an unsuccessful young singer, and persuades Milner to let Doris and her group audition. Milner likes the group and the song Denise has written, and he renames them the Luminaries.
The group is a success, and disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
John Murray (Davison) credits Denise with "sparking the craze for girl groups." Denise and Howard write a song about the condition of working class black girls in New York City. Denise then suggests that she and Howard should write a wedding-themed song for the Luminaries. Howard refuses, but when Denise reveals that she is pregnant with Howard's child they get married and have a daughter. However, Howard starts flirting with Cheryl Steed (Kensit), a newly hired English songwriter.
Joel asks Cheryl and her husband Matthew (Isaak) to write a song for the Luminaries. The result becomes a hit. Howard, annoyed, concedes that Denise's instincts were right. Then Joel asks Denise and Cheryl to collaborate on writing a song for closeted lesbian ingenue singer Kelly Porter (Fonda). Denise agrees, even though she dislikes Cheryl, but when she arrives home unexpectedly and finds Howard in bed with another woman, she takes her child in a cab to the studio and tells Cheryl what has happened. Cheryl comforts Denise and the two become friends.
Denise throws herself into her work and becomes a highly successful songwriter. Having broken up with Howard, she has a brief but unhappy affair with the married John Murray, which ends when he moves with his family to Chicago. She learns that she is pregnant with Howard's second baby; Cheryl convinces her to go to an obstetrician, who safely performs an illegal abortion.
With the British Invasion
British Invasion
The British Invasion is a term used to describe the large number of rock and roll, beat, rock, and pop performers from the United Kingdom who became popular in the United States during the time period from 1964 through 1966.- Background :...
, the Brill Building songwriting machine has become obsolete. Milner tells Denise she should not be so sad, because she forced him to take chances he would have never had the courage to tackle alone. He finally allows her to become a singer, and introduces her to Jay Phillips (Dillon), the singer, songwriter and producer of a popular surf-rock group. Denise initially hates Jay's music, but agrees to let him produce her. She writes and sings "God Give Me Strength," and she is delighted when he gives the song a skilful orchestral arrangement. However, the record bombs, and Denise blames herself for making the song too personal. Denise and Jay become a couple and resettle in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
at the height of the hippie movement. Cheryl is songwriting in Los Angeles. She and Denise collaborate on songs for a Bubblegum pop
Bubblegum pop
Bubblegum pop is a genre of pop music with an upbeat sound contrived and marketed to appeal to pre-teens and teenagers, produced in an assembly-line process, driven by producers, often using unknown singers.Bubblegum's classic period ran from 1967 to 1972...
TV show called Where the Action Is
Where the Action Is
Where the Action Is or ' was a music-based television variety show in the United States from 1965–67. It was carried by the ABC network and aired each weekday afternoon...
.
Jay is affectionate but also childlike, reclusive and a heavy drug user, and becomes increasingly paranoid
Paranoia
Paranoia [] is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself...
. He disapproves of Denise writing songs for the TV show, insisting that it's beneath her. His bandmates distance themselves from him, leaving him to work alone in his studio. In a fit of paranoia, he accuses Denise of stealing tapes from him, but when it turns out that he threw the tapes over the studio balcony in a fit of irritation and then forgot that he had done so, Denise is distressed. He also takes his and her children to the museum and forgets to bring them home. While Denise is at a club with Doris, Jay, directionless and in despair at his inability to be more responsible, wanders into the ocean and drowns. Numbed by Jay's death, Denise retires with her family to a hippie commune
Commune
Commune may refer to:In society:* Commune, a human community in which resources are shared* Commune , a township or municipality* One of the Communes of France* An Italian Comune...
and adopts yet another father-figure in the commune's guru.
Joel Milner visits Denise in the commune and takes her and her children out to dinner. That night, he confronts her with her constant reliance on men for guidance and her failure to take responsibility for her own talent. Denise's suppressed anger spills out, and she screams at Milner that he is a "fucking leech" who exploited her. He agrees with her, and the more he agrees with her the angrier she becomes, until he deliberately provokes her by throwing his drink into her face. She strikes him and then collapses in tears, grieving for Jay. Milner consoles her and the two are reconciled.
In the closing sequence, Denise is seen confidently recording and producing her first solo album Grace of My Heart with her extended family and friends in attendance.
Closing credits
Over the credits, Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello are shown singing and playing their own fully orchestrated version of their co-penned work "God Give Me Strength", which received far greater hit status in the real world than it did in the movie. As a result, over the ensuing two years, Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello expanded their collaboration to include an entire album Painted from MemoryPainted from Memory
Painted from Memory is a collaboration between Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach. It was released September 29, 1998 on Mercury Records, a division of Universal Music Group....
, which was itself covered to great success by jazz guitarist Bill Frisell
Bill Frisell
William Richard "Bill" Frisell is an American guitarist and composer.One of the leading guitarists in jazz since the late 1980s, Frisell's eclectic music touches on progressive folk, classical music, country music, noise and more...
.
Released in 1999 on Decca Records, The Sweetest Punch
The Sweetest Punch
The Sweetest Punch is a 1999 album by Elvis Costello and Bill Frisell, released as a companion album to 1998's Painted from Memory. Many of the earlier album's songs are featured with new arrangements by Frisell, and mostly in instrumental versions....
consisted of jazz arrangements of the Painted From Memory songs done by Frisell and his studio group, featured vocals by Costello on two songs, and jazz singer Cassandra Wilson on two songs, one of which is a duet employing both.
Real life influence
The movie, although making no claim of having been inspired by real-life personas, does have some resemblance or connections to the lives of some of the most iconic American Pop singers-songwriters of the 1960s and 1970s, although such connections are intentionally blurred and at times cross-written between two different characters, or merged into one.Goffin-King connection
In real life, Carole King and her first husband Gerry GoffinGerry Goffin
Gerry Goffin is an American lyricist. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 with former songwriting partner and first wife, Carole King. he has co-written six Billboard Hot 100 chart-toppers.-Career:Goffin enlisted with the Marine Corps Reserve after graduating from...
were based in the Brill Building
Brill Building
The Brill Building is an office building located at 1619 Broadway on 49th Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, just north of Times Square and further uptown from the historic musical Tin Pan Alley neighborhood...
and penned such hits as "Will You Love Me Tomorrow
Will You Love Me Tomorrow
"Will You Love Me Tomorrow", also known as "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow", is a song written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King and originally recorded by The Shirelles. It has been recorded by many artists and was ranked among Rolling Stone 's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time at #125...
" (recorded by The Shirelles
The Shirelles
The Shirelles were an African-American girl group that achieved popularity in the early 1960s. They consisted of schoolmates Shirley Owens , Doris Coley , Addie "Micki" Harris , and Beverly Lee...
), "The Loco-Motion
The Loco-Motion
"The Loco-Motion" is a 1962 pop song written by American songwriters Gerry Goffin and Carole King. The song is notable for appearing in the American Top 5 three times – each time in a different decade: for Little Eva in 1962 ; for Grand Funk Railroad in 1974 ; and for Kylie Minogue in 1988 "The...
" (introduced by Little Eva
Little Eva
Eva Narcissus Boyd , known by the stage name of Little Eva , was an American pop singer.-Biography:...
, the Goffin-King's babysitter), "One Fine Day
One Fine Day (song)
"One Fine Day" has been recorded by a diverse array of artists including Susie Allanson, the Carpenters as part of the oldies medley on their album Now and Then, Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods, Even in Blackouts, Kids Incorporated, David Lasley, Natalie Merchant , the Mountain Goats, Aaron Neville,...
" (a hit for The Chiffons
The Chiffons
The Chiffons was an all girl group originating from the Bronx area of New York in 1960.-Biography:The Chiffons were one of the top girl groups of the early 1960s...
) and many others. In Grace of My Heart, "One Fine Day" is paid tribute in "Born to Love That Boy," the first song Waverly composes for The Luminaries (per the lyric, "I don't care what the other girls say/One fine day he'll marry me"). "Born to Love That Boy," written by Goffin and Larry Klein, also recalls the thematically similar "He's A Rebel
He's a Rebel
"He's a Rebel" is a pop song credited to the girl group The Crystals, reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in November 1962. Written by Gene Pitney and produced by Phil Spector, it is considered one of the definitive examples of the Spector-produced girl group sound.In 2004, the song was...
," a Gene Pitney
Gene Pitney
Eugene Francis Alan Pitney, known as Gene Pitney , was an American singer-songwriter, musician and sound engineer. Through the mid-1960s, he enjoyed success as a recording artist on both sides of the Atlantic and was among the group of early 1960s American acts who continued to enjoy hits after the...
penned tune made famous by The Crystals
The Crystals
The Crystals are an American vocal group based in New York, considered one of the defining acts of the girl group era of the first half of the 1960s. Their 1961–1964 chart hits, including "Uptown", "He's a Rebel", "Da Doo Ron Ron " and "Then He Kissed Me", featured three successive female lead...
, after being turned down by Vicki Carr. Louise Goffin
Louise Goffin
Louise Lynn Goffin is a singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Signed by record executive Lenny Waronker to Dreamworks in 1999, Louise released her critically acclaimed CD Sometimes a Circle on Dreamworks in 2002...
, daughter of Goffin and King, shares songwriting credit with her father on "Between Two Worlds" (performed on the soundtrack by Shawn Colvin
Shawn Colvin
Shawn Colvin is an American singer-songwriter and musician.-Childhood and early career:Colvin was born in Vermillion, South Dakota. Her formative years were spent in the town of Carbondale, Illinois, where she attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She learned to play guitar at the age...
). The elder Goffin's stamp can also be found on "In Another World," the tune that establishes Waverly as a hit songwriter; the band Los Lobos
Los Lobos
Los Lobos are a multiple Grammy Award–winning American Chicano rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional Spanish and Mexican music such as cumbia, boleros and norteños.-History:The...
also contributes to the track. Finally, the album that shares the film's name, Grace of My Heart, is analogous to King's 1971 breakthrough album Tapestry. The Grace of My Heart album is depicted as Waverly's second attempt to sing her own songs in a commercially viable way, and she succeeds on a platinum scale (sales over one million). In real life, Tapestry was King's second serious attempt to sing her own songs in a commercially viable way, and she succeeded on an even greater scale than is shown in the film, as Tapestry sat at U.S. #1 for 15 weeks and stayed on the charts for over six years, going platinum 10 times over.
Stand-ins for Phil Spector, Lesley Gore, Ellie Greenwich, etc.
Elsewhere, real life permeates Grace of My Heart in several forms, such as Turturro's character who invites comparisons to both Phil SpectorPhil Spector
Phillip Harvey "Phil" Spector is an American record producer and songwriter, later known for his conviction in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson....
and Don Kirshner
Don Kirshner
Don Kirshner , known as "The Man With the Golden Ear", was an American song publisher and rock producer who is best known for managing songwriting talent as well as successful pop groups, such as The Monkees, Kansas and The Archies.-Early life:Don Kirshner was born to Gilbert Kirshner, a tailor,...
, while The Luminaries' Doris Shelley suggests both Shirley Owen and Doris Coley
Doris Coley
Doris Coley was a member of the Shirelles. She initially left the group in 1968, but returned in 1975....
of The Shirelles
The Shirelles
The Shirelles were an African-American girl group that achieved popularity in the early 1960s. They consisted of schoolmates Shirley Owens , Doris Coley , Addie "Micki" Harris , and Beverly Lee...
. Also, former teen duo, David and Andrew Williams (nephews of crooner Andy Williams
Andy Williams
Howard Andrew "Andy" Williams is an American singer who has recorded 18 Gold- and three Platinum-certified albums. He hosted The Andy Williams Show, a TV variety show, from 1962 to 1971, as well as numerous television specials, and owns his own theater, the Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri,...
), are featured as Everly Brothers soundalikes. Similarly, Bridget Fonda
Bridget Fonda
Bridget Jane Fonda is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in films such as The Godfather Part III, Single White Female, Point of No Return, It Could Happen to You, and Jackie Brown...
has an extended cameo as Kelly Porter, a dewey faced ingenue not unlike Lesley Gore
Lesley Gore
Lesley Gore is an American singer. She is perhaps best known for her 1963 pop hit "It's My Party", which she recorded at the age of 16. Following the hit, she became one of the most recognized teen pop singers of the 1960s.- Biography :Gore was born in New York City, New York. She was raised in...
, known for bubblegum angst like "It's My Party
It's My Party
It's My Party may refer to:*"It's My Party" , a 1963 number-one single by Lesley Gore*It's My Party , a 1996 film*It's My Party , a weekly reality TV show broadcast by RTÉ in summer 2006...
" and "You Don't Own Me
You Don't Own Me
"You Don't Own Me" is a popular song written by the Philadelphia songwriters John Madara and David White, and recorded by Lesley Gore in 1963, when Gore was 17 years old. The song reached No...
." The lush ballad "My Secret Love" hints at Porter's lesbianism in a nod to Gore's own professed sexuality
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
. Not incidentally, Gore herself co-wrote the song, which is sung on record by Miss Lily Banquette of retro-lounge
Lounge music
Lounge music is a retrospective description of music popular in the 1950s and 1960s. It is a type of mood music meant to evoke in the listeners the feeling of being in a place — a jungle, an island paradise, outer space, et cetera — other than where they are listening to it...
band Combustible Edison
Combustible Edison
Combustible Edison was a group founded in the early 1990s in Providence, Rhode Island, and was one of several lounge music acts that led a brief resurgence of interest in the genre during the mid-1990s...
. Furthermore, the radio moniker of Davison's character, John Murray, evokes memories of Murray the K
Murray the K
Murray Kaufman , professionally known as Murray the K, was an influential rock and roll impresario and disc jockey of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s...
. Just as in real life Murray the K was an early, ardent supporter of The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, in the film John Murray explains to Denise Waverly how The Fab Four are about to revolutionize the music industry.
Besides King, Goffin and Spector, the Brill Building was home base for songwriting duo Ellie Greenwich
Ellie Greenwich
Eleanor Louise "Ellie" Greenwich was an American pop music singer, songwriter, and record producer. She wrote or co-wrote "Be My Baby", "Christmas ", "Da Doo Ron Ron", "Leader of the Pack", "Do Wah Diddy Diddy", and "River Deep, Mountain High", among many others...
and Jeff Barry
Jeff Barry
Jeff Barry is an American pop music songwriter, singer, and record producer.-Early career:...
, as well as Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. In Grace of My Heart, these artists, and Greenwich in particular, are referenced musically via "I Do", The Luminaries' stylistic match for "Chapel of Love
Chapel of Love
"Chapel of Love" is a song written by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich and Phil Spector, and made famous by The Dixie Cups in 1964, spending three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. There have also been many other versions of this song...
," originally written by Spector, Greenwich and Barry for The Ronettes
The Ronettes
The Ronettes were a 1960s girl group from New York City, best known for their work with producer Phil Spector. The group consisted of lead singer Veronica Bennett ; her older sister, Estelle Bennett; and their cousin Nedra Talley...
but best remembered for the version produced by Leiber and Stoller for The Dixie Cups
The Dixie Cups
The Dixie Cups are an American pop music girl group of the 1960s. They are best known for their 1964 million selling disc, "Chapel of Love".-Career:...
. The "doo-whaddy-whaddy" refrain of "I Do" also invites comparisons to Greenwich's "Doo-Wah-Diddy", which was recorded by The Exciters
The Exciters
The Exciters were an American pop music group of the 1960s. They were originally a girl group, although a male member was added later. The group consisted of lead singer Brenda Reid, her husband Herb Rooney, Carolyn Johnson and Lillian Walker....
and Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann was a British beat, rhythm and blues and pop band of the 1960s, named after their South African keyboardist, Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band...
. Like King, however, Greenwich has no actual contributions to the movie soundtrack. '"I Do" is instead credited to Carole Bayer Sager
Carole Bayer Sager
Carole Bayer Sager is an American lyricist, songwriter, singer, and painter.-Introduction:Born in New York City, Sager graduated from New York University, where she majored in English, dramatic arts and speech...
and Dave Stewart
David A. Stewart
David Allan Stewart , often known as Dave Stewart, is an English musician, songwriter and record producer, best known for his work with Eurythmics. He is usually credited as David A. Stewart, to avoid confusion with other musicians named "Dave Stewart".-Early life:Stewart was born in Sunderland,...
(formerly of Eurythmics
Eurythmics
Eurythmics were a British pop rock duo, formed in 1980, currently disbanded, but known to reunite from time to time. Consisting of members Annie Lennox and David A...
).
Brian Wilson Connection
Matt Dillon portrays a singer/producer later in the movie, with whom Waverly falls in love. His character, Jay, is the lead singer of a surf musicSurf music
Surf music is a genre of popular music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Orange County and other areas of Southern California. It was particularly popular between 1961 and 1965, has subsequently been revived and was highly influential on subsequent rock music...
band who is highly respected for his creative genius. However, he becomes obsessed with his latest musical project (replete with theremin
Theremin
The theremin , originally known as the aetherphone/etherophone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without discernible physical contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Léon Theremin, who patented the device...
) and becomes a self-destructive recluse. In all these aspects, his character begs comparison with real-life Beach Boys' driving-force Brian Wilson
Brian Wilson
Brian Douglas Wilson is an American musician, best known as the leader and chief songwriter of the group The Beach Boys. Within the band, Wilson played bass and keyboards, also providing part-time lead vocals and, more often, backing vocals, harmonizing in falsetto with the group...
.
However, while in the movie his character becomes romantically involved with Waverly and eventually commits suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
by drowning, in real life Wilson and King were not romantically involved, and Wilson is still alive. (It is worth noting that his brother, Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson did perish in a drowning incident). In fact, the finale more closely parallels the classic closing scenes to the first remake of A Star is Born
A Star Is Born (1954 film)
A Star Is Born is a 1954 American musical film directed by George Cukor. The screenplay written by Moss Hart was an adaptation of the original 1937 film, which was based on the original screenplay by Robert Carson, Dorothy Parker, and Alan Campbell...
starring Judy Garland: suicide at sea, survivor talked out of her despondency by long-time professional friend, and a musical redemption (art triumphs over human frailty).
In a scene where Jay is sampling his 'new sound' for band members, ironically it is a member played by J Mascis
J Mascis
J Mascis is an American musician, best known as the singer, guitarist and songwriter for Dinosaur Jr.. In 2011, he was ranked in Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.- Biography :...
of Dinosaur Jr. who comments on how "out there
Out There
Out There is a Logie winning, Australian made television show, following the trials and tribulations of an American high school boy named Reilly who moves to Australia from Connecticut as his father flees the authorities...
" the music is. J Mascis
J Mascis
J Mascis is an American musician, best known as the singer, guitarist and songwriter for Dinosaur Jr.. In 2011, he was ranked in Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.- Biography :...
is almost singly responsible for bringing the extended guitar solo to grunge, and his experimental and soulful wailings make him an ideal 'tongue-in-cheek' commentator.
Music
Though actress Illeana Douglas apparently sings throughout the movie, her singing is always dubbed by singer Kristen Vigard, notable for being the very first girl to portray AnnieAnnie (musical)
Annie is a Broadway musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie, with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and the book by Thomas Meehan. The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years with a blonde Annie as the poster...
in the 1976 workshop production before going to Broadway the following year.
In the beginning of the film, her character Edna/Denise performs a version of "Hey There
Hey There
"Hey There" is a show tune from the musical play The Pajama Game, written by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. It was published in 1954.It was subsequently recorded by a number of artists. The recording by Rosemary Clooney reached #1 on Billboard's chart in 1954. Another version was also recorded about...
," which was originally heard in the musical The Pajama Game
The Pajama Game
The Pajama Game is a musical based on the novel 7½ Cents by Richard Bissell. It features a score by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The story deals with labor troubles in a pajama factory, where worker demands for a seven-and-a-half cents raise are going unheeded...
, and was later popularized by singers such as Rosemary Clooney
Rosemary Clooney
Rosemary Clooney was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the novelty hit "Come On-a My House" written by William Saroyan and his cousin Ross Bagdasarian , which was followed by other pop numbers such as "Botch-a-Me" Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 –...
. Another of Denise's big musical moments occurs when she goes into the studio to lay down vocal tracks for "God Give Me Strength," an expensively produced single that fails to generate much excitement on the charts, thus alluding to Spector's recording of "River Deep, Mountain High" for Tina Turner
Tina Turner
Tina Turner is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards and her achievements in the rock music genre have led many to call her the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll".Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the...
(written by Spector, Greenwich and Barry). Singer Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
, who co-wrote "God Give Me Strength" (with Burt Bacharach
Burt Bacharach
Burt F. Bacharach is an American pianist, composer and music producer. He is known for his popular hit songs and compositions from the mid-1950s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David. Many of their hits were produced specifically for, and performed by, Dionne Warwick...
) for the film, also wrote "Unwanted Number," which, in the movie, is crafted by Denise and Cazsatt as a tune for The Luminaries. The song causes a scandal because it tells a sympathetic story of an unmarried pregnant preteenager — bold for the early '60s, though comparable to similarly groundbreaking real-life songs of the era such as "He Hit Me (It Felt Like A Kiss)
He Hit Me (It Felt Like A Kiss)
"He Hit Me " is a pop song written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King and recorded by The Crystals under the guidance of Phil Spector in 1962.-The song:...
" about Little Eva, the Goffin-King's babysitter who was being regularly beaten by her boyfriend at the time.
Exclusions
Although Grace of My Heart is chock full of musical sequences, the selections were pared down for the soundtrack CD. For instance, the fictional Luminaries, dubbed by girl group For RealFor Real
For Real was an American R&B and soul quartet, that formed in 1993. In the latter part of that decade they were nominated for a Grammy, Billboard Music Award, and Soul Train Music Award.-Biography:...
, perform a half dozen tunes onscreen but are limited to three selections on the CD: Born to Love That Boy, I Do, and Unwanted Number. Likewise, the Williams Brothers
Williams Brothers
The Williams Brothers were a singing quartet that performed extensively on radio, movies, nightclubs, and television from 1938 through the 1990s.-History:...
, nephews of Andy Williams
Andy Williams
Howard Andrew "Andy" Williams is an American singer who has recorded 18 Gold- and three Platinum-certified albums. He hosted The Andy Williams Show, a TV variety show, from 1962 to 1971, as well as numerous television specials, and owns his own theater, the Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri,...
perform two songs in the film, Heartbreak Kid and Love Doesn't Ever Fail Us, but only the latter song appears on the soundtrack disc. Both Kristen Vigard's renditions of Hey There in the form of the contest version and the more polished demo are excluded from the CD, and her In Another World is jettisoned in favor of the fictional Stylettes' rendition (via Portrait
Portrait (group)
Portrait are an American R&B vocal quartet, consisting of members Michael Angelo Saulsberry, Irving Washington III, Eric Kirkland and Philip Johnson.-Career:...
). Vigard's performance of God Give Me Strength is also not on the soundtrack; instead the Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
/Burt Bacharach
Burt Bacharach
Burt F. Bacharach is an American pianist, composer and music producer. He is known for his popular hit songs and compositions from the mid-1950s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David. Many of their hits were produced specifically for, and performed by, Dionne Warwick...
performance appears.
Inclusions
Also on the CD, Jill SobuleJill Sobule
Jill Sobule is an American singer-songwriter best known for the 1995 single "I Kissed a Girl", and "Supermodel" from the soundtrack of the 1995 film Clueless...
sings the countrified waltz
Waltz
The waltz is a ballroom and folk dance in time, performed primarily in closed position.- History :There are several references to a sliding or gliding dance,- a waltz, from the 16th century including the representations of the printer H.S. Beheim...
"Truth Is You Lied," complete with easy listening
Easy listening
Easy listening is a broad style of popular music and radio format that emerged in the 1950s, evolving out of big band music, and related to MOR music as played on many AM radio stations. It encompasses the exotica, beautiful music, light music, lounge music, ambient music, and space age pop genres...
-style background chorus reminiscent of The Anita Kerr
Anita Kerr
Anita Jean Grilli , known profesioanlly as Anita Kerr, is an American singer, arranger, composer, conductor, pianist, and music producer. She recorded and performed successfully with her vocal harmony groups in Nashville, Los Angeles, and Europe.-Nashville:Kerr was born in Memphis, Tennessee...
Singers.
Joni Mitchell
"Man From Mars" was written by Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
, and the song appears on the CD with Kristen Vigard singing the vocal from the film (dubbing Illeana Douglas's performance). A version of the song which featured Joni Mitchell's vocal, with the same music, was on the initial pressing of roughly 40,000 soundtrack CD copies. This CD version was recalled and the soundtrack was re-released one week later with Kristen Vigard's vocal, as heard in the movie. Mitchell later re-recorded the song with different-styled music for her 1998 album Taming the Tiger
Taming the Tiger
Taming the Tiger is the sixteenth studio album by Joni Mitchell. It was released in 1998 and was widely believed to be the last album of new material Mitchell would ever release . The title refers to the unexpected commercial and critical success of her previous album Turbulent Indigo...
. The Mitchell version of "Man from Mars" from Grace of My Heart is very hard to come by.
The soundtrack was produced by Larry Klein
Larry Klein
Larry Klein is a music producer, songwriter and bass guitar player, commonly known for being the frequent musical collaborator, and ex-husband, of Joni Mitchell....
, who had been Joni Mitchell's husband and producer for years but had divorced her prior to the making of this soundtrack. He contributed to the writing of several songs on the soundtrack and appears briefly several times in the movie as a recording engineer.
Additional credits
Martin ScorseseMartin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
is listed in the credits as Grace of My Hearts executive producer, and the film was co-edited by Thelma Schoonmaker
Thelma Schoonmaker
Thelma Schoonmaker is an American film editor who has worked with director Martin Scorsese for over forty years. She has edited all of Scorsese's films since Raging Bull...
, who won Academy Awards for her work on Scorsese's Raging Bull, The Aviator, and The Departed
The Departed
The Departed is a 2006 American crime thriller film, fashioned as a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs. The film was directed by Martin Scorsese and written by William Monahan...
. Francois Sequin is the production designer, and the costumes are by Susan Bertram. The cast is rounded out by Lynne Adams
Lynne Adams
Lynne Adams is an American actress.Adams played the role of Leslie Jackson Bauer Norris from 1966–71 and again from 1973-76 on The Guiding Light. She was the second generation in her family to act on the program; both her parents had roles in the radio incarnation in the 1940s...
, Peter Fonda
Peter Fonda
Peter Henry Fonda is an American actor. He is the son of Henry Fonda, brother of Jane Fonda, and father of Bridget and Justin Fonda...
, Chris Isaak
Chris Isaak
Christopher Joseph "Chris" Isaak is an American rock musician and occasional actor.-Early life:Isaak was born in Stockton, California, the son of Dorothy , a potato chip factory worker, and Joe Isaak, a forklift driver. Isaak's mother is Italian American, originating from Genoa...
, Lucinda Jenney
Lucinda Jenney
-Career:Jenney began her acting career in 1984 with Hearts and Diamonds. Several roles followed throughout the eighties, appearing in the 1986 comedy The Whoopee Boys, the award-winning Peggy Sue Got Married, with Kathleen Turner and Nicholas Cage. She appeared as 'Iris' in the Oscar-winning film...
, Patsy Kensit
Patsy Kensit
Patricia Jude Francis "Patsy" Kensit is an English actress, singer, model and former child star, known for her television and film appearances. Her films include Lethal Weapon 2 and she has been married to rock stars Jim Kerr and Liam Gallagher, as well as herself fronting the band Eighth Wonder...
, Christina Pickles
Christina Pickles
Christina Pickles is an English actress, best known for her long-running role of Nurse Helen Rosenthal in the hospital drama St. Elsewhere, for which she was nominated for four Emmys.-Life and career:...
and Richard Schiff
Richard Schiff
Richard Schiff is an American actor. He is best known for playing Toby Ziegler on the NBC television drama The West Wing, a role for which he received an Emmy Award...
.
Impact
The film was released in the fall of 1996, just ahead of Oscar winning actor Tom HanksTom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
' directorial debut That Thing You Do!
That Thing You Do!
That Thing You Do! is a 1996 comedy-drama musical film written and directed by Tom Hanks. Set in the summer of 1964, the movie tells the story of the quick rise and fall of a one-hit wonder rock band...
, which likewise covered the early to mid 1960s pop music scene and featured original, retro
Retro
Retro is a culturally outdated or aged style, trend, mode, or fashion, from the overall postmodern past, that has since that time become functionally or superficially the norm once again. The use of "retro" style iconography and imagery interjected into post-modern art, advertising, mass media, etc...
-styled songs on the soundtrack.
Grace of My Heart was Anders's fourth feature film, and followed her Border Radio
Border Radio
Border Radio is a 1987 independent film directed by Allison Anders, Dean Lent and Kurt Voss, in which two musicians and a roadie who haven't been paid rob money from a club and one flees to Mexico leaving his wife and daughter behind...
(1987), Gas Food Lodging
Gas Food Lodging
Gas Food Lodging is a 1992 movie directed by Allison Anders about a waitress trying to find romance while raising two daughters in a trailer-park. It stars Brooke Adams, Ione Skye, and Fairuza Balk. The film was adapted from the novel Don't Look and It Won't Hurt by Richard Peck...
(1992), and Mi Vida Loca
Mi Vida Loca
Mi Vida Loca is a 1993 American drama film directed and written by Allison Anders. This film includes Jason Lee's first performance as an actor in a small role alongside director Spike Jonze as a drug buyer....
(1993).