The Big Chill (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Big Chill | |
|---|---|
 The Big Chill theatrical poster |
|
| Directed by | Lawrence Kasdan |
| Produced by | Michael Shamberg |
| Written by | Lawrence Kasdan Barbara Benedek |
| Starring | Kevin Kline Jeff Goldblum Tom Berenger Glenn Close JoBeth Williams William Hurt Meg Tilly Mary Kay Place |
| Cinematography | John Bailey |
| Editing by | Carol Littleton |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | September 30, 1983 |
| Running time | 105 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Big Chill is a 1983 film that tells the story of several University of Michigan college friends who reunite after many years for the funeral of one of their friends who commits suicide. It stars Tom Berenger, Glenn Close, Jeff Goldblum, William Hurt, Kevin Kline, Mary Kay Place, Meg Tilly, JoBeth Williams, and Don Galloway.
The movie was written by Barbara Benedek and Lawrence Kasdan, and was directed by Kasdan. It was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Glenn Close), Best Picture and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen.
The movie was filmed in historic Beaufort, South Carolina, and was shot at the same antebellum home used as a location for The Great Santini, starring Robert Duvall and Blythe Danner.
Contents |
[edit] List of Characters:
1. Sam (Tom Berenger) Occupation: TV Actor; Family: wife Robin and 1 daughter.
2. Sarah: (Glenn Close) Occupation: Doctor; Family: married to Harold (see below) 2 children, a girl and a boy. They meet at her and Harold's home. Alex had also been living there before he committed suicide.
3. Michael: (Jeff Goldblum) Occupation: Journalist; Family: girlfriend.
4. Nick: (William Hurt) Occupation: Psychologist, never finished dissertation, former radio psych, various jobs, drug dealer; Family: none.
5. Harold: (Kevin Kline) Occupation: Businessman; Family: married to Sarah (see above) 2 children, a girl and a boy.
6. Meg: (Mary Kay Place) Occupation: Lawyer; Family: None, and her biological clock is ticking. She goes to Alex's funeral partly to size up her former classmates for a sperm donation (retrieved the old fashioned way). In the end, Sarah offers Harold for the job.
7. Karen: (Jo Beth Williams) Occupation: Homemaker, wannabe writer; Family: Husband Richard and 2 boys.
8. Chloe: (Meg Tilly) Occupation: None, helping her boyfriend Alex renovate an old house. Discovered Alex's body in the basement bathroom of Sarah and Harold's summer home, where they were staying.
9. Alex: (Kevin Costner) Occupation: drop-out, scientific genius (physics), caseworker, construction worker. Family: parents, girlfriend, Chloe (Meg Tilly). Commits suicide, all of Kevin Costner's scenes ended up on the cutting room floor except for some of his body being prepared for the funeral in the very beginning of the movie.
[edit] Trivia
- The music in the film directly relates to what is happening, or happens on screen. Eg, at the beginning, the friends phone each other with news while I Heard It Through The Grapevine plays. Shortly after, You Can't Always Get What You Want plays, with lyrics 'I saw her today at the reception, with a glass of wine in her hand'. Moments later, we see a reception in which people are drinking wine.
- The child of Harold (Kevin Kline) and Sarah (Glenn Close) in the bath scene at the beginning of the film is played by the child of the director, Lawrence Kasdan.
- Kevin Kline and Jeff Goldblum were also in Silverado, Kasdan's next movie, that also included Kevin Costner, Brian Dennehy, John Cleese, Danny Glover and Linda Hunt.
- The Big Chill influenced the creation of the television series Thirtysomething.
- At a free screening at the Michigan Theatre in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on April 20, 2006, Lawrence Kasdan denied having seen "The Return of the Secaucus 7" before working on "The Big Chill", though he praised it very highly.
- The name of the shoe-store chain, "Running Dogs," is another simlarity with the Return of the Secaucus 7, where one line is: "Coach is a running dog of imperialism, J.T."
- Actor Tom Berenger married a woman he met while filming this movie in Beaufort, S.C., and still lives there.
- The soundtrack album, featuring a collection of 1960s pop and Motown classics, was among the best selling albums of the year.
- This movie is thought to have introduced the phrase "My biological clock is ticking" to popular parlance.
- Kevin Kline hums a part of the theme from Raiders of the Lost Ark before heading up to the attic to catch the bat. Lawrence Kasdan co-wrote Raiders with Philip Kaufman and George Lucas.
- The website angryalien.com made a remake of The Big Chill in their 30 second Bunny Theater.
- Comedy troupe Stella parodied "The Big Chill" in their short entitled "College Reunion"
- The Big Chill Cafe in New Delhi, India, was named after the movie.
- Kevin Costner has the role of Alex, the dead man, in scenes originally shot as flashbacks, but eventually all of those scenes were cut. Costner is briefly "seen" as the corpse being dressed for the funeral under the main titles. Lawrence Kasdan felt so guilty for cutting Costner from the film that he cast him in Silverado, helping to launch Costner's career.
[edit] See also
Soundtracks: The Big Chill, The Big Chill: More Songs from the Original Soundtrack and The Big Chill Deluxe Edition
