Hannah and Her Sisters - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Hannah and Her Sisters or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Hannah and Her Sisters

[bryan]

Theatrical movie debut of Joanna Gleason (Carol).

[oscar]

Annie Potts screentested for the role of Hannah.

[liam]

Writer and director Woody Allen admits that the role of Hannah was based on Mia Farrow being "a romanticized perception of Mia. She's very stable, she has eight children now, and she's able to run her career, and have good relationships with her sister and her mother. I'm very impressed with those qualities, and I thought if she had two unstable sisters, it would be interesting."

[francisco]

Theatrical movie debut of Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Mary).

[kylie]

Over 20 years later David (Sam Waterston) and Holly (Dianne Wiest) star together in the Law and Order series.

[clayton]

Part of this movie's structure and background was borrowed from Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander (1982). In both movies, a large theatrical family gathers for three successive years' celebrations (Thanksgiving in this movie, Christmas in Bergman's). The first of each gathering is in a time of contentment, the second in a time of trouble, and the third showing what happens after the resolution of the troubles. The sudden appearance of Mickey's reflection behind Holly's in the closing scene also parallels the apparition behind Alexander of the Bishop's ghost. Additional parallels can be found with Rocco and His Brothers (1960), which, besides the connection to its name, also uses the structural device of dividing sections of the movie for the different siblings' story arcs.

[maureen]

Carrie Fisher and Dianne Wiest walk beneath a Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre sign: "THE BEST PLAY 1984 Tony Award Winner." The play was "The Real Thing" by Tom Stoppard. The play was directed by Mike Nichols and starred Jeremy Irons and Glenn Close.

[stephanie]

Mia Farrow admitted "a small sick feeling . . . deep inside me" which "I shared with nobody was my fear that 'Hannah and Her Sisters' had openly and clearly spelled out his feelings for my sister. But this was fiction, I told myself . . . so I put those thoughts out of my mind."

[lena]

Woody Allen says he was inspired by the title. "I thought I'd like to make a film called 'Hannah and Her Sisters'," he said, saying this prompted him to give Hannah two sisters. He was interested in making something about the relationship between sisters, which he felt was more complex than that between brothers. "Maybe that comes from childhood; my mother had seven sisters, and their children were female, so all I knew were aunts and female cousins."

[kylie]

The fifth movie collaboration between Woody Allen and Mia Farrow.

[sara]

According to the script, Elliot (Sir Michael Caine) and Lee (Barbara Hershey) were supposed to act out a heated love scene in a boat. The scene was to be remarkably lengthy and explicit, something that had been absent from Woody Allen's previous movies. Due to the lack of precedent, Caine and Hershey figured that the scene would be cut from the script before it was ever filmed. Much to their chagrin, it was not. The scene was filmed, and while it called for no nudity, Caine and Hershey were required to provide realistic movements to simulate sex in a lengthy scene. Much to Caine's and Hershey's relief, the whole sequence was cut from the final movie.

[terry]

Woody Allen was originally going to have a more downbeat ending, but Orion Pictures executives asked him to make it more upbeat.

[carla]

Four of Mia Farrow's real-life children appeared in this movie. Daisy Previn and Moses Farrow played Hannah's son and daughter. Soon-Yi Previn and Fletcher Previn appeared as young guests in the Thanksgiving scenes.

[ava]

This movie marked the first collaboration between writer and director Woody Allen and cinematographer Carlo Di Palma, and launched a decade-long partnership. Allen worked with Gordon Willis on all of his movies since 1977. However, Willis was not available, due to a scheduling conflict.

[linda]

Theatrical movie debut of Lewis Black (Paul).

[marc]

The Stanislavsky Catering Company is based on a two-person catering company that Janet Margolin and Jennifer Salt ran early in their careers, between acting jobs.

[ella]

Kay Lenz was offered the lead role, but turned it down to make House (1985).

[dustin]

Many of Hannah's scenes were filmed in Mia Farrow's apartment. Woody Allen said that Farrow once had the eerie experience of turning on the television, stumbling upon a broadcast of the movie, and seeing her own apartment on television, while she was sitting in it.