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Don't Ever Tell Anyone What She Did

By TK | Posted Under Trade News | Comments (15)

06C Kate Winslet.jpg

Now this is good news. Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven, Velvet Goldmine), is set to direct a television production of James M. Cain’s novel Mildred Pierce. Kate Winslet is set to play the title role. The novel, a brilliant bit of noir written in 1941, concerns a hard working mother, Mildred, and her spoiled daughter and the poor choices they both make, all of which eventually lead up to…

… well, let’s not ruin it. It’s a great read (as are all of Cain’s works). It was already made into a film once, the 1945 flick that Joan Crawford won her only (incredibly well-deserved) Oscar for. So, clearly Winslet has her work cut out for her, but since I consider her to be one of the greatest actors of my generation, I don’t think that’s going to be insurmountable. It’s odd that it’s a TV production, although Slash Film is reporting that HBO is the lead contender, which would automatically ratchet my interest up even more. All in all, pretty spectacular news.

Interesting fun fact: Todd Haynes also directed the music video for Sonic Youth’s “Disappearer” of their 1990 album Goo.

Even more fun fact: The song that follows “Disappearer” is called, of course, “Mildred Pierce.”

So with that said, here’s “Disappearer,” just for the hell of it.

(h/t to Sean K. for the assist on this post)









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Comments

Um, I joygasmed over this. A lot. The rumor mill said Dakota Fanning was gonna play the daughter? (She's a tad young, I think.) And since it's Haynes, I've read that Patricia Clarkson is a likely candidate for Mildred's no-nonsense best friend. This would seriously rule the world if it all came to fruition.

Posted by: whatBENwatches at August 14, 2009 1:32 PM

I have long believed that Kate Winslet makes everything better.

Posted by: figgy at August 14, 2009 1:36 PM

Love. Love. Love it! Saw the headline in my reader and got all excited for the first time today.

Posted by: Mrs Smith at August 14, 2009 2:03 PM

And who's going to place the black maid who knows her place (and her pancakes)?

Isn't Mildred Pierce a little (ahem) racially dated?

Posted by: BWeaves at August 14, 2009 2:26 PM

Holy fucking shit! I'm about to rape myself, I'm so happy. But why is it for television? Please, dear god, give it an international release, or they'll have to create a new waterway from my house to the Thames, for the torrent of pathetic tears I shall weep. Still...

Hayneslet! WOO!

Posted by: Caspar at August 14, 2009 2:31 PM

Who's going to PLAY . . .

Posted by: BWeaves at August 14, 2009 2:31 PM

By the way - when it said Crawford there, I thought it was an allusion to new Pajiba hero 'Chan Crawford', and was expecting to see a video of her dressed up in baggy pants and then writhing in a pair of y-fronts. Consider me disappointed.

Posted by: Caspar at August 14, 2009 2:45 PM

YAY!!!!

but
no likey the Dakota Fanning as the daughter.
and
does the maid have to be black?

Posted by: Chickaboom at August 14, 2009 3:00 PM

Kate Winslet is the reason people spent one billion dollars on a movie where Celine Dion wrote the score. Kate Winslet is easily the hottest actress in Hollywood. Kate Winslet can beat up Katherine Heigl with her left pinky and still not break a sweat. (She let Angelina Jolie beat up Megan Fox in the interest of fairness.) The woman is a goddess.

Posted by: George at August 14, 2009 3:44 PM

Kate Winslet is the reason people spent one billion dollars on a movie where Celine Dion wrote the score.

Are you kidding me with this hogswaggle? That was 99% LEO. (1% Celine Dion.)

Posted by: SaBrina at August 14, 2009 4:37 PM

Kate Winslet can do do wrong. Bring it on.

Posted by: Cindy at August 14, 2009 9:40 PM

'...and to your left, you'll find the Defenestration Department--'

'--Let me of here, please.'

Posted by: Jo 'Mama' Besser at August 14, 2009 11:48 PM

Ugh. 'OFF'.

Fuck me. Make that a double.

Posted by: Jo 'Mama' Besser at August 14, 2009 11:50 PM

Fuck me. Make that a double.

Posted by: Jo 'Mama' Besser at August 14, 2009 11:50 PM
---
Doublefuck? That conjures up interesting images. Mmmm, yes, nice, nice ...

BUNK.

Posted by: , (the commenter formerly known as bucdaddy) at August 16, 2009 11:36 AM

There are some performances so perfect that they do not need to be repeated. Katharine Hepburn as Tracey Lords in The Philadelphia Story; Bette Davis as Margot Channing in All About Eve; and Joan Crawford as Mildred Pierce.

The thing these women have in common (that the radiant Kate W. does not have) is that they created these roles at a point in their career where they had been written off as box office poison by the studio heads. They had to campaign hard for the parts, and in the case of Hepburn, she had to actually buy the rights to the stage play so that they couldn't make the movie without her.

Lovely and talented as she is, I don't see Kate Winslet having the gravitas to pull of this part yet. Mildred isn't young and beautiful with an English rose complexion. She's a middle-aged woman who has been beaten down by a marriage to an unfaithful (with Mrs. Biederhoff), under achieving lout who has the nerve to tell her that she can't make it without him.

Also, the role of the maid can be completely dispensed with. Her only purpose was to be the device by which Veda lets Mildred know that she's a waitress on the sly. They could easily give Mildred a job as a cocktail waitress at some dive on the Las Vegas strip, and then Veda could give the costume to the younger sister, Kay, to play dress up with. It updates the story and loses an unfortunate racial sterotype. Think about it.

Posted by: Carolina Girl at August 17, 2009 1:56 PM