Surviving in Hollywood for one year is difficult enough, but persevering
on- and off-screen for more than half a decade is what makes legends out of
transient teen idols.
Tuesday night, East Tennessee got a taste of this timeless talent as
Knoxville native Patricia Neal dazzled the Southern Premiere with her new
film Cookies Fortune.
The Academy Award-winning actress and local hero, who survived a series of
massive strokes in 1965, gave her name to the Patricia Neal Rehabilitation
Center more than 20 years ago.
Tuesday’s event, sponsored by October Films and Regal Cinemas, raised
nearly $7000 for the center, located at the Fort Sanders Regional Medical
Center. The older guests, who grew up watching Neal dazzle on the big
screen, basked in the glow of the legendary star, while many of the
children — unaware of the greatness in their presence — stuffed
themselves with popcorn and chocolate-covered strawberries. At the movies
on a school night!
But who could blame their naïvete? Imagine Gwyneth Paltrow hobbling down
the red carpet 50 years from now, perhaps a cane in hand. No doubt her gown
— and skin — would be a little loose. The camera’s flash would no longer
be focused on her, but rather the latest sexy siren — and the wrinkled
face of her leading man will make us long for the days when Brad Pitt and
Ben Affleck were by her side. As we reminisce of times past, we will try to
express the grandeur of Gwyneth to our gap-toothed grandchildren. But will
they really understand? As her life fades from the limelight, will her
captivating presence endure?
Patricia Neal’s surely has. The legendary actress, a youthful 73-years old,
shines in Cookie’s Fortune, the new film by Robert Altman. At
Tuesday’s Southern Premiere, Neal was presented with the Lifetime
Achievement Award from the Governor’s Awards in the Arts. The 330 guests
were then treated to a screening of her film, which also stars Glenn Close,
Julianne Moore, Liv Tyler, Chris O’Donnell, Charles S. Dutton, Ned Beatty
and Lyle Lovett.
Cookie’s Fortune, which Neal calls “divine,” centers on a humorously
dysfunctional family living in the small town of Holly Springs,
Mississippi. Neal plays Cookie, a pipe-smoking eccentric who shares her
antebellum home with an adoring middle-aged black man who has a taste for
Wild Turkey and catfish enchiladas (Dutton).
“I love him, he’s divine,” Neal said of Dutton, whom she refers to as “my
darling.”
Though Cookie is a far cry from Neal’s earlier roles in such films as
Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Subject Was Roses and Hud
(for which she won an Oscar for Best Actress), she enjoyed her new
character.
“Oh I love her. Oh I love her,” said Neal. “She’s a great woman and I
adored her relations with everybody … and what she does to herself,” she
added, chuckling.
Neal, however, was quick to mention the magnificent Italian makeup artists
who transformed her into the wrinkled old Cookie.
“That face ain’t mine,” she joked. “I want you to know that that was grand
makeup I had. I’m a lot younger than I appear in the film — at least 13
years!”
Neal, whose last role was a blind grandmother in 1993’s Heidi, hopes
to continue making movies. She did mention that she wouldn’t mind playing a
character that required less aging effort than Cookie.
“Mind you, I have a couple of lines myself,” Neal laughed.
Neal, still stunning, awed premiere guests who were invited to mingle with
the star at a reception following the screening.
“It was a great success,” said Laura Wallace, director of development
communications for the Fort Sanders Foundation. Though many wished that
Neal was on the screen longer, “everyone seemed to really like it,” Wallace
said.
Certainly the relationship between Cookie and Dutton’s character, Willis,
provides the film with some of its funniest, most endearing moments. Though
it is unfortunate that Neal’s character exits early in the film, her
“mysterious” death fuels the action — a wild, often hilarious murder
mystery thrown for a loop by Cookie’s estranged niece, Camille, played to
perfection by Close.
“I was a first shot. They got rid of me quick,” Neal joked about the two
weeks she spent on the set in Mississippi.
However, as the unique storyline unfolds, the richness of the characters
develops. Though Close dominates the screen with Camille’s self-proclaimed
theatrical genius and absurd scheming, the other crazies are not lost in
her shadow. With everything from a love-sick catfish farmer (Lovett) to a
confident, but incompetent sheriff’s deputy (O’Donnell), this film offers a
captivating and comedic array of dysfunction. And of course the lovable Liv
Tyler is a hit as the object of both men’s affection.
Other stand-outs include Moffat, Holly Springs’ only lawyer who rides
happily through town on his bicycle, and Rufus Thomas, the owner of Theo’s
bar where the blues and the booze abound.
Cookie’s Fortune, which opens today, is certain to entertain. The
incredible cast brings the movie to life with an ensemble of outrageous
characters that will make even the most eccentric moviegoer feel
normal.
“It’s a fantastic film; you’re gonna love it,” said Neal. “Divine, the film
is divine.”
