Clueless (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Clueless | |
|---|---|
 Clueless poster |
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| Directed by | Amy Heckerling |
| Produced by | Robert Lawrence, Scott Rudin |
| Written by | Amy Heckerling (written by) Jane Austen (Novel Emma, uncredited) |
| Starring | Alicia Silverstone Stacey Dash Brittany Murphy |
| Cinematography | Bill Pope |
| Editing by | Debra Chiate |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) |  July 19, 1995 September 14, 1995 October 20, 1995 |
| Running time | 97 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $20,000,000 |
| IMDb profile | |
Clueless is a 1995 comedy film, loosely based on Emma by Jane Austen, written and directed by Amy Heckerling and produced by Scott Rudin. Filmed over a span of a few weeks in early 1995, the movie was released in the United States on July 19, 1995. It stars Alicia Silverstone, Paul Rudd, Brittany Murphy, Stacey Dash and Dan Hedaya.
Tagline
- "Sex. Clothes. Popularity. Is there a problem here?"
- "Sex. Clothes. Popularity. Whatever"
Contents |
[edit] Cast
| Actor/Actress | Character | Emma counterpart |
|---|---|---|
| Alicia Silverstone | Cher Horowitz | Emma Woodhouse |
| Stacey Dash | Dionne Marie Davenport | Mrs. Weston (in part) |
| Brittany Murphy | Tai Fraiser | Harriet Smith |
| Paul Rudd | Josh Lucas | Mr. Knightley |
| Donald Faison | Murray Lawrence Duvall | Mr. Weston (in part) |
| Elisa Donovan | Amber Mariens | Mrs. Elton |
| Breckin Meyer | Travis Birkenstock | Robert Martin |
| Jeremy Sisto | Elton Tiscia | Mr. Elton |
| Dan Hedaya | Mel Horowitz | Mr. Woodhouse |
| Wallace Shawn | Mr. Wendell Hall | Mr. Weston (in part) |
| Twink Caplan | Miss Toby Geist | Mrs. Weston (in part) |
| Justin Walker | Christian Stovitz | Frank Churchill |
| Julie Brown | Coach Millie Stoeger | (none) |
| Sean Holland | Lawrence | (none) |
[edit] Response and success
Clueless became a surprise sleeper hit of 1995, grossing well over $11 million on its opening weekend, and an additional $60 million in the US on its finishing run. It was the #32 highest-grossing film of 1995 and brought the then-largely unknown actress Alicia Silverstone to national and international attention.
[edit] Plot
Loosely based on the novel Emma by Jane Austen, the film tells the story of Cher Horowitz, an air headed yet good-natured 15-year-old (she turns 16 by the end of the picture), played in what was a breakthrough role by actress Alicia Silverstone. Although happy in her complacent, self-centered world of shopping and fashion in Beverly Hills, California, Cher longs to prove herself as an intellectual and do-gooder when her granola, altruistic ex-stepbrother Josh (Paul Rudd) visits during a break from college. After successfully matching-up two of her lonely, nerdy high school teachers, Cher, with the help of her best friend Dionne (Stacey Dash), decides that the ultimate way she can give back to the community would be to give a total makeover to a "tragically unhip" new girl at school, Tai Fraiser (Brittany Murphy).
Things begin to backfire, though, when Cher's "project" works a bit too well and Tai's popularity soon begins to surpass Cher's, especially after Tai experiences a near-death tragedy at the mall that helps to skyrocket her fame at school. Other classmates, including Dionne, as well as Cher's longtime rival classmate Amber (Elisa Donovan), soon gravitate toward Tai, leaving Cher out in the dust.
At the same time, Cher has a series of romantic mishaps with boys at school. One of them, Elton (Jeremy Sisto), thought Cher was flirting with him when she was trying to get him together with Tai. Another, Christian (Justin Walker), turns out to be gay (Cher repeatedly fails to understand the latter's subtle hints that he prefers the same sex, until Dionne's boyfriend makes it clear).
Things come to a head when Cher and Tai have a fight that makes Cher realize that her popularity has waned, her priorities are completely askew, and her romantic life is a shambles. After much soul-searching (which, of course, includes a one-woman shopping spree around various Beverly Hills boutiques), Cher finally realizes that all of her desire to do good and help others is inspired by Josh - and furthermore, she has fallen in love with him. A heart-touching scene near the end of the film finds Cher and Josh stumbling over how to admit their mutual feelings for each other, finally culminating in a sufficiently explanatory mutual kiss on the steps of her father's mansion.
The film has a happy Hollywood ending for Cher: her two nerdy teachers at school get married; her friendships with Tai and Dionne are reaffirmed; and, in Josh's arms, she has now finally found love and meaning in her teenage life.
[edit] Characters
- Cher Horowitz
A spoiled but sweet Valley Girl. The life of this sun-blessed Southern California teenager is free of any substantial worry. Cher knows what it's like to have people be jealous of her, not that she hasn't earned it: living in a Beverly Hills mansion, she's the undisputed queen of beauty (and popularity, and all things in vogue) at exclusive Bronson Alcott Memorial High School. Cher is totally self-absorbed, and yet she isn't a victim; she’s tough and clever, like her attorney-father Mel. Cher and her fellow Bronson Alcott High students, particularly Dionne and Amber, look like they’ve posed for the cover of Sassy Magazine. They have long-suffering teachers who give them bad grades. Cher is not discouraged; she knows that happy teachers give high grades. Accordingly, she convinces two of her teachers that each is a secret admirer of the other…negotiating her way from a C-average to an A-average. Cher doesn’t have a regular boyfriend (she describes finding a boyfriend in high school is like looking for meaning in a Pauly Shore movie), but she’s prone to crushes: whenever BAHS gets a new male student, she uses every wile in the book to capture him. At the same time, Cher sets herself apart from the typical air headed teen queen by taking in "hopeless" (often poor and mostly female) students and increasing their popularity; she does this by making over their faces and wardrobes, and by giving them boy-catching (or girl-catching, if she's mentoring a guy) tricks:
- Pretend to be having a good time.
- Pretend not to notice the guy you're interested in.
- Laugh and dance a lot.
- Sometimes you have to show a little skin, because this reminds guys of being naked, and then they think of sex.
Basically, Cher is the girl to consult when you need a "Clue" (read: help or advice). Just don't leave your credit card with her.
- Mel Horowitz
This big-time litigator is always working on big cases in Beverly Hills, where he lives with his teenage offspring: daughter Cher; and her step-brother Josh. Mel is highly caring about what goes on in his kids' lives. And he's extremely protective of them, as any boy who’s ever dated Cher will verify: "If anything happens to my daughter, I got a .45 and a shovel. I doubt anybody would miss you."
- Josh
Josh is Cher's ex-stepbrother, this was a product of a marriage Mel had with Josh's mother five years earlier. Josh is also Cher's complete opposite. He has ambitions to be a lawyer (his focus is environmental law) and throughout the film routinely visits Cher and her father at their house. Josh has a residence close to his classes but claims that being with Mel is a "great learning experience". He likes to keep up with current events and is something of an environmental activist at his school. Throughout the film Josh teases Cher but at the same time shows his caring and concern for her.
[edit] Background
The film co-starred comedian Julie Brown, Donald Faison as Dionne's boyfriend Murray, Elisa Donovan as Cher's rival Amber, Paul Rudd as Cher's "ex-stepbrother" Josh, Wallace Shawn as Cher's debate teacher Mr. Hall, and Twink Caplan as Cher's mousy history teacher Ms. Geist. Caplan also helped produce the film.
The film was groundbreaking for a variety of reasons. Much of the teen slang used in the film was researched by Heckerling during the four years in which she wrote the script. The success of the film caused much of this slang to carry over into real-life usage and it is still a major part of American slang at present date.
The costumes used in the film were surprisingly trendsetting and soon became the new fashions of real life, as plaids, pastels, babydoll dresses and knee-high tights quickly became the new "thing" in young women's fashion at a time where grunge fashion was still popular. Technology-wise, new and smaller cell phones and pagers were never used so much in a film as they were in Clueless, as 1995 was a year when only the rich had such devices. "Clueless" marked the advent of cell phones becoming an everyday item for middle- and lower-class people, especially young people.
Additionally, "Clueless" was one of the few films where the majority of a cast of teenage characters was portrayed by actual teenagers (with the exception of Dash, who was 28 years old at the time of filming).
The movie had a 40-day filming schedule. Producers sat in on classes at Beverly Hills High School to get a feel for the student culture. Many scenes were filmed in Costa Mesa and Beverly Hills with most neighborhood scenes filmed in Scottsdale, Arizona. Scenes depicting the high school campus, including the tennis courts, the outdoor cafeteria, the quad, and various classrooms were filmed at Occidental College in Los Angeles, California.
[edit] Spinoff
The following year, the producers decided to create a spinoff television series which followed the continuing adventures of Cher and her friends. Several cast members from the film went on to star in the TV program, with the notable exception of Alicia Silverstone (who went on to sign a movie deal with Columbia-TriStar worth $10 million). Silverstone was replaced in the series with actress Rachel Blanchard.
[edit] Books
A collection of books were also published after the release of the movie by Simon Spotlight Entertainment publishing company from 1995-1999. These books were published as paperbacks and aimed at young adult readers.
[edit] DVD
A special "Whatever!" edition DVD was released on August 30, 2005. The DVD features featurettes and cast interviews, which were all used to celebrate the film's ten year anniversary. The features on the DVD included:
- The Class of '95-A look at the cast
- Creative Writing-Amy Heckerling talks about the script
- Fashion 101-How filmmakers invented the trendsetting style of Clueless
- Language Arts-Director and cast give facts on the groundbreaking slang, and how Clueless invented the Valspeak slang
- Driver's Ed
- We're History-Stories from cast and crew of Clueless
- 2 Theatrical Trailers
[edit] See also
- Valspeak, the dialect of valley girls that Clueless helped make popular.
[edit] External links
