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Jan 21 2007

Waitress is bittersweet

by Doreen Ringer Ross

Actress/director Adrienne Shelly’s “Waitress” is definitely one of the buzz films at the festival.  It was picked up within a day by Fox Searchlight for 4 million dollars.  Shelly infused the film with a delightful sense of humor and a deliciously bright color palette that’s just gorgeous.  Jenna (played by Keri Russell) is a waitress working at Joe’s Pie Diner and stuck in a sorry marriage to Earl.  Jenna dreams up and bakes pies everyday and names them after whatever is going on in her life.  For instance, upon discovering that she’s pregnant she creates the “I Don’t Want Earl’s Baby” pie. 

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BMI’s Doreen Ringer Ross and Composer Andrew Hollander (“Waitress”)

Composer Andy Hollander’s music embodies the same brightness and warmth…in his score as well as in the song that he and Shelly co-wrote that’s used throughout the film, “Baby don’t you cry, gonna bake a pie, gonna bake a pie with a heart in the middle.”  The unbelievably sad back story behind this sweet spirited movie is the fact that Adrienne Shelly was tragically murdered right after this film was accepted by the festival.  A foundation has been created in her honor which you can learn more about at http://www.adrienneshellyfoundation.org/ 

The legendary Andy Griffith has a great role in “Waitress” as the owner of the pie diner. During the Q&A after the screening I was at somebody asked what it was like to work with him.  The producer answered “Well, after we all finally stopped whistling his theme song…..he was amazing…and listening to his voice was like hearing a relative.”  I chucked and thought about composer/whistler Earle Hagen’s famous theme for The Andy Griffith Show…which is so instantly identifiable.  They don’t really create them like that anymore. 

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