FRANCE: ELLEN BURSTYN STARS IN THE FILM "THE DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA-YA SISTERHOOD" SHOWING AT THE 28TH AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL IN DEAUVILLE.

Record ID: 393034

  • Title: FRANCE: ELLEN BURSTYN STARS IN THE FILM "THE DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA-YA SISTERHOOD" SHOWING AT THE 28TH AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL IN DEAUVILLE.
  • Date: 2nd September 2002
  • Summary: DEAUVILLE, FRANCE (SEPT 2ND, 2002) (REUTERS) SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) CALLIE KHOURI SAYING: "I wanted to make an old fashioned yarn. Just tell a story and it just was a really fun thing to try out on my first time to see if you could start in 1937 and get all the way to the present day and go back and forth and have it all add up to something. So it was a tremendous cha
  • Embargoed: 17th September 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: DEAUVILLE, FRANCE
  • Country: France
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA1RA2ZZXNOGIG7V6PIZB7DBVJW
  • Story Text: The Ya Yas flew to the French coastal town of Deauville on Tuesday to spread their Divine Secrets at this year's American Film Festival. Ellen Burstyn, Sandra Bullock, Ashley Judd and Maggie Smith have brought Rebecca Wells' brilliant novel to the big screen.
    It took five years to transform Rebecca Wells' hit novel "The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" into a movie. And now that it's out there, Ellen Burstyn and director Callie Khouri were proud to present it at Deauville's 28th American Film Festival.
    Oscar-winning actress Burstyn jumped at the chance to play the leading mama of the sisters, Vivi: "When I read the script I said now there's a woman I recognise. You know usually you read a script and most women are presented in such a thin layer you know. She's the good wife or the bad wife or the good mother or the bad mother. And Vivi went up and down and you know she was good and bad and funny and selfish and generous and mean and drunken and glorious you know I though.
    You know she was really a full dimensioned woman."
    The film covers three different time periods, the late 1930s and early 40s, the 1960s and the 1990s. Ashley Judd takes on the role of Vivi playing the high-spirited beauty at a younger age, as the character struggle to raise her children. The leading lady, a fan or the original novel, commented on screenwriter Callie Khouri's abilities.
    "I thought that Callie without degrading the book in anyway, somehow distilled it to its essence and made it shine," Judd said.
    Sandra Bullock plays opposite Ellen Burstyn, taking on the role of Vivi's daughter Sidda. It is Sidda's actions that are misinterpreted by Vivi causing an argument between mother and daughter. Enter the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, longtime friends who band together to repair the strained relationship.
    The charming tale of friendship, love and adventure is what propelled Wells' novel to international success. Translating this chemistry to the big screen - even if Maggie Smith, Sandra Bullock, Ashley Judd and Ellen Burstyn are the vehicles responsible for doing it - is not easy. Audiences will dictate if Callie Khouri's work has been a success.
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