Everything Is Copy

Year 13, Day 196 - 7/15/21 - Movie #3,894

BEFORE: There's something wrong with the IMDB today, specifically the "Advanced Title Search" page that I use to determine what I've last seen each actor in.  This would only be a problem if I were scheduled to watch a documentary today with a very large, all-star cast.  Now I'll have to cross-reference each actor with each year-end summary page until I land on their last appearance, and it's not really an exact science.  The IMDB system is unreliable, anyway, because it doesn't always count archive footage as an "appearance", but I do.  And it looks like today's doc uses a lot of archive footage, which means I'll probably spot a bunch of actors who weren't credited with appearances, and that means submitting a list of 20 or 30 actors to the IMDB to get their credits added to this film's page. I like to think there's a room somewhere with a staff member working on the big database, and just dreading that submission from me, which means he (or she) has got to work late updating the database.  I wonder, though, if they're impressed that I kept notes, did my research and put in some time to make the listings better - or do they even care, maybe it's just a job for them.

Amy Adams carries over again from "The Woman in the Window", at least through archive footage from "Julie & Julia" that was used in this documentary with a very large, all-star cast. 

THE PLOT: A look at the life and work of writer/filmmaker Nora Ephron.

AFTER: Nora Ephron, of course, was probably most famous for writing "When Harry Met Sally", which was a huge mega-hit movie, and was then followed by "Sleepless in Seattle" and "You've Got Mail", combined these three movies changed the whole genre of romantic comedy, at least for all the Meg Ryan fans out there.  Yes, I realize Tom Hanks was in two out of those three films, some of the credit should go to him as well.  Before that she wrote the screenplays for "Silkwood" and the autobiographical "Heartburn", based on her marriage to Carl Bernstein.

But she wrote and/or directed some bombs as well, like "Mixed Nuts", "Lucky Numbers", "Hanging Up" and "This Is My Life", but she finished strong with "Julie & Julia" before she passed away.  (It's funny, this doc makes no mention of her writing the 2005 film "Bewitched", I guess we're all just supposed to ignore it...I wish that I could.). 

Her son, Jacob Bernstein, went back even further in this documentary, to the time of Nora's childhood, moving with her parents from New York City to Beverly Hills because they wanted to become screenwriters - and they did, they wrote "Desk Set" and "Daddy Long Legs" and "There's No Business Like Show Business".  After high school, Nora moved back east to attend Wellesley College, and then hit New York again, working in the mailroom at Newsweek, which at the time did not allow women to write for the magazine, which eventually got changed by a class-action lawsuit.  But by that time, Nora Ephron was a reporter for the New York Post, which then led to writing essays for the New Yorker and other magazines. 

By the mid-1970's she was married for the second time, to Carl Bernstein, and also took a stab at re-writing the screenplay for "All the President's Men", based on Carl's reporting on the Watergate scandal (with Bob Woodward, of course).  Man, they really got the casting right when they had Dustin Hoffman play Bernstein.  (Robert Redford as Woodward, not so much...).  The marriage lasted three years, until Ephron learned about her husband's affair, and of course this became the inspiration for the novel and screenplay for "Heartburn".  This is partially what the phrase "everything is copy" is about, that everything that happens to a writer (or a musician) becomes grist for the mill, something that can be channeled into a screenplay or a song, which can be a very convenient form of therapy.  Turning one's own life experiences into books, plays, movies, etc. is fine, as long as I don't have to watch characters sitting in front of typewriters, turning their experiences into stories - most of the time I don't care to see how the sausage is made.  

Around the time of "You've Got Mail", in which Meg Ryan's character falls in love with a reporter, Ephron was in another relationship, with author Nicholas Pileggi, and I suppose you have to wonder if there are just no coincidences, that once again she turned her experiences into copy.  I suppose writers are encouraged to go out and have grander experiences than most other people, because they need inspiration for their stories, right? Is that how it works?  We also learn that Nora was the oldest of four sisters, and the eldest child is typically the over-achiever in the bunch, right?  I speak, of course, as the under-achieving child youngest child in my own family - but I suppose that's just an excuse.  

After being diagnosed with leukemia, Ephron chose to keep her illness a secret, which many of her friends say felt a bit out of character - but I guess you never know how you might react to a diagnosis like that, until it happens.  Maybe there's no right or wrong way to deal with it, but this film depicts Ephron advising people to not wait to enjoy their last meal when it's time for their last meal, after all, you might be too sick to enjoy it, or you might die suddenly and not see the end coming, so maybe have that great last meal in advance.  Warren Zevon's advice after he learned he had a terminal condition was much simpler, it was just "Enjoy every sandwich" - and that's advice that I've taken to heart.

One thing I've taken away from watching documentaries like this, about all the changes that people go through over time, is that just when people think they've got life figured out, that seems to be when everything changes.  People, such as Nora Ephron, get married and think, "Oh, this is it, this is the way things are going to be, from now on..." and, of course, then something changes, like they learn their partner is having an affair.  Or they get a job, like as a reporter, only to discover that they really want to write screenplays, so they move on to that.  I've had my career shaken up now by the pandemic, I lost one of my two jobs so I had to move on (eventually).  But I kind of messed up, I took the first job available to me and now I want to make a change - what's keeping me going is the realization that this job isn't permanent, I can leave it at any time.  So instead of living in the moment I've got my eye on the future, and that's a very unusual way for me to live - normally I'd take a job and think, "Oh, this is it, this is the way things are going to be, from now on..." but now I think I know a little better.  When you look back at your own life, and see all the changes that have taken place, how can you possibly regard anything as permanent?  People are going to come and go, some people are going to pass away or move away and you'll lose contact with them, even marriages come and go, so I guess the only way to handle it is to accept the changes as they come, and not get locked in to any way of thinking or being, because inevitably it's all going to change, right? 

I wish I could move on to that documentary about Mike Nichols next, but that doesn't get me where I need to go - or I could watch that documentary about Spielberg, but I need to save that, I think it's going to get me out of a linking jam in October.  So I'm moving on in a different direction, just give me a couple days to get back to it.

Also starring Ken Auletta, Bob Balaban (last seen in "Howl"), Carl Bernstein (last seen in "The U.S. vs. John Lennon"), Jacob Bernstein, Marie Brenner, Kate Capshaw, Richard Cohen, Barry Diller, Lena Dunham (last seen in "Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood"), Amy Ephron, Delia Ephron, Hallie Ephron, David Geffen (last seen in "Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band"), Dan Greenburg, Tom Hanks (last seen in "Borat Subsequent Moviefilm"), Gaby Hoffmann (last seen in "Obvious Child"), Donald J. Lee Jr., Bryan Lourd, Laurence Mark, Victor Navasky, Mike Nichols, Lynda Obst, Rosie O'Donnell (last seen in "Hedwig and the Angry Inch"), Amy Pascal, Rob Reiner (last seen in "Shock and Awe"), David Remnick, Meg Ryan (last seen in "Proof of Life"), Joel Schumacher, Liz Smith, Diane Sokolow, Steven Spielberg (last seen in "Filmworker"), Meryl Streep (last seen in "The Laundromat"), Gay Talese, Barbara Walters (last seen in "The Accidental President"), Rita Wilson (last seen in "The Art of Getting By"), Reese Witherspoon (last seen in "Becoming"), George C. Wolfe, 

with archive footage of Nora Ephron, Dan Aykroyd (last seen in "Love, Gilda"), Joy Behar (also last seen in "The Accidental President"), Scott Pelley (ditto), Meredith Vieira (ditto), Leslie Caron (last seen in "Daddy Long Legs"), Dick Cavett (last seen in "Cinema Verite"), Cher (last seen in "No Direction Home; Bob Dylan"), Billy Crystal (last seen in "Fathers' Day"), Geena Davis (last seen in "In a World...", Joan Didion (last seen in "Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold"), Roger Ebert (last seen in "Life Itself"), Kathie Lee Gifford, Cary Grant (last seen in "Cleaner"), Katharine Hepburn (ditto), Buck Henry, Shirley Jones (last seen in "Elmer Gantry"), Julie Kavner, Diane Keaton (last seen in "Hampstead"), Deborah Kerr, Hoda Kotb, Lisa Kudrow (last seen in "Like a Boss"), David Letterman (last seen in "The Bill Murray Stories"), Jane Lynch (last heard in "Ralph Breaks the Internet"), Ross Malinger, Steve Martin (last seen in "Cheaper by the Dozen 2"), Richard Masur (last seen in "Don't Think Twice"), Samantha Mathis, Walter Matthau (last seen in "Dolemite Is My Name"), Bruce McGill (last seen in "The Lookout"), Chris Messina (last seen in "I Care a Lot"), Marilyn Monroe (also last seen in "Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band") Jack Nicholson (last seen in "David Crosby: Remember My Name"), Catherine O'Hara (last heard in "The Addams Family"), Jane Pauley, Nicholas Pileggi, Estelle Reiner, Charlie Rose (last seen in "Unfit: The Psychology of Donald Trump"), Liev Schreiber (last seen in "Clear History"), Gene Siskel (also last seen in "Life Itself"), James Stewart (also carrying over from "The Woman in the Window"), Spencer Tracy (last seen in "Walt: The Man Behind the Myth"), John Travolta (last seen in "Going Clear: Scientology & the Prison of Belief"), Stanley Tucci (last seen in "A Little Chaos"), Oprah Winfrey (last seen in "The Color Purple"), Bob Woodward (last seen in "State of Play")

RATING: 6 out of 10 talk show appearances