Soapdish
Encyclopedia
Soapdish is a 1991 comedy film
which tells a backstage story of the cast and crew of a popular fictional television soap opera
. It stars Sally Field
as an aging soap star, joined by Kevin Kline
, Robert Downey, Jr., Elisabeth Shue
, Whoopi Goldberg
, Teri Hatcher
, Cathy Moriarty
, Garry Marshall
, Kathy Najimy
, and Carrie Fisher
, as well as cameo appearance
s by TV personalities like Leeza Gibbons
, John Tesh
(both playing themselves as Entertainment Tonight
hosts/reporters), and Ben Stein
. Kline was nominated for a Golden Globe Award
for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for the film.
Soapdish was directed by Michael Hoffman, from a screenplay
by Robert Harling
and Andrew Bergman
. The film was produced by Aaron Spelling
and Field's then-husband Alan Greisman.
), the longtime star of the popular daytime drama The Sun Also Sets, is targeted by costar Montana Moorehead (Cathy Moriarty
); Montana connives to supplant Celeste as the show's star by promising sexual favors to its producer, David Seton Barnes (Robert Downey, Jr.). To make the audience hate Celeste's character, Montana and David come up with a last-minute plot change in which she will accidentally kill a young, destitute deaf-mute, played by the newly-cast Lori Craven (Elisabeth Shue
). Despite the strong objections of Head Writer Rose Schwartz (Whoopi Goldberg
) and Celeste herself, the scene plays out, but is interrupted by Celeste's recognition of Lori as her real-life niece. Network honcho Edmund Edwards (Garry Marshall
) sees potential in the relationship and makes Lori a regular cast member, as Celeste tries to talk her niece out of an acting career.
Montana and David seek to further unnerve Celeste by bringing back Jeffrey Anderson (Kevin Kline
), an actor who had been fired from The Sun Also Sets (and his character decapitated) decades before after his romantic relationship with Celeste had gone sour. Bitter at being reduced to performing dinner theater for uninterested seniors in Florida, Jeffrey relishes the chance to needle Celeste. Outwardly despising Jeffrey but perhaps still harboring some feelings for him, Celeste is horrified as he and the much-younger Lori develop a close friendship. In dramatic fashion, Celeste stops a scripted onscreen kiss between Lori and Jeffrey by revealing that Lori is actually her daughter by Jeffrey. On camera, Celeste explains that she had been responsible for getting Jeffrey fired because of the pregnancy, and had passed Lori off as her niece due to pressure from the network. Despite renewed interest in the show and Lori's burst of sudden fame due to this "storyline," all three actors, furious with each other, demand "They go or I go!"
A decision is made by the network, and the actors head into a live episode in which they will read their lines from a teleprompter
to keep secret until the last minute who will be written off. It is revealed that Lori's character has "brain fever" and will die; still hoping to be rid of Celeste, Montana ad-libs and suggests that a brain transplant can save her. In character, Celeste immediately plays along, offering her own brain for the operation. Touched by the sacrifice, Lori asks Celeste not to leave the show, and softens to her newfound parents. Montana is publicly ruined by Rose who, with the help of vengeful Ariel Maloney (Teri Hatcher
), reveals the secret that Montana was once a man named Milton Moorehead. David is horrified. Later, Celeste, Jeffrey, and Lori win soap opera awards as Milton performs dinner theater at Jeffrey's former venue.
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
which tells a backstage story of the cast and crew of a popular fictional television soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
. It stars Sally Field
Sally Field
Sally Margaret Field is an American actress, singer, producer, director, and screenwriter. In each decade of her career, she has been known for major roles in American TV/film culture, including: in the 1960s, for Gidget or Sister Bertrille on The Flying Nun ; in the 1970s, for Sybil , Smokey and...
as an aging soap star, joined by Kevin Kline
Kevin Kline
Kevin Delaney Kline is an American theatre, voice, film actor and comedian. He has won an Academy Award and two Tony Awards, and has been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards and an Emmy Award.- Early life :...
, Robert Downey, Jr., Elisabeth Shue
Elisabeth Shue
Elisabeth Judson Shue is an American actress and producer, most famous for her roles in the films The Karate Kid, Adventures in Babysitting, Cocktail, Back to the Future Parts II and III and Leaving Las Vegas, for which she won five acting awards and was nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden...
, Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...
, Teri Hatcher
Teri Hatcher
Teri Lynn Hatcher is an American actress, writer, and presenter. She is known for her television roles as Susan Mayer on the ABC comedy-drama series Desperate Housewives, and Lois Lane on the ABC comedy-drama series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman...
, Cathy Moriarty
Cathy Moriarty
-Career:Her first film credit was Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull in 1980, as Vikki LaMotta, the wife of Robert De Niro's lead character. Her performance earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She also appeared opposite Andrew Dice Clay in the short-lived CBS...
, Garry Marshall
Garry Marshall
Garry Kent Marshall is an American actor, director, writer and producer. His notable credits include creating Happy Days and The Odd Couple and directing Nothing In Common, Pretty Woman, Runaway Bride, Valentine's Day, and The Princess Diaries.-Early life:Marshall was born in the New York City...
, Kathy Najimy
Kathy Najimy
Kathy Ann Najimy is an American actress, most notable as Olive Massery on the television series Veronica's Closet, Sister Mary Patrick in Sister Act and the voice of Peggy Hill on the animated television series King of the Hill. Prior to her film work, she was best known for two Off Broadway shows...
, and Carrie Fisher
Carrie Fisher
Carrie Frances Fisher is an American actress, novelist, screenwriter, and lecturer. She is most famous for her portrayal of Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy, her bestselling novel Postcards from the Edge, for which she wrote the screenplay to the film of the same name, and her...
, as well as cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
s by TV personalities like Leeza Gibbons
Leeza Gibbons
Leeza Kim Gibbons is an American talk show host. Gibbons is the host of her own radio show, Hollywood Confidential, part of the United Stations radio syndication company.-Early life:...
, John Tesh
John Tesh
John Frank Tesh is an American pianist and composer of pop music, as well as a radio host and television presenter. His 10-year-old 'Intelligence for Your Life Radio Show' reaches 14.2 Million listeners/week, and is syndicated by Teshmedia on 400 stations in US, Canada, and the UK...
(both playing themselves as Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight is a daily tabloid television entertainment television news show that is syndicated by CBS Television Distribution throughout the United States, Canada and in many countries around the world. Linda Bell Blue is currently the program's executive producer...
hosts/reporters), and Ben Stein
Ben Stein
Benjamin Jeremy "Ben" Stein is an American actor, writer, lawyer, and commentator on political and economic issues. He attained early success as a speechwriter for American presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford...
. Kline was nominated for a Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for the film.
Soapdish was directed by Michael Hoffman, from a screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
by Robert Harling
Robert Harling (writer)
Robert Harling is an American writer, producer and film director best known for his play Steel Magnolias.-Life and Career:Robert Harling was born in 1951 in Natchitoches, Louisiana...
and Andrew Bergman
Andrew Bergman
Andrew Bergman is an American screenwriter, film director, and novelist. New York magazine in 1985 dubbed him "The Unknown King of Comedy".He graduated from Binghamton University and earned a Ph.D...
. The film was produced by Aaron Spelling
Aaron Spelling
Aaron Spelling was an American film and television producer. As of 2009, Spelling's eponymous production company Spelling Television holds the record as the most prolific television writer, with 218 producer and executive producer credits...
and Field's then-husband Alan Greisman.
Plot
Celeste Talbert (Sally FieldSally Field
Sally Margaret Field is an American actress, singer, producer, director, and screenwriter. In each decade of her career, she has been known for major roles in American TV/film culture, including: in the 1960s, for Gidget or Sister Bertrille on The Flying Nun ; in the 1970s, for Sybil , Smokey and...
), the longtime star of the popular daytime drama The Sun Also Sets, is targeted by costar Montana Moorehead (Cathy Moriarty
Cathy Moriarty
-Career:Her first film credit was Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull in 1980, as Vikki LaMotta, the wife of Robert De Niro's lead character. Her performance earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She also appeared opposite Andrew Dice Clay in the short-lived CBS...
); Montana connives to supplant Celeste as the show's star by promising sexual favors to its producer, David Seton Barnes (Robert Downey, Jr.). To make the audience hate Celeste's character, Montana and David come up with a last-minute plot change in which she will accidentally kill a young, destitute deaf-mute, played by the newly-cast Lori Craven (Elisabeth Shue
Elisabeth Shue
Elisabeth Judson Shue is an American actress and producer, most famous for her roles in the films The Karate Kid, Adventures in Babysitting, Cocktail, Back to the Future Parts II and III and Leaving Las Vegas, for which she won five acting awards and was nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden...
). Despite the strong objections of Head Writer Rose Schwartz (Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...
) and Celeste herself, the scene plays out, but is interrupted by Celeste's recognition of Lori as her real-life niece. Network honcho Edmund Edwards (Garry Marshall
Garry Marshall
Garry Kent Marshall is an American actor, director, writer and producer. His notable credits include creating Happy Days and The Odd Couple and directing Nothing In Common, Pretty Woman, Runaway Bride, Valentine's Day, and The Princess Diaries.-Early life:Marshall was born in the New York City...
) sees potential in the relationship and makes Lori a regular cast member, as Celeste tries to talk her niece out of an acting career.
Montana and David seek to further unnerve Celeste by bringing back Jeffrey Anderson (Kevin Kline
Kevin Kline
Kevin Delaney Kline is an American theatre, voice, film actor and comedian. He has won an Academy Award and two Tony Awards, and has been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards and an Emmy Award.- Early life :...
), an actor who had been fired from The Sun Also Sets (and his character decapitated) decades before after his romantic relationship with Celeste had gone sour. Bitter at being reduced to performing dinner theater for uninterested seniors in Florida, Jeffrey relishes the chance to needle Celeste. Outwardly despising Jeffrey but perhaps still harboring some feelings for him, Celeste is horrified as he and the much-younger Lori develop a close friendship. In dramatic fashion, Celeste stops a scripted onscreen kiss between Lori and Jeffrey by revealing that Lori is actually her daughter by Jeffrey. On camera, Celeste explains that she had been responsible for getting Jeffrey fired because of the pregnancy, and had passed Lori off as her niece due to pressure from the network. Despite renewed interest in the show and Lori's burst of sudden fame due to this "storyline," all three actors, furious with each other, demand "They go or I go!"
A decision is made by the network, and the actors head into a live episode in which they will read their lines from a teleprompter
Teleprompter
An autocue is a display device that prompts the person speaking with an electronic visual text of a speech or script. Using a teleprompter is similar to the practice of using cue cards...
to keep secret until the last minute who will be written off. It is revealed that Lori's character has "brain fever" and will die; still hoping to be rid of Celeste, Montana ad-libs and suggests that a brain transplant can save her. In character, Celeste immediately plays along, offering her own brain for the operation. Touched by the sacrifice, Lori asks Celeste not to leave the show, and softens to her newfound parents. Montana is publicly ruined by Rose who, with the help of vengeful Ariel Maloney (Teri Hatcher
Teri Hatcher
Teri Lynn Hatcher is an American actress, writer, and presenter. She is known for her television roles as Susan Mayer on the ABC comedy-drama series Desperate Housewives, and Lois Lane on the ABC comedy-drama series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman...
), reveals the secret that Montana was once a man named Milton Moorehead. David is horrified. Later, Celeste, Jeffrey, and Lori win soap opera awards as Milton performs dinner theater at Jeffrey's former venue.
Cast
- Sally FieldSally FieldSally Margaret Field is an American actress, singer, producer, director, and screenwriter. In each decade of her career, she has been known for major roles in American TV/film culture, including: in the 1960s, for Gidget or Sister Bertrille on The Flying Nun ; in the 1970s, for Sybil , Smokey and...
as Celeste Talbert / "Maggie" - Kevin KlineKevin KlineKevin Delaney Kline is an American theatre, voice, film actor and comedian. He has won an Academy Award and two Tony Awards, and has been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards and an Emmy Award.- Early life :...
as Jeffrey Anderson / "Dr. Rod Randall" - Robert Downey, Jr. as David Seton Barnes
- Cathy MoriartyCathy Moriarty-Career:Her first film credit was Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull in 1980, as Vikki LaMotta, the wife of Robert De Niro's lead character. Her performance earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She also appeared opposite Andrew Dice Clay in the short-lived CBS...
as Montana Moorehead / "Nurse Nan" - Elisabeth ShueElisabeth ShueElisabeth Judson Shue is an American actress and producer, most famous for her roles in the films The Karate Kid, Adventures in Babysitting, Cocktail, Back to the Future Parts II and III and Leaving Las Vegas, for which she won five acting awards and was nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden...
as Lori Craven / "Angelique" - Whoopi GoldbergWhoopi GoldbergWhoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...
as Rose Schwartz - Carrie FisherCarrie FisherCarrie Frances Fisher is an American actress, novelist, screenwriter, and lecturer. She is most famous for her portrayal of Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy, her bestselling novel Postcards from the Edge, for which she wrote the screenplay to the film of the same name, and her...
as Betsy Faye Sharon - Garry MarshallGarry MarshallGarry Kent Marshall is an American actor, director, writer and producer. His notable credits include creating Happy Days and The Odd Couple and directing Nothing In Common, Pretty Woman, Runaway Bride, Valentine's Day, and The Princess Diaries.-Early life:Marshall was born in the New York City...
as Edmund Edwards - Teri HatcherTeri HatcherTeri Lynn Hatcher is an American actress, writer, and presenter. She is known for her television roles as Susan Mayer on the ABC comedy-drama series Desperate Housewives, and Lois Lane on the ABC comedy-drama series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman...
as Ariel Maloney / "Dr. Monica Demonico" - Kathy NajimyKathy NajimyKathy Ann Najimy is an American actress, most notable as Olive Massery on the television series Veronica's Closet, Sister Mary Patrick in Sister Act and the voice of Peggy Hill on the animated television series King of the Hill. Prior to her film work, she was best known for two Off Broadway shows...
as Tawny Miller - Paul JohanssonPaul JohanssonPaul Joseph Otto Johansson is an American-born Canadian actor, writer and director, best known for playing Dan Scott on the WB/CW television series, One Tree Hill, and for his role as Nick Wolfe on the short lived Highlander: The Series spin-off Highlander: The Raven...
as Blair Brennan / "Bolt" - Sheila KelleySheila Kelley (American actress)Sheila Kelley is an American television actress. She is best known for her roles as Gwen Taylor on L.A. Law and as Dr. Charlotte "Charley" Bennett Hayes on Sisters.-Early life:...
as Fran