Featurette: Drop Dead Gorgeous (with Two Judgey Girls)

WHAT WENT WRONG

This bonus episode of 'What Went Wrong' explores the tumultuous production and unexpected cult status of the 1999 film 'Drop Dead Gorgeous.' Despite being a box office failure, the movie has gained enduring popularity due to

Key takeaways

The film was a critical and commercial failure upon release but has since become a cult classic due to its sharp satire and ensemble performances.
Lona Williams, the film's writer, was denied the role she wrote for herself, highlighting systemic barriers for female creators in Hollywood.

Main topics

The troubled production of 'Drop Dead Gorgeous'
Creative conflicts between writer and director

Notable quotes

"This is a murderer's row of a cast. The fact that Amy Adams is just like one of the other girls in the pageant is so funny."

"It's so crazy, but love this movie, a murderer's row of a cast."

Conclusion

Though 'Drop Dead Gorgeous' was plagued by production issues and failed commercially, its sharp writing, iconic performances, and satirical edge

Transcript preview

Speaker 4 (0:00) 🎵 Speaker 4 (0:08) Hello, dear listeners, and welcome back to another bonus episode of your favorite podcast, Full Stop. That's right, What Went Wrong, that just so happens to be about movies and how it's nearly impossible to make them, let alone a good one, let alone a great one, let alone a movie that calls into question whether or not America's a meritocracy at all, or if it's just better to be lucky. As always, I'm Chris Winterbauer, joined here by Lizzie Bassett, who's going to be guiding us through today's fantastically funny film. Lizzie. Who do we have with us for this journey? Speaker 3 (0:40) I'm very excited. We have Hallie Kiefer from Ruined here with us today. Hi. Hi. Thank you Speaker 2 (0:46) for having me. Speaker 3 (0:46) Thank you so much for being here. Before we dive into the movie that we're all, I think, very excited to talk about today, although I don't want to presume. Speaker 2 (0:54) No, no. Go ahead and presume. Love this movie. Okay. Speaker 3 (0:57) Can you tell us a little bit about your show and what the format is? Speaker 2 (1:01) Absolutely. So I host Ruined with my dear friend and colleague, Alison Leiby. We've been doing it, it's almost six years now. We worked on it for a couple of years before it came out. And it's built on a friendship where Alison cannot watch horror movies at all. She gets horrific, vivid nightmares. And I, at this point, almost exclusively watch horror movies, which is its own issue. But what's nice is I'm never going to spoil it for her. So each episode of Ruined is me recapping a horror movie. And at this point, I've trained Allison. This has been a psychological experiment where now we have her sort of try to guess what's happening. And I feel like her guesses have surpassed where we're at with horror right now. Where I'm like, oh, you know enough that now we have genuinely new great ideas. So yeah, I feel like it's for people who can't watch horror and also people who like to re-listen to the plot of horror movies, which I do as well. So a little something for everybody. Speaker 3 (1:53) It's really fun. It's a great show. You all should check it out if you have not already. As a horror fan, I definitely enjoy it. And just a little fun fact, I made the mistake of thinking that, you know, maybe it was like a little bit of a bit for the show that she was unable to watch these movies. I was wrong. I chose a movie that was wholly inappropriate for this initially. And then I was like... I've made a horrible mistake. I'm so sorry. We're going to do Drop Dead Gorgeous. Speaker 2 (2:16) Well, it's interesting. And I think like the secret of mine and Allison's success, it is that she's not really not a horror person. So I feel like. if she was, it's a different dynamic. She can't watch it. She can't even see all the trailers because it really is like the imagery and then it disrupts her sleep, which I think is so like, now that I've done this podcast, I've met so many people like that or it is genuinely like the images replay. I can watch Humans Said to Me 3 and go to sleep and it wouldn't bother me at all. Speaker 3 (2:43) Sleep like a baby. Speaker 2 (2:45) Yeah, but it's good we have that dynamic. Speaker 3 (2:47) It's amazing. So everyone go listen to that show. It's really, really fun. And again, that's Ruined. All right. Well, I think we should get into what we're talking about today, which of course is not a horror movie. So you're getting a little bit of a break, although it does feature some horrors, I would argue. Speaker 2 (3:02) There's a moment now, and I think like, I obviously saw this when it came out in 1999, but now I'm in my 40s and there is a moment towards the end where I'm like genuinely like, this is sad. I'm just like, you know, when you think about it, also the America of it all, I'm like, wow, really got us dead to rights. You know Speaker 3 (3:17) what I mean? They really did. Yeah. We are, of course, talking about Drop Dead Gorgeous. And before we get into the story behind Drop Dead Gorgeous, which is actually really interesting, I'll start with you, Hallie. What was your experience with this movie prior to rewatching it for the podcast? And then what did you feel rewatching it for today's episode? I Speaker 2 (3:38) love this movie. This, to me, is one of my top comfort rewatches. I will say I then... during the pandemic, showed it to some people and they didn't like it. And I think it really made me pause and be like, wow, is this maybe like a time capsule? Maybe it doesn't really hold up. But now I'm seeing it again, I'm like, nah, this is, you know. Speaker 4 (3:58) Well, yeah, I mean, it's both. It's both a time capsule, as you mentioned. And I think in other ways, it does hold up extremely well and is prescient in certain ways. I mean, Will Sasso's performance in this movie is part of kind of a run of movies that used... disabled characters to comedic ends. And the incessant use of the R word in this movie, by today's standards, I think feels very shocking, although it was very consistent, at least with my experience growing up and coming of age in the 90s and 2000s. Speaker 2 (4:28) Also, it's just so funny. As we enter Woke 2.0, hopefully, it is so funny where it's like, no, it is good we stopped saying... that or using gay as like an insult because we were doing it every other word. Like it's so crazy, but love this movie, a murderer's row of a cast. The fact that Amy Adams is just like one of the other girls in the pageant is so funny. They're all excellent at it. Kirstie Alley is so funny. Like she, this is a, her and Denise Richards, incredible. So loved it when I saw it, had a moment of uncertainty, seeing it again. Not that it doesn't have its flaws, but I'm like, this is great. It's great as a mockumentary. Like, it's just hitting, other than some moments, which we'll talk about, I'm sure, I think really hitting this on all cylinders. Chris, what Speaker 4 (5:12) about you? I generally agree. I always liked this movie. The first time I ever saw even a scene from it. Because I was 10 in 99. I believe our mutual friend Andy Shepard, I was at his house and his older sister, he had sisters who were like a few years older than us. They were watching it and it was a scene where John Doe is, has, is. Also Speaker 2 (5:31) hilarious that his last name didn't remember that. Yeah. He's Speaker 4 (5:34) watching them do their like practice ladder dance and he's got the camera that he keeps in his car for car accidents and documentaries. Speaker 3 (5:41) Of Speaker 4 (5:41) course, yeah. And he keeps saying the young girls. And I didn't really understand it, you know what I mean, at age 10. Speaker 2 (5:49) Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And good you shouldn't. You know what I mean? But I Speaker 4 (5:52) did appreciate when one of them lands on their crotch. And it was actually an important moment. I had seen so many times men being hit in the nuts in movies, and I had not seen a woman get hit in the groin. And I thought, oh, that's great. That's funny. I didn't know that was a thing, too. It's also very funny. Yeah, it also hurts. I'm sure it does. And then I saw it at some point, I think in college, and I couldn't believe how dark it was. And then rewatching it again, it's very funny. As you mentioned, the cast is incredible. Kirsten Dunst. as Amber Atkins. You mentioned Denise Richards. She should have gotten 25 of these roles across her career. Also, bring her back. I Speaker 2 (6:32) just watched Wild Things at Los Feliz 3 last weekend. She's so good. She was Speaker 4 (6:38) always good as the villain. Speaker 2 (6:39) Yes, she knows exactly what she's doing. She's great in this movie. And she and Kirstie Alley are such a duo. They are so good together. Speaker 4 (6:48) Kirstie Alley is fantastic. Speaker 4 (6:52) overqualified you know what i mean for this yeah she's so devilish and her eyebrows are so amazing. Ellen Barkin is really great. Allison Janney, of course. This was my introduction to Allison Janney, who looks the same now as she did then. Doesn't Speaker 2 (7:07) she? Yeah, you're absolutely right. But Speaker 4 (7:09) even like Brittany Murphy, you know, is really fun in this. And we talked about her in Clueless. And then Amy Adams, as you mentioned, is the horniest character in the whole thing. It's so Speaker 2 (7:17) funny. Speaker 4 (7:18) They won't let you perform naked, I asked. Like there's so many little throwaway lines from her that are very funny. Speaker 2 (7:24) talk about it because there's a line I think right before that where Brittany Murphy says that it's like just reveals her whole character backstory. Speaker 4 (7:31) Yeah, they only had me because Peter needed a kidney. I'm Speaker 2 (7:34) like, that's so good. Yeah. And also just, it made me so mad being like, I want more comedies. Yeah. And also like a comedy in which these, not that every character is fully fleshed out. We'll talk about the girl adopted by her Japanese parents. That's the only one. I'm like, huh. Right. Because even like girl whose whole personality is dog. I was a girl in high school. That's the German shepherd girl. That's accurate. It's my Speaker 4 (7:57) fault. I did have the beef jerky in my pocket. Speaker 4 (8:00) That would be David, by the way. We have the male version of that on our podcast as David. If Q could rip his arm off, he'd be like, I had it coming. That's a dog Speaker 2 (8:09) person for you. Speaker 4 (8:10) And sorry, the last thing I'll say, I do think it's actually kind of a searing indictment of the myths we tell ourselves about America. It's a great, bickeresque story. It does. And about success. And about success. It's better to be lucky, you know? And I think that it's a movie about how you cannot control. fate, ultimately, because no matter what the machinations of ultimately revealed Kirstie Alley or Amber Atkins are... the company goes bankrupt and nobody could have done anything about it anyway. And it was all pointless. It's like a darkly funny inverted Forrest Gump in certain ways. Yeah, it is. Speaker 2 (8:46) Yeah, because much like in Forrest Gump, Kirsten Dunst's character, she's our proof that you can remain the same person and that you can achieve your dreams. Not so pretty much everybody else Speaker 3 (8:57) in town. Speaker 2 (8:57) Everybody else is either killed or maimed Speaker 4 (9:00) or... Speaker 2 (9:00) Missing in the Philippines. I'm just like, Jesus Christ. Yeah. Speaker 3 (9:05) You get one. But Speaker 2 (9:06) also, that is America, too, where it's just, like, there are people who can, like, and I hate to bring up Donald Trump, but, like, there are some people who, like, force of will are able to get to where they want to go, which is, like, for many people, they shouldn't want to go there. And when they get there, what they're going to do, it's not good. Speaker 3 (9:21) Yeah. Speaker 2 (9:21) Yeah, so, like, that's why she's such a great protagonist, is, like, she is, like, has this hope beyond, like, what all of reality is showing her is true. Yeah. Speaker 4 (9:29) Yeah. But broadly speaking, I think sometimes the tone... And whether or not that's the director, who I'm sure we'll talk about with his background with the state and stuff, or if it's the writing, I don't know. Lizzie will tell us. Sometimes it feels like the movie skews too broad for me or for the tone that it seems to want to sit in. But the cast is so good that they always pull it back down to earth for me. So I really loved it. Speaker 3 (9:56) Yeah, the dynamic between the director, Michael Patrick Jan, and the writer... I believe Lana Williams or Lona Williams. I think Lana is very interesting. And we're going to talk about that quite a bit over the course of the episode. She is in it. And I did know that when watching, but I didn't know the backstory of it, which is interesting and also a bit sad. My experience with this movie is, I think, similar to what all three of us have said, which is that I saw this when I was probably... 10, 11 years old, like too young to really get it. And then we just watched it over and over and over and over again with my friends, with my mom. Like we loved this movie. We owned it on DVD. I could, I could, and honestly probably still can recite most of this movie from memory. And then Chris, I think it was your birthday trip to Joshua Tree several years ago. And we were, I was like, we have to watch this movie because one of our friends had a DVD copy of it. And we put it on and I hadn't seen it in probably 10 years at that point when we put it on. And as it started, I was, I was like, oh no. is this movie like horrifically offensive? And are none of these people ever going to speak to me again? I mean, Speaker 4 (11:07) it's pretty offensive that we watch this. By today's standards. Yeah. Speaker 3 (11:11) So I remember that being a somewhat uncomfortable viewing because I started questioning myself and being like, God, am I a horrible person that I've found Drop Dead Gorgeous funny for all these years? And I've come back around and I've decided, no, I'm fine. Well, it's kind of like Strangers Speaker 2 (11:24) with Candy where it's like, it's offensive, but like it's by Speaker 3 (11:27) design. Speaker 2 (11:27) And also I think most topics, it's like you can't. joke about it if it's funny enough to pull it off, but this movie does require your buy-in. I will say there's many elements Speaker 3 (11:38) of this that would never happen today that are obviously very offensive, but that I kind of will still stand by in the context of this movie. I'm not saying that they're good, but they don't bother me necessarily. The one that upon this rewatch, I was just like... this was completely unnecessary and honestly not funny, is the American girl who was adopted by the Japanese family. I was just like, what is the point of this? Wait, Speaker 2 (12:05) it's not funny enough to like, it's just not funny. And so you're just like, is this like a specific person? Like, it's almost like we don't have even a reference to that. Like, everything else that's kind of offensive, it's like we're referencing something from reality. That's an example of like, what do you think is funny about this? Because this is not like a thing. Speaker 3 (12:21) Oh, just straight up racism. Speaker 2 (12:22) Yeah. And I do think there is a certain type of white woman that has like a specific blind spot around Asian racism. That's why I take them like, you're very smart and very observant. The fact that you thought this was funny on its face seems like a blind spot that like we now don't have. Well, clearly I had Speaker 3 (12:40) it when I watched it over and over again when I was, you know, 15, 16 years old. But Speaker 2 (12:44) you Speaker 3 (12:44) were 15. Speaker 2 (12:45) It never bumped Speaker 3 (12:45) me. I know. But it definitely, that is the one thing where I'm like, you know, this does this. This takes a notch out of this movie for me, unfortunately. I still really love this movie. I think that there's so many things about it that I think are really remarkable, including the fact that popular girls don't win. the popular girl gets blown up. Like, this isn't even Heathers, because in Heathers, she kind of manages to, it's the mean girls thing, she manages to become a popular girl. And then it's kind of like, everybody's on the same level. That's not what this is at all. This is just total chaos. And it's very dark. And I feel like that's unusual, particularly for movies about... teenagers and teenage girls. And I very much enjoy it. I also just love the way that it depicts a small town because small towns are so weird and wonderful. And this movie does an excellent job of it. Speaker 3 (13:43) All right, well, let's get into the details. So, Drop Dead Gorgeous was released in 1999, quite a year for movies, as we have discussed. It was directed by Michael Patrick Jan, written by Lana Williams. It had a budget of around $15 million, and it starred Kirsten Dunst, Denise Richards, Kirstie Alley, Ellen Barkin, Allison Janney, Brittany Murphy, Mindy Sterling, Amy Adams, and so, so, so many more. I do have to shout out Will Sasso. That's one of the things where I'm like, I know we can't do this anymore, but... Speaker 2 (14:13) See, that's the part of Speaker 3 (14:14) the Speaker 2 (14:14) movie that I was like over it. Really? But also like it was funny because he's a great performer versus like the anti-Asian racism is just boring. I agree. That's like where I'm like, we never have to do this again, in my opinion. We shouldn't ever do it again. He Speaker 3 (14:29) is a very funny performer. But yes, I agree. And I understand people are going to be like, you're a horrible person for saying that it's funny. And Speaker 2 (14:35) let me just say this as again, I've been thinking a lot about this as someone who just has to write political comedy all day. These are time capsules. It's not like we can't look back on it, but I'm looking back on it like, yeah, it's good we don't do this anymore. You know what I mean? 100%. Versus feeling bad about laughing at it now. I almost feel like there's no point to it. You know what I mean? Speaker 3 (14:54) Thank you. I feel validated. All right. Our IMDb logline, as always, is a small-town beauty pageant turns deadly as it becomes clear that someone will go to any lengths to win. All right, our main sources for today were Louis Peitzman's 15-year oral history for BuzzFeed and the 20th anniversary interview with IndieWire and then also a great interview with Mindy Sterling for Women in Comedy. Okay, let's dive in. Speaker 2 (15:19) Our story today begins in Rosemont, Minnesota, where a nice young lady named Lana Speaker 3 (15:25) Williams was doing what any nice young lady in Rosemont, Minnesota does. She was competing in a pageant. She said,