Harlings witty play had a successful off-Broadway run.
Then TriStar Pictures bought the movie rights and Harling edited the script, transforming the play into a movie.
But Harlings clever words like “I’m not crazy …
Credit: Robin Platzer/Getty Images
Here are 17 things you might not know aboutSteel Magnolias.
“She was the only person that had been with me for forever,” Harling toldSouthern Living.
He began writing the play after learning his brother-in-law remarried months after his sister’s death.
Credit: TriStar Pictures/ Courtesy: Everett Collection
“But Julia had become so special to my parents.
She took some peace with that.”
Harling himself played the minister who presided over Shelby’s wedding and funeral.
Credit:Everett Collection
“I had no idea what I’d written.
I asked the first person I gave it to if it even looked like a play.
I wasn’t really sure.
Credit:Robin Platzer/Getty Images
“I’m just gonna make a run at write this as a play.
So, I did.”
“I said, ‘What would Susan do?’
And what Susan would do would be outrageous,” he toldToday.
“She would do something completely inappropriate and totally out of the box.”
“Here, hit this!”
Clairee says in one of the film’s memorable moments.
That’s when Julia Roberts stepped in.
“We brought her in, and she was Julia Roberts, so she was magic.
Another fun fact about the role of Shelby?
She also thought that Katharine Hepburn could make a fantastic Clairee and Elizabeth Taylor would be perfect as M’Lynn.
The role, of course, went to Shirley MacLaine.
Harling and Martindale were friends in real life, and he wrote the role for her to play.
She originated the role of Truvy in the play’s off-Broadway debut.
Playwright Robert Harling grew up in Natchitoches, Louisiana, and insisted on filming there.
His decision had a huge impact on the town, which can still be felt today.
“It had a tremendous impact on the tourism trade and on our community.”
you’ve got the option to even take aself-guided tourof the filming locations.
Sally Field said she always played “really noble, earnest women that wear crummy clothes.
For once I’d like to play a b—h that gets to wear nice clothes.”
Harling loved the idea and started to think about a seeming sweetheart who was truly devilish.
Perhaps CBS should loop back and try, though.
When filming began onSteel Magnolias, Roberts was dating actor Liam Neeson, her co-star in 1988’sSatisfaction.
Then, she allegedly broke up with Neeson to dateand eventually become engaged toMcDermott.
They never made it to the altar, though.
Their relationship ended in 1990.
Guests can stay in rooms named after characters like Clairee, Ouiser, and Annelle.
“And we experienced that on the set.
We made very good friends that are still there for us,” she said.
And we can be sarcastic and also know that were there for each other always.
So I think thats something we long for in this culture.”
“Its about these women who hang with her.
Its about the very best of what women friends are.”
“It was awful,” she says.
Inan interview withPeople, co-star Daryl Hannah remembers the director’s treatment of Roberts as well.
To be a fly on that wall!
Dolly was always the first movie star on set and always ready to shoot, Horton says.
I remember the director commenting that she always knew her lines.
That was so special for those students, recalls Horton.
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