It’s hard to imagine Clueless, the iconic film that hit theaters on July 19, 1995, with none other than Alicia Silverstone like Cher Horowitz, extremely privileged and sometimes alien, but with a big heart.
Director Amy Heckerling tells Yahoo Entertainment that while Silverstone was the first favorite, at least she considered the others.
“I met with Reese Witherspoon, but she never read it,” says Heckerling. “And by then, I was already, like Alicia, whom I love. Who, you know, was in my head while writing?
Heckerling says she had a quick meeting over tea at a posh Beverly Hills hotel with Witherspoon after being impressed with one of her performances, but Silverstone was “the girl in my brain.”
He also has fond memories of other cast members, including the late Brittany Murphy, who played Cher’s friend Tai. The actress passed away in December 2009 at age 32, and the Los Angeles County coroner said the cause was a combination of pneumonia, iron deficiency, and “multi-drug poisoning.”
Brittany breaks your heart. She was tai. She was perfect, “says Heckerling. “It was a ball of sweetness, vulnerability and energy. She was everything you could want.
Heckerling, whose other work includes the equally iconic film. Fast times at Ridgemont High, in 1982, he remembers being impressed with Murphy’s delivery of a memorable line.
“When she did the ‘You’re a virgin who can’t drive,’ I thought I’d killed him,” says Heckerling. “You know, your blood runs cold. Like, someone so sweet can become that. Oh my God. She was just amazing. “
The filmmaker confirms that he has remained on good terms with Stacey Dash, who also played Cher’s best friend, Dionne. In the quarter century since the film debuted with great fanfare on MTV and elsewhere, Dash has become a regular commentator on conservative politics.
“I love her, and I’ve tried to get her job on things and they told me not because of it,” says Heckerling. “You know, I think she is a wonderful actress, and I love her personally.”
Before leaving, Heckerling also chimed in on the origins of the love story in the center of Clueless – the one between the character of Cher and Paul Rudd, Josh, whose mother was briefly married to Cher’s father. “But you were barely married to his mother and that was five years ago,” says Cher in a scene where she complains of never having to see Josh again. (This is, of course, before she realizes how she really feels.)
Well, it turns out that the situation came from Heckerling’s life.
“My grandparents were stepbrother and stepsister. And they met when they were teenagers, “he says. “They fell in love, but they were always fighting and, you know, in the late ’80s, they were still fighting each other. I mean, like cats and dogs fighting. So it never seemed strange to me. “
Watch the video above for the full interview.
– Video produced by Gisselle Bances
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