Taglines: All that glitter… All that glamour… All that dirt.
Soapdish movie storyline. Celeste Talbert (Sally Field), the long-time star of the daytime drama The Sun Also Sets, is targeted by her ambitious co-star Montana Moorehead (Cathy Moriarty); Montana connives to supplant Celeste as the show’s star by promising sexual favors to its producer, David Seton Barnes (Robert Downey, Jr.).
To make the audience hate Celeste’s character, Montana and David come up with a last-minute plot change in which she will accidentally kill a young, destitute deaf-mute, played by the newly-cast Lori Craven (Elisabeth Shue). Despite the strong objections of head writer Rose Schwartz (Whoopi Goldberg) and Celeste herself, the scene plays out, but is interrupted by Celeste’s recognition of Lori as her real-life niece. Network honcho Edmund Edwards (Garry Marshall) sees potential in the relationship and makes Lori a regular cast member.
Montana and David seek to further unnerve Celeste by bringing back Jeffrey Anderson (Kevin Kline), an actor who Celeste arranged to be fired from The Sun Also Sets decades before, after his romantic relationship with Celeste went sour. Bitter at being reduced to performing dinner theater for uninterested seniors in Florida, Jeffrey relishes the chance to needle Celeste.
Outwardly despising Jeffrey but perhaps still harboring some feelings for him, Celeste becomes unhinged when Jeffrey and Lori seem to be about to begin a romantic relationship, seemingly from jealousy. However, when Lori and Jeffrey are about to enact a scripted onscreen kiss, Celeste stops them by revealing that Lori is actually her daughter by Jeffrey. On camera, Celeste explains that she was responsible for getting Jeffrey fired because she was distraught about the pregnancy.
Then she went home, passed Lori off as her niece, and had her parents raise Lori, all due to pressure from the network. This incites disgust and scorn from nearly everyone on the show towards Celeste, but the scandal ignites renewed interest in the show, causing the ratings to skyrocket. A board meeting between the show’s staff—including Rose, who speaks out in Celeste’s defense—takes place thereafter, where David insists that she be fired, but he is quickly overruled as the situation has not only resulted in positive press for the show, but has generated a great deal of public sympathy for Celeste.
Soapdish (1991)
Directed by: Michael Hoffman
Starring: Sally Field, Kevin Kline, Robert Downey, Jr., Cathy Moriarty, Whoopi Goldberg, Elisabeth Shue, Garry Marshall, Teri Hatcher, Kathy Najimy, Sheila Kelley
Screenplay by: Robert Harling, Andrew Bergman
Production Design by: Eugenio Zanetti
Cinematography by: Ueli Steiger
Film Editing by: Garth Craven
Costume Design by: Nolan Miller, Mark Zunino
Set Decoration by: Lee Poll
Art Direction by: Jim Dultz
Music by: Alan Silvestri
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: May 31, 1991
Hits: 135
