Melinda and Melinda
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Melinda and Melinda is a 2004 film written and directed by Woody Allen. It was premiered at the San Sebastian International Film Festival. The film is set in Manhattan and stars Radha Mitchell as the protagonist Melinda, in two storylines; one comic, one tragic. Chloë Sevigny, Jonny Lee Miller, and Chiwetel Ejiofor star in the tragedy story alongside Mitchell, while Will Ferrell, Amanda Peet, and Steve Carell star in the comedy story. The film was given a limited release in the United States on March 18, 2005.
Plot
The premise of the film is stated by a group of four writers conversing over dinner at the beginning of the film. The question arises: Is life naturally comic or tragic? One of the four proposes a simple story (a distraught woman knocks on a door and disrupts a dinner party) and the two prominent playwrights in the group begin telling their versions of this story, one being comic and one tragic.
Cast
Woody Allen said in Conversations with Woody Allen that he wanted to cast Winona Ryder in the title role. He had to replace her with Radha Mitchell because no one would insure Ryder due to her arrest for shoplifting – this would have made it impossible to obtain a film completion bond. Allen stated he was sad because he had written the part for Ryder after working with her on Celebrity. In the same interview, he also claimed to have intended Ferrell’s part for Robert Downey, Jr., but, again, insurance got in the way due to Downey’s history of arrests and drug abuse.
Radha Mitchell plays Melinda in both versions. Chloë Sevigny, Jonny Lee Miller, and Chiwetel Ejiofor star with her in the tragedy, while Will Ferrell and Amanda Peet star with her in the comedy. Steve Carell has a small part as Ferrell’s friend.
The film also stars Wallace Shawn (alluding to his dinner-philosophy argument in My Dinner with Andre) as the comic playwright, Larry Pine as the tragedian, and Brooke Smith as Cassie. All three had appeared in the 1994 film Vanya on 42nd Street, directed by Louis Malle.
The cast includes:
- Radha Mitchell as Melinda
- Chloë Sevigny as Laurel
- Jonny Lee Miller as Lee
- Will Ferrell as Hobie
- Amanda Peet as Susan
- Chiwetel Ejiofor as Ellis
- Wallace Shawn as Sy
- Josh Brolin as Greg
- Vinessa Shaw as Stacey
- Steve Carell as Walt
- Arija Bareikis as Sally
- Matt Servitto as Jack
- Zak Orth as Peter
- Brooke Smith as Cassie
- Daniel Sunjata as Billy
- Larry Pine as Max
- Andy Borowitz as Doug
