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Sneak
Preview: Oprah Winfrey Presents: Amy And Isabelle
The Emmy
Award-winning Oprah Winfrey Presents returns with Elisabeth
Shue, Hanna Hall and Martin Donovan starring in Amy and Isabelle,
the provocative story of a haunting mother-and-daughter relationship
and the secrets that threaten to tear them apart. This two-hour
original adaptation of the highly acclaimed, best-selling first
novel by Elizabeth Strout, will premiere Sunday, March 4th (9:00-11:00
p.m., ET), on the ABC Television Network.
At first glance
Isabelle Goodrow (Ms. Shue, Academy Award nominee for "Leaving
Las Vegas," "Hollow Man"), a very proper, lonely, hard-working
single mother and her painfully shy but pretty 16-year-old daughter,
Amy (Ms. Hall, "The Virgin Suicides," "Forrest Gump"), seem like
any other mother and daughter. However their relationship is a
fierce mix of love and loathing. In the small New England mill
town of Shirley Falls, Isabelle has carefully constructed a life
that conceals her own shameful past...but it has become a life
of suffocating routine. She works hard in the mill's accounting
office, quietly obsessing about having a life with her oblivious,
married boss, Avery Clark (James Rebhorn, "Meet the Parents,"
"The Talented Mr. Ripley"), while around her the other women in
the office share openly their own colorful, gossip-laden dramas.
Believing these "working-class" women are beneath her, Isabelle
politely keeps her distance.
Amy's lonely
high school days revolve around sneaking cigarettes at lunchtime
with her only friend, the more sophisticated Stacy (Stephi Lineburg,
"Breathing Lessons"), and spending interminable evenings at home
with her reticent mother. This routine is shattered by the arrival
of Amy's new math teacher, Mr. Robertson (Mr. Donovan, "The Opposite
of Sex," "Living Out Loud"). Amy is drawn to this charismatic
man, enthralled by his insights and attention. Their after-school
conversations take on added importance, opening a life of roiling
feelings and yearnings that Amy has never experienced. Soon Amy's
infatuation and girlish fantasy turns to adult passion. Their
secret rendezvous are worth the risk, far preferable to Isabelle's
mind-numbing conversations and anxious behavior. When Amy's sexual
life is discovered, Isabelle is enraged. She savagely lashes out,
destroying her daughter's beauty... and then retreats into an
indignant silence. Amy and Isabelle are stuck working together
at the stifling mill during a summer heat wave of almost Biblical
proportions. Both are convinced that nothing will ever be the
same between them, and both are right.
The enormity
of the crisis rips open their lives. Amy is left on her own to
deal with raw emotions of love and betrayal. Isabelle must explore
the darkest corners of her constricted life and her jealousy of
her own daughter, as well as confront the burden of a long-held
shame about her past. By wading through her own intense pain and
discovering the surprising camaraderie and acceptance of her co-workers,
Isabelle is finally able to forgive not only Amy but, ultimately,
herself.
Also starring
in the movie are Conchata Ferrell ("Erin Brockovich") as Bev,
Viola Davis as Dottie, Marylouise Burke as Arlene, Amy Wright
as Rosie, Ann Dowd as Lenora and Matt Lutz as Paul.
The most recent
installment of Oprah Winfrey's television franchise was the critically
acclaimed Tuesdays with Morrie. The telefilm aired on the
ABC Television Network last December and garnered four Emmy Awards,
including Outstanding Made-for-Television Movie - the first time
in seven years that a network has won that honor. Jack Lemmon
was named Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for
his role as Morrie Schwartz, and Hank Azaria won Outstanding Supporting
Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for his portrayal of Mitch Albom.
Carol Littleton also captured an Emmy for Outstanding Single-Camera
Picture Editing for a Miniseries, Movie or Special.
Oprah Winfrey
Presents: Amy and Isabelle is directed by Lloyd Kramer ("Before
Women Had Wings") from a script adapted by Kramer, based on the
novel by Elizabeth Strout. Oprah Winfrey and Kate Forte ("Tuesdays
with Morrie," "Before Women Had Wings," "David and Lisa," "The
Wedding") are the executive producers. The film is a production
of Harpo Films.
KATE FORTE,
executive producer
As president of Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Films, Inc., and executive
producer of all their films, Kate Forte develops and produces
feature films and made-for-television movies, including the Emmy
Award-winning "Oprah Winfrey Presents" franchise for ABC. This
collection of high caliber, feature-quality, made-for-television
movies was launched in 1997 with "Before Women Had Wings," which
was honored with an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress (Ellen
Barkin). Other titles include The Wedding, the 4-hour mini-series
starring Halle Berry, David and Lisa, starring Academy
Award-winner Sidney Poitier, and Tuesdays With Morrie which
garnered four Emmy Awards -- Outstanding Made-for-Television Movie,
Outstanding Lead Actor (Jack Lemmon), Outstanding Supporting Actor
(Hank Azaria) and Outstanding Single-Camera Editing (Carol Littleton)
- as well as recognition from the Screen Actors Guild, Directors
Guild of America and Producers Guild of America. Ms. Forte has
also produced the critically acclaimed television movie There
Are No Children Here and the Emmy-nominated ABC Afterschool
Special Girlfriend. In addition Ms. Forte produced the
feature film "Beloved," starring Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover.
The film was based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Toni
Morrison and directed by Academy Award-winner Jonathan Demme.
LLOYD KRAMER,
director, screenwriter
Amy and Isabelle has Lloyd Kramer again directing for Oprah
Winfrey Presents. He directed their first telefilm, Before
Women Had Wings, which was honored with an Emmy Award for
Outstanding Lead Actress (Ellen Barkin). Among Mr. Kramer's additional
directorial credits with Harpo are the Emmy-nominated ABC Afterschool
Special, Girlfriend, and the best-selling home video "Oprah:
Make the Connection." Mr. Kramer has also produced and directed
a broad range of critically acclaimed documentaries, including
"Nine" and "No One Dies Alone." Previously, Mr. Kramer was an
award-winning daily feature reporter for WNBC-TV in New York.
He was also a feature contributor to the ABC News program Day
One. In addition, Mr. Kramer created, produced and directed
a tongue-in-cheek series of film reviews, Bucky and Vinny:
The Critics, which had a five-year run on Showtime.
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