Gypsy 83

[Nikolaj]

I didn't like the film, either. With no Stevie songs in it, it really ruined the film, it all made much less sense and seemed pointless that there was any Stevie connection to the story.
I listened to the entire commentary track, and it's amazing they got financing; union actors and crew, a release, everything but clearance for the music, which was essential to make the film work. The misguided (and inexperienced at business dealings??) director kept hoping for the ok, but hoping wasn't enough and the movie's a train wreck because the music, only with the not SN-sung dubbed 'Talk To Me' is so clearly missing. It would have been better just not to make the film at all.
He (the director) claims that Sara Rue sang a breathtaking 'Julia' they weren't allowed to use in the film. Maybe that's where they went wrong- choosing essentially a 'bootleg' song must have made it easier for SN's attorney to say 'No' to using any material she'd ever written.
I think also there was caution or homophobia about some of the storyline of the film, one of the main young male characters was gay, and I feel that is partially why the director got turned down--
-- I don't think anyone from Stevie on down would admit it, but I think it was a factor. They wanted something more than a small-time film about outcast 'weirdos' to have an entire Stevie soundtrack, like a real big studio movie. I kind of understand that.
Karen Black was good in it, though, as the washed-up lounge singer. Sara Rue is a likeable actress, and I only watched the film once, but I found her character to be crude and a very unlikeable stereotype of an overbearing 'fat chick with a mouth'. I guess it really was the wrong movie for Stevie to let her music be used in.