Sarah Jessica Parker recently got the call every actor dreads: the one from a director saying he’s cut your scenes out of a film.
Parker, who filled in for Demi Moore in the role of iconic feminist Gloria Steinem for the upcoming film “Lovelace”, filmed scenes based on real-life porn actress Linda Lovelace leaving the porn industry and becoming an activist against it, when she teamed up with Steinem. But producers later decided to end the film before the year those scenes represented, making them unnecessary.
Directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman say Parker was a “pro” when given the news, however, and are appreciative that she stepped up to help them when Moore–who was inexplicably hospitalized during filming–had to drop out. The sudden cast change meant Parker didn’t have a lot of time to prepare for the role, which was daunting given the fact that she was playing an actual person and not just a character.
“It was difficult because, obviously, the circumstances are not ideal,” she said. “I obviously conveyed that to the filmmakers [and] that I was aware and I was sorry for the reasons that they had to reach out to me. Also, of course, the somewhat daunting task of playing somebody with very little time [to prepare], who was obviously such an important person in the women’s movement, but also played such a pivotal role in Linda’s life. And to do it well and properly and not an impersonation, but rather a complete person with not a lot of screen time and not a lot of preparation.”
The film is about to make its debut at the Sundance Film Festival and doesn’t have a distributor yet, so DVD details are still being worked out, but it’s possible Parker’s performance may make the “deleted scenes” section when it does come out.
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