Why'd everybody turn down Norma Rae?

Add Louise Lasser to that list.

really r1? that seems like an odd choice. I'd think Sally would have been higher on the list than Lasser.

I think Marsha Mason declined because her husband-at-the- time, Neil Simon, didn't want her going away on location for it.

Tuesday Weld was actually one of the first actresses who was offered that role.

I can see that r4. Tuesday was on a roll after Goodbar and Who'll Stop the Rain. She should have taken it.

[quote]Sally would have been higher on the list than Lasser.

Lasser is an excellent actress and funny to boot. I know it's not a comedy but she's hysterical and a scene stealer.

Horrible film.

I think it would've been better with Karen Carpenter

it was a factory strike not a hunger strike r8

Helen Reddy was also considered for the role.

jessica chastain

Faye Dunaway turned it down too.

Marni Nixon was offered the role of Norma Rae's voice but turned it down.

It should have been moi. I understand the common people.

Charlotte Rae turned it down due to scheduling conflicts with her TV series.

[quote]Jill Clayburg

Oh, dear.

At the time, Sally Field was known as a tv actress, and a comedy actress mostly. She had done Sybil three years ago, but producers were doubtful that she could carry a big screen drama. Sally was known as "Gidget" "Flying Nun" "Girl With Something Extra" and Burt Reynolds comic sidekick. So I'm sure that there were many meetings about whether they should go forward with Field or another actress.

Louise Lasser had a well known drug problem. Even if she was seriously considered, she probably wouldn't have been insurable. Plus she was also known more as a comic actress.

Diane Keaton, at the time, was in her Woody Allen "muse" phase. She probably thought that was more interesting work.

I imagine that Jane Fonda was already busy. She banged out "Coming Home" "Comes A Horseman" and "California Suite" in that time period.

Hey, they offered it to me, too, but I was busy making a movie in South Korea!

[quote] I can see that [R4]. Tuesday was on a roll after Goodbar and Who'll Stop the Rain. She should have taken it.

King Kong wouldn't let her do it.

*kisses doll*

I read the script, what a stinkeroo!

Well, I saw no meat in the role, so I chose The Fan, instead.

Because Norma Rae only had a budget of $4.5 million, director Martin Ritt had a tough time getting big name actresses like Jane Fonda, Faye Dunaway, Diane Keaton, and Jill Clayburgh on board to work for less than their usual price. Sally was at a transition in her career, was hired on the cheap, and became an Oscar-winning movie star.

Lucille Ball was all set to sign but Gary Morton talked her out of it.

Besides, she wanted the factory changed from making garments to chocolates and a scene added where they increased the speed of the assembly line for comic relief.

Lucille Ball wanted Viv Vance to play Norma's sassy best friend and she wanted a scene where she and Viv sang "Bosom Buddies" but Jerry Herman wouldn't license the song for the movie.

I passed.

I had scheduling conflicts.

Corporations make movies. Corporations don't like anti-corporate movies.

I died.

I wanted a couple of song and dance routines......never heard back.

R29 You should've offered to show your tits, Julie.

WE were tired of seeing them by then, R30.

[quote]WE were tired of seeing them by then

I wasn't.

Why did the main character stand up on the table in the cafeteria with a big sign that said onions? Was it the onions that made her eyes water?

My offer to look at the script required a gift from Tiffany's. And mink coat. Turned it down as they were too poor and couldn't meet my $20 million up front sign up fee. Excluding my artistic fee.

[quote]Diane Keaton, at the time, was in her Woody Allen "muse" phase. She probably thought that was more interesting work.

Keaton said in one of her books that after the Oscar for Annie Hall she became fearful of taking movies on her own and stayed in the ensemble of Woody Allen films even though she had so many offers because it felt safer to be in the Allen films.

[quote]Why'd everybody turn down Norma Rae?

She hit on a lot of guys, but none of them were into that scarf and T-shirt look.

Because it's a preachy, overrated bore, and only the sanctimonious Sally Field could do it justice.

She was the only one who fit the costumes, little known fact.

IT WAS RIGGED!!! I WAS ROBBED!!!

They said my accent was too thick. I'll show them though my dahlings. I'll outlive that Flying little Nun

The factory setting was....so...depressing.

Peggy Lipton was actually the first choice

We should be thankful that Ron Liebman didn't come with his wife of-the-time as a double-act.

Others who were up for the role:

• Glenda Jackson

• Vanessa Redgrave

• Maggie Smith

Don't forget Divine.

Glenda Jackson was up for the Beau Bridges part.

R37 made me think of this at the link.

Burt Reynolds was so fucking cute and so fucking hot! He's a bit before my time so I never got him before seeing this.

Actually, thinking about Norma's little speech now gives me chills. You gotta give it to Sally. That broad could emote like no one else.

Did schedule conflicts prevent Linda Lavin from getting the role?

No. Linda wanted to sing the theme song It Goes Like it Goes. The producers thought it required one of the most subtlest, heartbreaking performances ever and they thought Linda's singing was too over the top and would ruin the song. When they told her Linda quit in a huff. Walked right off the set. Took her bandannas with her.

I have ESP! I'm not an axe-murderess!!!!

Most of these actresses had way too sophisticated an aura to be believable as that type of character.

The only other actress I can see playing that type is Sissy Spacek (who hasn't been mentioned). But she wouldn't have had the same kind of fire in her portrayal, I don't think.

Debra Winger would have been a good choice, but I don't think she was a leading lady yet.

She was very believable as a blue-collar factory worker in "An Officer and a Gentleman" (1982).

I wish the director and producers would have thought of Patty Duke for the role. This role would have given Miss Duke a second Oscar win and started her career back in the movies.

r50, that is a lovely song. Jennifer Warnes seldom disappoints.

I can see Marsha Mason pulling off a working class woman named Norma Rae - but no the other three.

I loved Marsha Mason in Frasier. Too bad a certain lead actor insisted she get the boot.

I could do blue collar with the best of them! I'd have been a doozy!

spill the story r57!!!

I could see Susan Sarandon in the role.

Yeah, R57, what happened?

Lainie Kazan was going to do it but was fired because she was too fat.

[quote]I read Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Marsha Mason, and Jill Clayburg all turned it down. (and then Sally Field beat them all for the Oscar)

Only Fonda (THE CHINA SYNDROME), Mason (CHAPTER TWO), and Clayburgh (STARTING OVER) were nominated with her that year. The other nominee was, of course, Bette (THE ROSE).

Sally Kirkland was also up for the role.

You were saying, Zsa Zsa/R40?

Marsha Warfield turned it down too.

Jill Clayburgh decided to be in that crap film where she is fucking her son instead. That wasn't one of her wisest decisions...

I've always had a fondness for Jill Clayburgh and wish her moment had lasted longer. Her Oscar loss to Jane Fonda's thoroughly unremarkable 'Coming Home' performance was BS.

R4 Tuesday Weld turned down EVERYTHING, including, inexplicably, "Bonnie and Clyde" which would have made her a HUGE star. She also turned down "Rosemary's Baby," "True Grit', and that "Ted & Alice" movie. I'm sure there are more. WTF was her problem? Why become an actor if you're not willing to work?

R69, she didn't need to work, she had family money....it was always a hobby for her.

R17, I don't think anyone questioned Sally Field's dramatic gravitas after Sybil, for which she won the Emmy.

Also, Norma Rae was what they used to call "a sleeper." It was released on March 2nd, 1980 - I imagine just a few weeks after that year's Oscars. It wasn't until the end of the summer that word of mouth really started to build. Critics really supported it; even though Field was awarded Best Actress by the jury at Cannes, she didn't really emerge as the front runner for the Oscar until the end of the year. (And despite what Bette Midler may have thought it was without question Field's year.)

I remember reading it was even offered to Barbra Streisand.

R71 NORMA RAE was released in '79. 1980 was the year of another powerhouse, undeniable performance -- Sissy Spacek in COAL MINER'S DAUGHTER..

Sally's Burt Reynolds inspired breast augmentation was on display in Norma Rae. Ewwww.

R73 I don't know what any of that means.

Streep eventually remade it anyway.

Ron Leibman and Beau Bridges were yummy in this one/

My Factory Myself.

I thought it was strange that Ron Leibman didn't get an Oscar nomination for it. He was just as good as Sally in it.

Did they write out an affair between Norma and Reuben because it looked like the story was heading that way.

Despite all the quality of many of those offered the role, and others who weren't offered the role, in the end the best person got the role: Sally Field.

Keaton had her head up her ass and demanded 12 million for the roll plus 2% of the back end, and I don't think she had the chops to pull it off....Keaton doesn't do white trash or working poor very well.

SF interview with Howard stern two years ago goes into all of this and so much more. He asked about everything. I actually found I liked her

But did you really really like her?

I was offered it but I turned it down because I wasn't born yet.

Patty Duke would have been brilliant as Norma Rae.

Patty Duke had zero sex appeal, she may have fucked a lot, but had zero sex appeal.

R83 LOL

Jessica Lange?

R88 At that time Jessica Lange was considered a joke. She really didn't gain any artistic respect until 1981 in The Postman Always Rings Twice.

Wonder how it ended with the dangerous drug that Sally used to do commercials for ?

Sally aged naturally.