cameron diaz movies
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 Chapter 4 - The Catalysties of Transformation
Mark Feuerstein plays the role of Simon, whose common sense and love for Rose finally bring her the happiness she has yearned for. “Simon really is very simple,” says Feuerstein. “He loves food, the ‘Sixers,’ the law, politics – and Rose. And when he finally gets her to respond to him, he’ll do anything in his power to keep her. He doesn’t understand Rose’s wish for somebody else’s life. He’s very pragmatic. Simon thinks that once you realize that this is your life and that your life is made up of choices, the sooner you accept that fact, the happier you’re going to be.
“When I first read the script, I felt I really connected to Simon because he has a woman in his life who is not fully opening up to him, and I’ve been in that situation before. He and Rose are trying to get to know one another and her reticence makes it very difficult. When they have a fight and he asks what’s wrong, she won’t tell him. Instead, she shuts down. I think everyone who has been in a relationship can relate to that problem of communication.”
Maggie and Rose are not the only women in the story who blossom. The catalyst of their transformation – their grandmother, Ella Hirsch – also undergoes significant changes. Ella had a daughter – Maggie and Rose’s mother – who suffered from bipolar disorder. She has always felt that she failed her daughter and fears that her daughter’s death is her fault. Ella never lets herself even think about it.
The role of Ella was partially inspired by Jennifer Weiner’s own grandmother, who lives in a residential community for active seniors in Florida. “I always thought it would be an interesting setting for a comic novel because of the mating rituals and the way that everything changes,” says Weiner. “When you’re sixteen, all you want to know is, does the guy have a car.
And when you’re eighty, all you want to know is, does the guy have a car… and can he still drive at night. It’s a place where people are negotiating their lives again, sort of a new start for everybody. It’s kind of a reinvention. And Ella is reinventing herself at the same time that Rose and Maggie are.”
Portraying Ella is Academy Award-winning actress Shirley MacLaine, who recalls that making IN HER SHOES at the former Goldwyn Studios “rang with memories of the past.” Not only was the interior of Ella’s home built on the same stage where she had filmed “The Apartment,” but the rehearsal room Hanson and the cast used had been MacLaine’s dressing room during production of “The Apartment,” “The Children’s Hour” and “Irma La Douce.”
But IN HER SHOES represented far more than a trip down memory lane for the legendary actress. “I was so glad to work in a character-driven piece for a change,” says MacLaine. “Ella lives in a community where everything is perfect, very manicured and clean and comfortable. She doesn’t like to confront her own feelings or her sense of having been shut out of the lives of her granddaughters. She’s on her own, not really tending to herself so she has a kind of glossed-over façade. I’ve never played a part like this, and it can be threatening because it’s so authentically subtle. That, plus an early conversation I had with Curtis in which he said he wanted a very quiet performance, attracted me to the role.”
“I was excited about the possibility of Shirley MacLaine playing Ella,” says Hanson, “partly because she is such a powerful personality and actress. I was interested in what would happen if she brought that talent and personality to a character potentially full of sensuality and life, who is completely shut down and is ignoring her own needs while serving as a care giver for others.
She’s helping these other elderly people as a means of working out her guilt and frustration over the way in which she dealt with her daughter. Her performance needed to be about repression. If Shirley would modulate her power in creating such a character, I thought the results would be very exciting.
“IN HER SHOES is about people,” continues Hanson. ”It’s the kind of movie that was once a staple of Hollywood, and is now rare. It is a contemporary story of emotions and relationships, populated by characters the audience can look at and say, ‘That’s me; I know what it’s like to feel that way’.”
“It’s also a story with universal themes,” adds Carol Fenelon. IN HER SHOES is about connecting to those most important to us, our friends and our family. There’s a strong sense of hope and optimism. It’s a film that gives audiences something to talk about when they leave the theaters.”
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