Searching for Debra Winger (2002)

Director:

Rosanna Arquette

Writer:

Rosanna Arquette (experiencer)

Release Date:

13 July 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

Rosanna Arquette talks to various actresses about the pressures they face as women working in the entertainment industry.

Plot Keywords:

Actress | Interview | Stereotyping | Film Fan | Acting

Cast

Patricia Arquette	...	Herself
Rosanna Arquette	...	Herself
Emmanuelle Béart	...	Herself
Katrin Cartlidge	...	Herself
Laura Dern	...	Herself
Roger Ebert	...	Himself
Jane Fonda	...	Herself
Teri Garr	...	Herself
Whoopi Goldberg	...	Herself
Melanie Griffith	...	Herself
Daryl Hannah	...	Herself
Salma Hayek	...	Herself
Holly Hunter	...	Herself
Diane Lane	...	Herself
Kelly Lynch	...	Herself
Julianna Margulies	...	Herself
Chiara Mastroianni	...	Herself
Samantha Mathis	...	Herself
Frances McDormand	...	Herself
Catherine O'Hara	...	Herself
Julia Ormond	...	Herself
Gwyneth Paltrow	...	Herself
Martha Plimpton	...	Herself
Charlotte Rampling	...	Herself
Vanessa Redgrave	...	Herself
Theresa Russell	...	Herself
Meg Ryan	...	Herself
Ally Sheedy	...	Herself
Adrienne Shelly	...	Herself
Hilary Shepard	...	Herself (as Hilary Shepard Turner)
Sharon Stone	...	Herself
Tracey Ullman	...	Herself
JoBeth Williams	...	Herself
Debra Winger	...	Herself
Alfre Woodard	...	Herself
Robin Wright	...	Herself (as Robin Wright Penn)
Jane Adams	...	Herself (uncredited)
Antonio Banderas	...	Himself (uncredited)
Alan Cumming	...	Himself (uncredited)
Jennifer Jason Leigh	...	Herself (uncredited)
Sean Penn	...	Himself (uncredited)
Elizabeth Taylor	...	Herself (uncredited)

Directed by
Rosanna Arquette

Writing credits
Rosanna Arquette		(experiencer)

Produced by
Rosanna Arquette	....	producer
Kristina Birkmayer	....	co-producer
David Codikow	....	producer
Mark Cuban	....	executive producer
Sean Griffiths	....	associate producer
Patty Long	....	line producer
Steve Mitchell	....	associate producer
Hilary Shepard	....	associate producer
Todd Wagner	....	executive producer
Happy Walters	....	producer
Matt Weaver	....	producer

Cinematography by
Jean-Marc Barr
Olivier Boucreux
Cort Fey
Joey Forsyte
Nathan Hope
Michael G. Wojciechowski		(as Michael Wojciechowski)

Film Editing by
Gail Yasunaga

Set Decoration by
Carisa Rosenthal
Joanna M. Wright

Makeup Department
Ray Allington	....	key hair stylist
Carrie Angland	....	hair stylist
Carrie Angland	....	makeup artist
Tresha Heath	....	hair stylist
Tresha Heath	....	makeup artist
Jason Jewell	....	hair stylist
Jason Jewell	....	makeup artist
Thierry Pourtoy	....	hair stylist
Thierry Pourtoy	....	makeup artist
Cristina Rocha	....	hair stylist
Cristina Rocha	....	makeup artist
Calista Sanderson	....	hair stylist
Calista Sanderson	....	makeup artist
Paul Starr	....	on site beauty doctor
Susanna Terrell	....	hair stylist
D. Garen Tolkin	....	hair stylist
D. Garen Tolkin	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Kristina Birkmayer	....	production manager
Daryl De Quetteville	....	post-production supervisor

Sound Department
Mandy Allen	....	sound recordist
Mik Cribben	....	sound mixer: New York
David Hocs	....	boom operator: New York
Jeff Layton	....	sound editor
Jeff Layton	....	sound effects editor
Chris Neely	....	sound
Kenneth Novak	....	sound supervisor
Chris Philp	....	dialogue editor
Brenda Ray	....	sound mixer: New York
Mark A. Rozett	....	sound re-recording mixer
Janet Urban	....	sound
Lori Weinhouse	....	boom operator: Los Angeles
Grégory Widoff	....	sound mixer: Cannes (as Grégory Widof)

Camera and Electrical Department
Derth Adams	....	camera operator: Los Angeles
Rosanna Arquette	....	camera operator: Los Angeles/New York
Kristina Birkmayer	....	camera operator: Los Angeles/New York
Jonathon Bradley	....	camera operator: Los Angeles
Mike Budzik	....	camera assistant: Los Angeles
Paul Burns	....	Steadicam operator: New York
Patrick J. Donnelly	....	electrician
Sean Fairburn	....	camera operator: Los Angeles (as B. Sean Fairburn)
Cort Fey	....	camera operator: Los Angeles
Michael Hoffer	....	electrician: Los Angeles (as Mike Hoffer)
Mike Karasick	....	camera operator: Los Angeles (as Michael I. Karasick)
Sam Kretschmer	....	grip: New York
Kenneth J. Miles	....	camera assistant: Los Angeles
Joyce Ostin	....	still photographer: Los Angeles
David Palmieri	....	company grip: Los Angeles
Vince Palomino	....	key grip
Dino Parks	....	additional camera operator
Cynthia Pusheck	....	camera operator: Los Angeles/New York
Sam Redfield	....	grip: New York
Doron Schlair	....	camera operator: New York
Antonio Soriano	....	electrician: Los Angeles
Jason Summers	....	camera assistant: New York
Graham Willoughby	....	camera assistant: New York

Editorial Department
Diana DeCilio	....	assistant editor
Alfredo Frasson	....	color timer
Michael Hatzer	....	color timer
Bob Sackter	....	colorist
Keri Winthers	....	on-line editor

Music Department
Jojo Villanueva	....	music supervisor

Other crew
Max Almy	....	title designer
April Blair	....	production coordinator: New York
Celine Davis	....	production associate
Leah Delyte Di'Bernardo	....	production coordinator: Los Angeles
Steve Litwitz	....	production assistant: Los Angeles
Satsuki Mitchell	....	production associate
Jill Newell	....	production assistant: New York
Eric Pine	....	production assistant: New York
Oorala Yamada	....	assistant to director
Teri Yarbrow	....	title designer

Thanks
Melanie Griffith	....	thanks

Production Companies

• Immortal Entertainment
• Flower Child Productions
• 2929 Productions (in association with)

Distributors

• Bir Film (2003) (Turkey) (theatrical)
• Limelight Distribution (2005) (France) (theatrical)
• Lions Gate Films (2002) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Tri-m Pictures Inc. (2003) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Pony Canyon (2003) (Japan) (all media)

Other Companies

• Capa Presse  special thanks (as CAPA Presse)
• The Russian Tea Room  special thanks

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated R for language

Runtime:

France:100 min | France:97 min (Cannes Film Festival) | USA:99 min (DVD)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R | South Korea:12

Filming Locations:

Cannes, Alpes-Maritimes, France

Company:

Immortal Entertainment

Trivia:

Screened as one of "out-of-competition" films at the Cannes Film Festival, May 2002. Director Rosanna Arquette says she made the documentary when she was struck by the fact that Debra Winger, who earned three Oscar nominations, had left the profession in her 30s.

Quotes:

Samantha Mathis:And the one little part out there that comes along once a year that I'm really excited about doing, there's 30 other women and we're all trying to get that one part.

Movie Connections:

Features The Red Shoes (1948)

Soundtrack:

Fell In Love At 22

Arquette's Personal Quest Turns Into a Meandering, Self-Indulgent Look at Hollywood Sexism

In 1996's "The First Wives Club", Goldie Hawn, as an aging actress, has a piercingly perceptive line courtesy of screenwriter Robert Harling, "In Hollywood, women only have three ages: babe, district attorney, and 'Driving Miss Daisy'". Actress Rosanna Arquette has decided to explore this unfortunately true perspective in her 2002 documentary where she speaks with thirty-five renowned actresses of varying ages. Even though it's doubtful any of them are facing economic hardship, their dilemmas would still make a worthy subject for a film, but she makes it such an overly personalized odyssey over her own tenuous success as a 43-year old actress and mother that she is unable to provide anything significantly insightful on the topic.

Instead, we are left with a film with some revealing moments but more commonly, a haphazard structure of interview snippets that seem to make the same set of points over and over again - the incessant struggle to find good roles for women past forty, the precarious balance between managing a career and raising a family, and the myopia of profit-minded studio executives interested in what teenage males want to see (at least according to film critic Roger Ebert, the only male interviewed). The problem is that Arquette, as a documentarian, cannot provide much-needed objectivity to her subject, as she repeatedly interjects with her personal experiences when she is not fawning over her subjects. Her lack of discipline extends into her editing as there is no sense of organization to her narrative other than how she came upon the actresses, whether proactively seeking them out individually, organizing lunches (like what Jon Favreau does with his TV series, "Dinner for Five") or happening upon them at Cannes (like surprising a thankfully good-humored Frances McDormand in the ladies room). Truth be told, some come off quite badly as they express unformed thoughts with mind-numbing analogies. Meg Ryan, Gwyneth Paltrow and Emmanuelle Béart come to mind.

Some like Robin Wright Penn and Charlotte Rampling reveal so little about themselves that their inclusion provides questionable value, and a self-consciously glamorous Sharon Stone comes across as rather disingenuous when she talks about her abandonment of vanity. But others provide nuggets of wisdom like Holly Hunter, Diane Lane, Salma Hayek, Martha Plimpton (who has forsaken movies for the stage) and a predictably funny Whoopi Goldberg. Leave it to veterans Vanessa Redgrave and Jane Fonda to offer the film's most honest, insightful comments, the latter especially revealing in how former husband Ted Turner encouraged her retirement and then sharing how she feels when she nails a pivotal scene in a movie. Fortunately, Debra Winger, whose self-imposed (and ultimately short-lived) retirement inspired the film's eponymous title, shows herself to be the trenchantly sardonic, perceptive non-conformist she obviously is. The film really contains very little when it comes to revelations about the inherent sexism of the film industry, and Arquette's personal catharsis frankly does not resonate enough to make the film worthwhile. Other than some trailers, the DVD has no extras.