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<blockquote data-quote="Crimson" data-source="post: 309553" data-attributes="member: 5079">In a &quot;what if ...?&quot; kind of way, I have sometimes pondered what roles would have been suitable for Lucy late in her career.&nbsp;&nbsp; Short of a recurring role as a snide mother-in-law in a subpar sitcom (see: Audrey Meadows), it&#039;s hard to envision many roles for an elderly baritone redhead.She was reportedly a contender for DRIVING MISS DAISY, but withdrew her name from consideration; just as well.&nbsp; She was also rumored to have been offered a couple TV movies (THE SOLID GOLD CADILLAC and SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH) that she declined.I have sometimes thought Lucy would have been more age-appropriate than Carol for the lead in the comic soap FRESNO, but I don&#039;t think she&#039;d have been as funny.&nbsp; Plus, the miniseries wasn&#039;t that good anyway.For a long time, my dream project for Lucy had been POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE.&nbsp; The movie was released after Lucy&#039;s death, but Carrie&#039;s novel had been published in &#039;87.&nbsp; It could have been made with Lucy.&nbsp;&nbsp; On recent viewing, it finally occurred to me why I thought the project was so well suited to Lucy.&nbsp; I&#039;m increasingly convinced Carrie based the screenplay on Lucy, not Debbie.Conventional wisdom is that the novel &amp; movie are a roman a clef of Carrie&#039;s life with Debbie Reynold.&nbsp;&nbsp; Carrie herself denied this, saying that if she had wanted to write an autobiography that&#039;s what she would have done.&nbsp; The movie star mom barely features in the novel, and there&#039;s no friction between mother and daughter.&nbsp; That mirrors Carrie&#039;s relationship with Debbie, which seemed to be healthy and warm.&nbsp; Lastly, Debbie wanted to play the part in the film.&nbsp; I&#039;m not sure she would have had the chutzpah to play such an unflattering version of herself.&nbsp; (Although she wouldn&#039;t be the first.&nbsp; The book &quot;Bad Movies We Love&quot; has an entire chapter called &quot;Trash Yourself Cinema&quot;.)Viewed from the angle of Lucille, the movie POSTCARDS is awfully close to home.&nbsp; The Meryl Streep character seems an amalgam of Lucie (fizzled career) and Desi Jr (drug addiction), and the resentful, hostile relationship between mother and adult child, seems very close to Lucy&#039;s relationship with her kids.&nbsp;&nbsp; The role of the loudmouth, hick mom (played by Lucy&#039;s real life friend, Mary Wickes) seems similar to Lucy&#039;s mom DeeDee.&nbsp; And to underscore the whole point, Gary Morton -- Lucy&#039;s second husband, who never had much of an acting career -- inexplicably shows up in the movie as an agent.So there you have it; probably the best movie about Lucille Ball is POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Crimson, post: 309553, member: 5079"] In a "what if ...?" kind of way, I have sometimes pondered what roles would have been suitable for Lucy late in her career. Short of a recurring role as a snide mother-in-law in a subpar sitcom (see: Audrey Meadows), it's hard to envision many roles for an elderly baritone redhead. She was reportedly a contender for DRIVING MISS DAISY, but withdrew her name from consideration; just as well. She was also rumored to have been offered a couple TV movies (THE SOLID GOLD CADILLAC and SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH) that she declined. I have sometimes thought Lucy would have been more age-appropriate than Carol for the lead in the comic soap FRESNO, but I don't think she'd have been as funny. Plus, the miniseries wasn't that good anyway. For a long time, my dream project for Lucy had been POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE. The movie was released after Lucy's death, but Carrie's novel had been published in '87. It [I]could[/I] have been made with Lucy. On recent viewing, it finally occurred to me why I thought the project was so well suited to Lucy. I'm increasingly convinced Carrie based the screenplay on Lucy, not Debbie. Conventional wisdom is that the novel & movie are a[I] roman a clef [/I]of Carrie's life with Debbie Reynold. Carrie herself denied this, saying that if she had wanted to write an autobiography that's what she would have done. The movie star mom barely features in the novel, and there's no friction between mother and daughter. That mirrors Carrie's relationship with Debbie, which seemed to be healthy and warm. Lastly, Debbie wanted to play the part in the film. I'm not sure she would have had the chutzpah to play such an unflattering version of herself. (Although she wouldn't be the first. The book "Bad Movies We Love" has an entire chapter called "Trash Yourself Cinema".) Viewed from the angle of Lucille, the movie POSTCARDS is awfully close to home. The Meryl Streep character seems an amalgam of Lucie (fizzled career) and Desi Jr (drug addiction), and the resentful, hostile relationship between mother and adult child, seems very close to Lucy's relationship with her kids. The role of the loudmouth, hick mom (played by Lucy's real life friend, Mary Wickes) seems similar to Lucy's mom DeeDee. And to underscore the whole point, Gary Morton -- Lucy's second husband, who never had much of an acting career -- inexplicably shows up in the movie as an agent. So there you have it; probably the best movie about Lucille Ball is POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE. [/QUOTE]

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