Norman Jewison's Moonstruck
Originally titled The Bride and the Wolf, John Patrick Shanley’s script about an Italian family in Brooklyn had passed through so many hands that it was wrinkled and covered in coffee stains by the time it made its way to Norman Jewison. As Jewison noted, it was the kind of script that makes you suspect you haven’t been offered a unique favor. Originally commissioned by Sally Field, she was unable to get the funding together for a film. However, Jewison loved the operatic irrationality of it all, and, after arranging a meeting with its young author, quickly found the backers and began assembling a cast.
Norman Jewison describes love as one of the ultimate human follies. From early youth, he had been fascinated by the finality of death. One of the first gags in Moonstruck was to have his name appear on a casket as the opening credits rolled. Loretta Castorini works as a clerk in a funeral parlor, her husband had died some years ago, and inescapable death is a constant theme throughout. Loretta is determined to escape the clutches of irrational exuberance. The glory of the film is that nothing makes sense for her or anybody else nor will it ever.
When he cast the movie, Jewison thought in terms of an opera with Loretta as the soprano, her Mother Rose the alto, Johnny as the baritone, Ronnie the tenor, and Cosmo the bass. Feodor Chaliapin Jr., the old man who plays Cosmo’s Father, was the son of one of the greatest opera basses of all time. The preview audience for the film did not hear Dean Martin singing That’s Amore, a song Jewison hated, but La Bohème. Unfortunately for Jewison, the preview audience didn’t know what to expect from the film when it started that way. Thinking that they had fallen into some highbrow scenario, they only partially unwound enough to enjoy later parts of the film. Martin’s hit proved to be the perfect intro for what was to come. Dick Hyman successfully wove musical themes from the opera into every other part of the film.
From the very beginning, Jewison wanted Cher as Loretta, and, once she overcame her reservations about the part, she was insistent that Nicolas Cage play Ronny Cammareri. Jewison admired her sense of humor and comic timing, and thought people would see themselves and Loretta in her honesty and pragmatism. She, however, was apprehensive about the part. She noted that she did not have one drop of Italian blood, nor did she think that she could develop a convincing accent for the role. Julie Bovasso, who had a flawless accent and played Loretta’s aunt in the film, read all of Loretta’s lines into a tape recording, and Cher’s musical sense enabled her to pick up the intonations within two weeks of coaching with Bovasso. Jewison was uncomfortable with Nicolas Cage. As he put it, in 1986 “he was death at the box office.” Also, Cage was 23 and Cher was 40 at the time. Jewison felt he needed a screen test, something that Cage normally refused to do. Cher agreed to do the test with Cage and it was evident that they were perfect together. As it turned out the worst problem they had was the final scene in the kitchen. Jewison kept them trapped there all day resulting in Cage throwing furniture in frustration, before finally getting the performance he needed out of the anger, pent up emotions, and tiredness. If nothing else, it was the perfect illogical finish to one of the best comic hymns to romance ever recorded on film.