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I'm not sure if anyone has posted this or not, but I heard about it at my meeting yesterday and then my Dad e-mailed me the following information:
Winona Ryder 'Enough' for Hallmark Barry Pepper to co-star in 'Lois Wilson Story' By MICHAEL SCHNEIDER
Winona Ryder and Barry Pepper have been cast to star in the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie "When Love Is Not Enough: The Lois Wilson Story." Production starts this week in Toronto ; the longform will air later this season on CBS.
Movie is based on the true story of Lois Wilson, the co-founder of Al-Anon, and her relationship with alcoholic husband Bill Wilson, one of the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous.
The couple enjoyed an upscale lifestyle in the 1920s, but his drinking eventually led to their downfall. Eventually, her husband became sober -- but Lois Wilson still struggled with her own issues surrounding his alcoholism.
She eventually helped start Al-Anon in 1951 to assist people whose loved ones battle addiction.
E1 Entertainment is producing the movie with Hallmark Hall of Fame Prods. John Morayniss, Ira Pincus and Brent Shields are exec producing, while John Kent Harrison is the director. Telepic is based on the book by William Borchert, who also wrote the script with Camille Thomasson.
In general Hollywood rarely does well with the subject of addiction. It's either treated as something that you get, go to rehab, and then you're fine, or it's treated as hopeless. The rare mention of AA is usually derogatory, or at best just a passing thought.
"My Name Is Bill W." starring James Woods and James Garner was a rare exception. Having read Bill's story and a lot of other history of early AA, I thought it was remarkable in its authenticity. Of course to tell the whole story in a two hour movie is going to be problematic at best, but I think the folks behind this movie avoided most of the typical Hollywood traps, and the casting was excellent.
The other one I like is "Clean and Sober" with Michael Keaton. It starts out in such a way that you think it's just an ordinary movie. But it has some very good moments. You're expecting Michael Keaton to be Michael Keaton, which he is in the beginning but the character undergoes some real change, and the movie doesn't cheat by having him fall in love and get sober "for her". Or vice versa.
The Lois movie sounds like it has a lot of potential. It's really up to the producers and how committed they are to being accurate, over and above sensational and dramatic. There's enough real drama in the story, they don't need to embellish it!
The important thing before seeing any of these movies is to read the true stories behind them first, to understand the beginnings of our programs and how the steps and traditions came to be. Basing sole knowledge of AA and Alanon and 12 steps in general on a Hollywood movie is going to lead to a lot of misunderstanding, no matter how good the movie is. But then again we all know, those who haven't experienced it really aren't going to get it anyway.
I agree, but have also seen some really good movies come out of that Halmark company, so one can hope that they try hard to keep it accurate. If they do, it could be a really good thing for both programs.
I shall keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best as I do with many things relating to Aism. LOL
-- Edited by Jen on Sunday 22nd of November 2009 05:35:18 PM
__________________
~Jen~
"When you come to the edge of all you know you must believe in one of two things... there will be earth on which to stand or you will be given wings." ~Unknown
I read Lois' story very early on. I loved it. At the time, I had read the Big Book (and was having it rammed down my throat by my ex who was on his pink cloud) and Lois's story gave me such a great perspective (and some words of wisdom and history to "fight" back with....lol....Lois would understand :)
I am looking forward to this movie. Alcoholism gets alot of publicity, A's in general can be very "LOOK AT ME!!!!" and many times us alanon's are shoved to the back. I think it is time for us to take our place in the history of the world and get the word about OUR program. Yes, there are many popular culture references about AA but only once have I ever seen a reference to alanon and it was last week on an HBO show. Alanon was a part of the story line, and not in a serious way.
LOL... my sober A daughter (mother of DramaGoddess) said that if they ever made a movie of her life story, she would Winona Ryder to play her. Remember in the movie Betelgeuse, someone is talking about Winona's character and calls her "Edgar Allan Poe's Daughter".
Yeah, I think that was mine for a while, although I'm not Edgar.
