232 – Waitress

We decided to bring you a slice of joy this week with 2007′s Waitress. Starring Keri Russell as a small town waitress and inventive pie master stuck in a harmful marriage, the heartwarming film would eventually be adapted to the megabit musical with songs from Sara Bareilles. Its beginnings, however, were marked by sadness: in the months before its Sundance premiere, the film’s writer/director/costar Adrienne Shelly was tragically murdered. Waitress won over Sundance, becoming a summer hit for Fox Searchlight and generating praise for both Russell’s performance and Shelly’s delicate tone. However, the film lingered in the shadow of the previous year’s Sundance/Searchlight Oscar success of Little Miss Sunshine despite earning fans.

This episode, we talk about Keri Russell’s career and how Waitress falls between her two definitive television success: Felicity and The Americans. We also discuss the Mickey Mouse Club, the era of movies where characters don’t have abortions, and Celine Dion’s upcoming screen debut.

Topics also include various types of pie, the Sundance Houndog controversy, and the power of Felicity cutting her hair.

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