Shelley Duvall reportedly set to make her first film appearance in 20 years in indie horror film
Duvall, who retired in 2002, will apparently co-star in indie horror film The Forest Hills
Aux News Duvall
An indie film producer has said that he’s recruited veteran actress Shelley Duvall to co-star in an upcoming film, her first in 20 years. This is per Deadline, which reports on Scott Goldberg’s The Forest Hills, an indie horror film which Goldberg says stars Duvall, alongside E.T.’s Dee Wallace and Terminator 2: Judgment Day’s Edward Furlong. (Both of whom are prominently name-checked in Goldberg’s IMDB bio.) Duvall will apparently appear in the film as the mother of the main character, Rico (Chiko Mendez), a “mentally disturbed man” who hears his mother as his “inner voice.” Goldberg also released a behind-the-scenes photo of Duvall, apparently on the film’s set.
We’d be lying if we said we didn’t have some fairly serious questions, and also some reservations, about this news: Duvall, who retired from acting in 2002, last made headlines in 2016, when Phil McGraw interviewed her for a segment on Dr. Phil. After watching the interview, in which Duvall appeared agitated, with rapidly shifting thoughts, many observers criticized McGraw for exploiting the veteran actress at a time when she seemed to be suffering from mental illness. Last February, THR’s Seth Abramovitch interviewed Duvall, presenting a more-rounded picture of her struggles, and her thoughts on McGraw. (“I found out the kind of person he is the hard way,” Duvall says at one point.)
All of which is to say that it’s not clear why Duvall has chosen to break a two-decades retirement for an indie horror movie of unclear credentials—but a clear focus on casting genre legends who have fallen on hard times. (Deadline noting that it’s not clear if Duvall is working with representation is also a bit of a red flag.) We hope this is the story of a gifted performer getting back in touch with that aspect of their career after a 20 year absence, but the actual truth remains murky, at best.
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I mean. Gah. I hope someone is looking out for her, and they’re paying her handsomely (in an indie budget kinda way).
let’s hope. Aside from all the shit she was put through in her career, I think the Dr. Phil exploitation of her was one of the grosser things I’ve seen on TV.
There is a special circle of hell reserved for “Dr.” Phil (and Dr. Oz as well).
I hope that she is asked to do fewer takes per scene than on The Shining.
Hi!…
One thing’s for certain, she really loves eating at Red Lobster.
That’s a reference to her 70th birthday celebration there, I suppose. Having lived on both US coasts as an adult, I know well the contempt most coastal people have for Red Lobster — yes, it can’t compare with a decent independent seafood restaurant with just caught fish in those places. But growing up in the Midwest, Red Lobster was probably the best seafood available, so I have a bit of nostalgia for it. And it’s kind of endearing that a famous celebrity has a fondness for a mid-range chain restaurant — it reminds me of how Bill Clinton used to sneak away from the White House and its gourmet meals to grab a Big Mac in the 1990s.
Lobster has one ingredient. I always wonder why people just do not make it at home instead.
The side dishes like hushpuppies and cheddar biscuits? Also, despite the name, Red Lobster serves lots of other seafood. In fact, I never ate lobster there growing up (or ever, although I haven’t gone much to Red Lobster as an adult).
Do a steam, if you like, with still minimum effort:1. Get the water boiling, no more than a couple of inches plus salt in a large pot with a steamer insert.2. The potatoes (small whole or larger cut up; nothing larger than a golf ball) go in; the countdown is now -30 minutes.3. Add the lobsters at -20 minutes.4. Add the corn at -10 minutes.5. Add the clams at – 7 minutes.6. At 0, everything is done.Cheddar biscuits do sound good, though.
“Lobster has one ingredient”And that ingredient is butter
Not many people remember the show now but Duvall’s “Faerie Tale Theater” was a seminal early entry in “peak TV” and highly influential in the evolution of fantasy story telling in the medium. It was something of a critical rage at the time-it won a Peabody-and attracted a very impressive array of talent both behind and in front of the camera (look it up). I for one wish her all the best.
She’s super talented and underrated. I also remember something called Shelley Duvall’s “Bedtime Stories”, which I guess was a similar template to “Faerie Tale Theater”.
It was sort of a cross between Reading Rainbow and Pee-wee’s Playhouse from what I remember. There were wraparound segments of Shelley Duvall and the sentient objects in her room (an alarm clock for example) dealing with some of the issues a younger kid might be facing (like being afraid of the dark) and then a celebrity guest would read a children’s book that deals with that same problem.
There were also Tall Tales and Legens about tall tales and legends which I remember being well received. There was also Nightmare Classics, which was her one outright flop in the series. The goal was to adapt classic horror stories for older kids, but audiences and critics didn’t know what to make of it. Only four episodes were made before production was cut short.
I remember it very well, so much so that I bought the box set once it became available.It was fantastic, and the sheer start power in each episode still amazes me (that she could get so many of them, I mean).
I remember it very well, so much so that I bought the box set once it became available.
Me too! Eminently watchable, and rewatchable. The humor in Faerie Tale Theater is nice — droll, I would say. The actors all seem to have a ton of fun.
Extra attraction – many episodes were set-designed based on famous illustrators. Maxfield Parrish, N.C. Wyeth, Norman Rockwell, and Arthur Rackham are the ones I remember but there were more.
The North remembers
It’ll be a regular scary tale theater!
This doesn’t feel great to me. I hope I’m wrong, but the recent pictures taken by a fan who apparently stalked her to her home and now this make me worry that she’s got one around her that’s looking out for her. Hopefully this is something that she really wanted to do and is very happy for having done it.
If you’re talking about the woman on Tiktok that went to Duvall’s house and hung out listening to the Popeye soundtrack, it seemed like Duvall was cool with it to me.
Maybe, but that Tik Toker also gained a good amount of clout and press for that. Not a great precedent to set with someone who seems to be doing better out of the limelight.
This article reads as if it were written by Rita Skeeter…
“a clear focus on casting genre legends who have fallen on hard times”It worked for Tarantino, after all.
“agitated, with rapidly shifting thoughts”That is the proper response to being interviewed by Dr. Phil