Tagline: If only life were as easy as pie.
Waitress movie storyline. An audience hit at the Sundance Film Festival, WAITRESS serves up a sweet, sassy and delicious slice of life tale — as it reveals the power of friendship, motherhood and the willingness to take a chance. It’s the story of a small town woman who transforms her hopeless life into a hilarious love story.
This vibrantly different romantic comedy is the final film from writerdirector Adrienne Shelly. Starring in the title role, Keri Russell leads a dynamic cast as a diner waitress stuck in a lousy marriage whose only solace is baking out-of-this-world pies.
When the awkwardly charming new Ob-Gyn, Dr. Pomatter (Nathan Fillion, Serenity), comes to town, she’s inspired to mix-master her life into something far more satisfying. Waitress will surely do for pie making what Sideways did for Pinot Noir. As a favorite waitress at Joe’s Diner, Jenna (Russell) is also a “pie genius,” naming her tantalizing confections after the tumultuous events and emotions of her daily life.
Waitress also stars Emmy nominee Cheryl Hines (“Curb Your Enthusiasm,” RV) and the late Adrienne Shelly (The Unbelieveable Truth, Trust) as Jenna’s quick-tongued fellow waitresses along with classic television star Andy Griffith (“The Andy Griffith Show,” “Matlock”) as the curmudgeonly Old Joe of Joe’s Diner.
Behind the Joy of Waitress
“Baby Screaming It’s Head Off in the Middle of the Night and Ruining my Life Pie.” Pecans and nutmeg over a New York Style Cheesecake. No crust… — Jenna
When Waitress premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January of 2007, the audience immediately responded to its mouth-watering, funny and ultimately uplifting story about a smalltown Southern “pie genius” who finds herself caught between a husband who leaves a bad taste and a scrumptious but totally inappropriate affair – and beats her own path to a future she never imagined. Yet the film’s success was also a bittersweet triumph for everyone involved in the production because the writer and director, Adrienne Shelly, wasn’t there to share in the joy of the occasion.
Tragically, Shelly died in November of 2006, before she even had been informed that her dream had come true and WAITRESS had been accepted to the Sundance Film Festival. As producer Michael Roiff told The New York Times during Sundance: “It’s unbelievable to me that I’m in Park City and she’s not. She so much wanted this movie to get in here, to be seen… [it was] a huge turning point in her career.”
For Shelly, Waitress had been a true labor of love, written while she was pregnant with her own daughter, and a breakthrough film that revealed the stylistic strength and charm of her vision– and especially, her distinctive way of tapping into the magic and humor of ordinary working lives.
Shelly had started her career as an acclaimed actress, garnering the spotlight with fiery performances in Hal Hartley’s indie classics The Unbelievable Truth and Trust and Trust – and had most recently starred in Factotum with Matt Dillon and Lili Taylor. In 1996, Shelly made her feature film debut as a writer-director with Sudden Manhattan, a soul-searching New York comedy, following that with the award-winning, unconventional romantic comedy I’ll Take you There, starring Ally Sheedy as a woman who kidnaps the man who rejected her.
WAITRESS is Shelly’s third and final film and the rare sparkling comedy that brings a fresh view to something that happens all the time: impending motherhood under less than ideal circumstances. Shelly said she set out to make a film “that roots for people who do the right thing. I really like putting that sort of thing out into the world.” She also stated: “Ultimately, WAITRESS is a love letter to my baby, Sophie.”
Indeed, it was getting pregnant that inspired Shelly to dream up the indelible characters of WAITRESS, and to boldly create a predicament for her heroine, Jenna, she’d never seen anyone really tackle before in a comedy: being scared out of her mind at the very thought of giving birth.
“I wrote WAITRESS when I was about eight months pregnant, and I was really scared about the idea of having a baby,” she explained. “I couldn’t imagine how my life was going to be, that it would change so drastically that I wasn’t even going to recognize myself anymore. I was terrified and I really had never seen that reflected in anything, not in a book or in a movie.”
That’s when Shelly decided to undo the taboo. “People don’t talk about those kinds of fears,” Shelly continued, “but I know how large they loom. They aren’t spoken about, and it’s almost like a sacrilege to say that becoming a mother is scary. So I wanted to write a movie about those fears and give them a voice. But I also knew that when you actually have a child this other kind of love kicks in that you couldn’t have ever imagined. It’s a different kind of love than you’ve ever experienced in your life – it’s a complete, utter, unconditional kind of love. Being a mother does change your life, in a beautiful way.”
Shelly put Jenna in the middle of a potentially disastrous romantic triangle even in the midst of her pregnancy. While she’s weathering her awful marriage to a slimy, self-absorbed husband so full of himself he has no idea who Jenna is, she discovers a wild passion for the new doctor in town, the same man who is supposed to be delivering her baby! But Shelly also gave to Jenna what she calls “her saving grace”: her brilliant flair for baking pies.
It was a passion to which Shelly could relate. “I never met a pie I didn’t like!” Shelly remarked while making the movie. “I also thought that was really important for the movie, that Jenna have a skill, something she was really, really good at and something that would be really fun and luscious for the audience to look at. That’s why there are so many pies in WAITRESS, so many darned pies…”
Between the pies, the performances and Shelly’s stylized spin on the film, WAITRESS won acclaim at Sundance, which only increased the heartbreaking hole of Shelly’s absence. Yet everyone who knew her agrees, she would be completely thrilled that her film is now bringing happiness to audiences. As Michael Roiff summed up at Sundance: “Although this is a bittersweet and difficult time, I find myself focusing on that little voice in my head that’s Adrienne speaking to me. It’s saying ‘come on, this is great!’”
Casting the Waitresses
“Once you’re done wiping’ away your indiscretions, I’ll be sitting in your section, wantin’ fresh squeezed orange juice, no ice “ — Joe
Adrienne Shelly knew that her small-town comedy would hinge on her sharply drawn, working-class characters coming vibrantly alive, and that casting the film would be key. The very first character she cast was the heroine at the heart of WAITRESS – Jenna, who is by turns funny, frightened, giddy, irreverent, in love, unraveled and ready to take a wild risk. It wasn’t a simple bill to fill yet one actress made it look, well, easy as pie.
That was Keri Russell, who began her career as a youngster on the New Mickey Mouse Club variety show, then played the title character on the successful series “Felicity” and has gone on to become a rising young actress with roles ranging from the critically admired drama The Upside of an Anger to Tom Cruise’s protégé in Mission: Impossible III. Her natural beauty has also made her a CoverGirl spokesmodel – but with WAITRESS came a chance to show off a grittier side and a spicy mix of vulnerability and comedy.
“The second I sat down with her I knew that she was our Jenna,” Adrienne Shelly said of Keri Russell on the set of the film. “She just had exactly the right spirit and she really grabs your heart and I knew from the second I met her that she was our lead character.”
For Russell, the whip-smart writing in the screenplay had been irresistible. “It’s a story about falling in love and the many forms love takes,” Russell says. “I thought it was funny and sad at the same time, and one of the best scripts I’d read. It was also a chance for me to play the ‘straight man’ while everyone around me is so funny. It was a challenge just not to laugh during the scenes.”
On the set, Russell felt further inspired by the electric atmosphere that developed among the ensemble cast. “Everyone was doing this movie for all the right reasons,” Russell explains. “It seemed that people were a little more excited and a little more involved than on other shoots I’ve done.”
At Sundance, despite so many mixed emotions, Russell remained excited about the film, especially when she saw its reception. “Watching the film with an audience, you see that there’s really a lot of hope and sweetness in this film and I think people want to feel that,” she says.
While Russell’s character navigates the tricky territory of pregnancy in the middle of a bad marriage, she is buoyed along by the wit, support and equally impassioned yearnings for a better life of her fellow waitresses at Joe’s Diner: mousy Dawn, played by Adrienne Shelly herself with an affectionate, unabashed sense of female geekiness; and brassy Becky, played with spunk by Cheryl Hines, a two-time Emmy nominee for her role as Larry David’s wife on the hit HBO show “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
“I’m a big, big fan of Cheryl Hines, so I was really, really excited when she joined us, and she’s just hilarious,” Shelly said during production.
The feeling was mutual for Hines, who was most recently seen on the big screen in the comedy RV with Robin Williams. “I was drawn to this film because Adrienne wrote such a moving script,” Hines recalls. “I thought it was funny and thoughtful and a lot like life. As soon as I read it, I was passionate about doing this project.”
Hines especially enjoyed the camaraderie that developed between herself, Russell and Shelly on the set. “Everybody was so great and talented, it was a true privilege to work with the other actors in this movie,” she says. “We all became really good friends and it was a lot of fun just to come and live in this very different world of Joe’s Diner for awhile.”
In addition to Keri Russell, Adrienne Shelly and Cheryl Hines, there was another key female character who joined the cast towards the end of production. This was Shelly’s then 22 month-old daughter, Sophie, who plays Jenna’s infant in the climactic scenes of the film – scenes that remain especially moving as a final reminder of the bonds between mother and child.
Jerks, Tempters and Friends
“I won’t have another conversation about how crazy this is, how sorry I am, how bad my judgment is and how I won’t ever touch you again.” –– Dr. Pomatter
With its themes about the power of female friendship, solidarity and maternal love, the drama and comedy of WAITRESS is often driven by its characters’ hilariously familiar conflicts with the men in their lives. Knowing this, Adrienne Shelly gave careful consideration to how she cast the male roles, aiming for multi-dimensional performances that would keep the characters funny, infuriating but also true.
To play Jenna’s louse of a selfish, jealous, controlling husband, Shelly always had in mind Jeremy Sisto, with whom she had first worked in 1999 on a small New York thriller entitled DEAD DOG. Since then, Sisto’s career has taken off, with his riveting roles on HBO’s award-winning series “Six Feet Under” and the acclaimed feature film THIRTEEN opposite Holly Hunter. He most recently starred on the NBC drama “Kidnapped” and has become known for his indelible intensity.
“I knew Jeremy would be really powerful as Jenna’s husband, and he is,” Shelly told an interviewer during the production of WAITRESS.
Sisto was impressed with how Adrienne Shelly flipped a typically bleak situation like a disastrously dysfunctional marriage on its head in her sunny, humor-laced screenplay. “She allows the audience to laugh at certain characters that other films might make it hard to watch and yet, she doesn’t sacrifice any of the poignancy,” he comments.
It was Shelly’s script that convinced Sisto to do something he has long avoided – try his hand at comedy. Sisto admits he isn’t usually attracted to the genre, but the chance to work with Shelly compelled him to take on this rare satirical role. “I’d always admired Adrienne’s work as an actress and a director and I thought the script was really sweet and funny and quite different from the stuff I’ve done,” he says. “This was real life comedy, so I could handle something like that. It’s not about punch-lines. It’s about character quirks and personalities.”
To get inside the quirks of egocentric Earl, Sisto had to develop a bit of empathy for him no matter how egregious his behavior as a husband. “I think Earl’s basically very insecure,” observes Sisto, “which makes him intent on keeping his woman close to him. He definitely has many layers and contradictory personality traits — which is what made me so interested in the character.”
Portraying the other leg of Jenna’s yin-yang love triangle is Nathan Fillion in the film’s most romantic role as the new and only OB-GYN in town, Dr. Pomatter. To play the good doctor who finds himself with an adulterous attraction to a pregnant patient, Adrienne Shelly said that she wanted to find “the quintessential sort of handsome guy who has no idea that he’s handsome.”
For Shelly, Nathan Fillion, an up-and-coming star who gained a cult following in Joss Whedon’s fantasy television series “Firefly” and feature film SERENITY, was perfect in that regard.
“He’s really a big dork,” she laughed on the set, “but he looks like Harrison Ford or something. He was perfect for the role.”
Fillion notes that his role was also a bit of a departure: “I’ve played space captains and chiefs of police, but this is the first time I’ve played a gynecologist!” Like his cast mates, it was the humor and poignancy of the story that drew him to the part. “My favorite thing about the screenplay is that this isn’t a story about presidents or spies – it’s about real people in a real café,” he comments. “It’s a slice of life, a slice of life pie.”
Rounding out the main cast, Shelly was able to recruit the legendary Andy Griffith to take on the role of Joe, the cantankerous owner of Joe’s Pie Diner, who has a secret sweet spot for Jenna and her plight – even if he never quite lets it show.
“[Casting Andy Griffith was] an exciting dream, one that came true,” Shelly commented in 2005. “When he came aboard we just kept pinching ourselves and constantly walked around whistling the theme from ‘The Andy Griffith Show.’ He really does such a beautiful job in the film – he’s heartbreaking, really heartbreaking.”
For the cast, having Andy Griffith on the set lent a unique aura. Explains Nathan Fillion: “You hear his voice and it’s strangely calming. It’s like listening to your uncle or you grandfather tell you something – there’ something about him that makes you feel you’ve known him your entire life.”
Like every other actor who became a part of the film, Griffith was lured in by Shelly’s way with characters, then further impressed by her confidence as a director. “I really liked the script,” Griffith says. “Adrienne is a good writer, but she’s also very creative in the way that she directs. She really got after me about playing Joe the way she heard my character in her head.”
Ultimately, the entire cast would not only bring to life their individual characters but forge a tight ensemble working in synch – a magical result that thrilled Adrienne Shelly. Sums up Michael Roiff: “Everyone on this film was so hard-working and talented and wonderful, it’s impossible to pick out someone who wasn’t vital to the film. It was simply a dream.”
About the Pies of Waitress
Just a pie! It’s downright expert. A thing’a beauty… how each flavor opens itself, one by one, like a chapter in a book. First, the flavor of an exotic spice hits ya… Just a hint of it… and then you get flooded with chocolate, dark and bittersweet like an old love affair… — Joe
Just as vital as the characters of WAITRESS are the pies of WAITRESS, which are presented in a visually delectable style that keeps the film as mouth-watering as it is emotionally engaging. For Adrienne Shelly, the pies always had to be front and center. “I love baking pies and I think that’s why I really wanted to give the film a sort of sensuality connected with food,” she said.
“I like apple pie, I like key lime pie, I like lemon meringue pie, I like pecan pie. I like that turtle kind of pie, I like that a lot, with the caramel and the chocolate and the nuts.”
For Jenna’s inventive and often evocative recipes, Adrienne dreamed up her own concoctions, involving unique combinations of ingredients. They include:
• I DON’T WANT EARL’S BABY PIE: Quiche of egg and brie cheese with a smoked ham center
• KICK IN THE PANTS PIE: Cinnamon spice custard
• I HATE MY HUSBAND PIE: “You take bittersweet chocolate and don’t sweeten it. You make it into a pudding and drown it in caramel…”
• BABY SCREAMING IT’S HEAD OFF IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT AND RUINING MY LIFE PIE: New York style cheesecake, brandy brushed pecans and nutmeg
• EARL MURDERS ME BECAUSE I’M HAVING AN AFFAIR PIE: “You smash blackberries and raspberries into a chocolate crust.”
• I CAN’T HAVE NO AFFAIR BECAUSE IT’S WRONG AND I DON’T WANT EARL TO KILL ME PIE: “Vanilla custard with banana. Hold the banana…”
• PREGNANT MISERABLE SELF PITYING LOSER PIE: “Lumpy oatmeal with fruitcake mashed in. Flambé of course…”
The baking of more than 200 individual pies became a major challenge for the filmmakers – albeit a delicious, if waist-expanding one. Although they brought in a “Pie Consultant” for the luscious end spread (which required around 50 pies alone), most of the desserts in the film were constructed by Adrienne Shelly herself, along with producer Michael Roiff and their props department. Roiff recalls building the unusual Mermaid Marshmallow Pie (Jenna’s favorite, and the pie that first wins Dr. Pomatter’s heart), at the last minute with Adrienne. “We just kept adding more and more stuff until it fit what we were looking for aesthetically,” he remembers.
Though the pies were often made on the fly, Roiff recalls that, “Adrienne had a very specific idea of what she wanted for each one. I remember going to the grocery store to get ingredients for the spaghetti pie and Adrienne yelling after me, ‘Don’t forget the parmesan cheese!’”
Many of the confections, such as the sinful banana chocolate pie from the opening credits, provided an end-of-the-day indulgence for the crew. But, unfortunately, they didn’t all come out tasting as wonderful as they looked. Of the above-mentioned spaghetti pie, Roiff discloses, “It was so bad, poor Jeremy Sisto could barely swallow it to complete the scene.”
Into the Sunset: Wrapping Production on Waitress
“Baby don’t you cry, gonna make you a pie.” — Jenna
WAITRESS was shot in Canyon Country, CA, which served as a perfect stand-in for the small-town South of Joe’s Diner. The production whizzed by in just 20 non-stop days, with cinematographer Matthew Irving shooting the film entirely on 35mm film, which he finished with a traditional photochemical, rather than digital, process, lending an elegance to the homespun comedy.
The picture had been through post-production and was locked before Adrienne Shelly passed away. For Shelly, the fast-and-furious pace and micro-budget pressures of indie filmmaking were all part of the fun and challenge of WAITRESS, which she relished. “I often work on low budget films,”
Shelly said at the time. “I was kind of raised in the film industry that way. I think I was 21 when I made my first film. We made it for $75,000 and shot it on 35mm in ten days. I was the lead actress and I got only one take per scene. We sort of all slept in the same room — the makeup girl on the floor and the continuity lady and me — and we all camped out in sleeping bags. I’ve done ridiculously small films and you can really get very creative on them. So I know how to make compromises and make things work.”
Yet it seems that few creative comprises were made on WAITRESS, which stands as Shelly’s most accomplished film and a tribute to her irreverent and vibrant view of life. In one of the final interviews done with Shelly on the set, the writer, director and actress looks into a camera with a slightly dirty lens, which on tape accentuates the bright morning sunlight of a cloudless day. As Shelly talks, a slight wind blows and a few golden leaves dance through the frame.
“I feel like there are a hundred people around me all the time, all rooting for this thing to go well,” she says. “And it’s a beautiful feeling and I’m going to be really sad when it’s over, you know, ‘cause there’s — this is gonna sound real hokey — there’s a lot of love on this set.”
About the Adrienne Shelly Foundation
The Adrienne Shelly Foundation, a non- profit organization dedicated to Shelly’s memory, supports the artistic achievements of female actors, writers and directors through a series of scholarships and grants, providing recipients with financial support and consultative access to the Foundation’s advisory board of actors, directors, producers, composers, law, publicity, academic and trade professionals. Reflecting Adrienne’s spirit, generosity, courage and whimsy, our goal is to recognize the tremendous passion and commitment of women artists in creating their own work, and provide them with support and guidance particularly during periods of transition and struggle.
Waitress (2007)
Directed by: Adrienne Shelly
Starring: Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion, Cheryl Hines, Adrienne Shelly, Eddie Jemison, Jeremy Sisto, Andy Griffith, Darby Stanchfield, Heidi Sulzman, Cindy Drummond, Caroline Fogarty
Screenplay by: Adrienne Shelly
Production Design by: Ramsey Avery
Cinematography by: Matthew Irving
Film Editing by: Annette Davey
Costume Design by: Ariyela Wald-Cohain
Set Decoration by: Susan Lynch, Lia Thompson Roldan
Art Direction by: Jason Baldwin Stewart
Music by: Andrew Hollander
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sexual content, language and thematic elements.
Distributed by: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Release Date: May 2, 2007
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