THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 13, 1994 TAG: 9407120113
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 133 lines
IF YOU SAW an angel, what would it look like?
Sure, we all have vague ideas about the way an angel looks, but let's get specific: Wings or no wings?
Over at the Walt Disney studio, the issue has been a major problem as the cast, crew and production staff of ``Angels in the Outfield,'' opening at local theaters today, pondered the matter.
``Angels in the Outfield'' is a remake of the 1951 movie that starred Paul Douglas as the disgruntled manager of the losing Pittsburgh Pirates. Little Donna Corcoran, one of the reigning child stars of the era, prayed for the team; angels responded, spurring the Pirates to a winning streak. Janet Leigh was the love interest.
In 1994, things have changed. Danny Glover plays a similarly cynical manager, but now the team is the California Angels. The little girl has been changed to two little boys. The Janet Leigh role has been cut altogether.
But, most importantly, the angels are now seen.
``The 1951 original was a love story,'' explained Holly Goldberg Sloan, who wrote the new script. ``It was based on a radio play written by a priest. But the angels were never seen. Paul Douglas heard angelic voices, but only little Donna Corcoran saw them. She'd say, `I see them. They're over there,' and she'd point and look precious. You really wanted to throttle her.''
The creative decision not to depict the angels was based partly on the technological limitations of the day. The only evidence of their existence was the appearance of a feather that floated lightly onto the pitcher's mound in the final frames of the film.
Sloan theorized that modern audiences simply wouldn't tolerate such a cop-out.
``The toughest audience is the teen audience, and they're the most cynical,'' she said. ``We were making a family movie, but we also plan to get the teen audience. It couldn't be too sentimental. With technology being what it is now, there was a decision that we had to bring on the angels. You had to see them.''
Easier said than done.
``We didn't want them to become too religious,'' said director William Dear. ``We didn't want the film to be at all preachy. We considered the small look - children. It had a creepy feeling. There was the illusion that they were dead children. We thought about the wispy look. Too ghostlike. Eventually each member of the cast had his own favorite idea for the angels. It became a running debate. The scenes with the angels were done last.''
The director said that many late-night sessions were spent talking about the concept.
``There was one point when we thought we couldn't have angels at all,'' Dear said. ``The general feeling was that they would have to be both realistic and ephemeral, pleasing to traditionalist and yet free of sentimental cliches. They had to have some surprise. And they had to have a decidedly earthy sense of humor.''
This proved to be the key to the eventual decision.
Christopher Lloyd, the wacky and grizzled character actor who is best known for the ``Back to the Future'' trilogy, was chosen as the principal angel.
The cast, though, was as much worried with baseball and kids as they were with angelic beings. We reached varied members of the ensemble to talk of angels and base hits.
Brenda Fricker, who operates a foster home for children in the film, firmly claims that she is no angel, even though she is constantly cast in saintly roles. She won an Oscar as Daniel Day-Lewis' strong mother in ``My Left Foot.'' She played a somewhat angelic homeless woman in ``Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.''
``If they pay me, it's all right,'' she said flatly.
Her memories of her Oscar-winning night are also less than angelic.
``I got drunk,'' she said. ``No one knew who I was and, besides, I had a $100 bet on Anjelica Huston. (Huston was nominated for ``Enemies, a Love Story.'') I was there just for the beer. When they called my name, it was a shock.''
As for working with the two child actors in the movie, she said: ``The way to handle them is to ignore them totally. I ignore them to the point of being rude. Otherwise, they get spoiled and think they're special.''
Tony Danza, cast as an over-the-hill pitcher, said that he feels he's had angels on his side in real life. He suffered near-fatal injuries while skiing in Utah after the filming.
``I went through a four-hour operation for a bone graft,'' he said. ``I had a broken back, dislocated disc, broken leg, torn-up legs and eight broken ribs. One rib was in the lungs and another in the liver. They said I might never walk again. I was on the critical list, but I knew nothing about it. I was out.''
So what did he hit?
``I've never known. They say I hit a tree. I want to go back there and see the site someday. I know that I was not skiing fast. I usually ski full speed, but I was going slowly. I was not thinking about skiing. I lost my mother to lung cancer last June and I was thinking about her. I went through a period of real depression. I was thinking of her all the time. I learned that you can't let your mind wander when you're skiing.''
Today, he believes in angels, but he isn't sure they look like Christopher Lloyd. ``They look like everybody,'' he said. ``I can never be mad at anyone again. I meet people I've never seen before and they casually say, `I prayed for you.' ''
Danny Glover said he was thrilled to appear in a baseball yarn, even though he'd rather be playing his hero, Hank Aaron, than a mere manager. ``In 1955, I discovered Hank Aaron, and I've never been quite the same,'' Glover said. ``I followed his every move for 20 seasons. I used to know all his stats.'' Glover's view of the movie: ``It's about the humanization of my character. This guy has become bitter. He learns that there is more to life than just winning or losing. That's the center of the movie.''
Ben Johnson, Oscar winner for ``The Last Picture Show,'' said, most importantly: ``This is a decent picture. I wouldn't appear in it otherwise. I'm so tired of this trash that's in theaters now. I never thought men and women would sit together and watch some of the stuff they have in movies now. When I was a young man, only men would have seen movies like this, and we wouldn't have talked about them in women's company. We had more respect for women.''
Johnson almost bowed out of ``The Last Picture Show'' because of the language. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Danny Glover stars in ``Angels in the Outfield,'' opening today,
with Milton Davis Jr., left, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Photo
Danny Glover plays a baseball manager who learns to believe in
angels, thanks to two boys, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, back, and Milton
Davis Jr.
by CNB