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Home Celebs The Shue Fits For Elisabeth and Andrews Semi-Autobiographical Film 'Gracie'

The Shue Fits For Elisabeth and Andrews Semi-Autobiographical Film 'Gracie'


By Fred Topel, Special to Hollywood.com

Davis Guggenheim and Elisabeth Shue at the Los Angeles premiere of
Davis Guggenheim and Elisabeth Shue
With its coming-of-age story centered around a young girl’s attempt to heal her family’s grief through soccer, it’s hardly a stretch to call Gracie a family film. But the description extends behind the scenes as well.

Not only was Oscar nominated actress Elisabeth Shue (Leaving Las Vegas) both the real-life inspiration for the film and one of its stars, she produced it with her brother, former Melrose Place star Andrew Shue, and the director’s chair was occupied by Elisabeth’s husband Davis Guggenheim, who helmed the groundbreaking documentary An Inconvenient Truth.

Although Gracie is not a full-fledged autobiography, it is inspired by the Shue family’s experience: In reality the clan dealt with the untimely death of her eldest brother William, who was killed in a freak accident, and Elisabeth threw herself into her tomboy passion, soccer. On screen high schooler Gracie (Carly Schroeder) loses her oldest brother and tries to take his place on the boys' soccer team.

"We really wanted to tell a fictional story," said Elisabeth. "We definitely didn’t want to tell an autobiographical story. However, I think Davis, my husband, was the one who said, 'I’m not really interested in doing this movie unless it’s as authentic as can be. Let’s tell the story of what it was like to grow up in a family of three brothers,' which I did; what it was like for me to get my father’s attention, which was sort of the theme of my life; and having played soccer on all boy’s teams when I was younger for about four years, a little younger than the character in the film."

In the film, Gracie has to fight the school board to be allowed onto the boys' team, as girls' soccer programs were virtually non-existent in the '70s. She also has to take on the boys themeselves, who would rather date her than see her as a teammate. And she must struggle emotionally with her own father, who wants to protect her from being hurt and still grieves the loss of his star athlete son. 

"At about 13, I had an acting-out kind of rebellious period,” Elisabeth revealed, “but didn’t last that long in the movie. However, in my life, it lasted very long. I did like boys very much. I gave away my power to most of them and cared too much of what they thought of me. And so the heart and spirit [of the film], a lot of the details are all true. And obviously we lost our oldest brother, so the theme of that and what it means to you and how you grow from that or not is part of our lives. There is so much that is true, but obviously there’s a lot that’s just a movie."

One such embellishment is the father (Dermot Mulroney)'s resistance towards Gracie playing soccer. Jim Shue was more progressive, said director Guggenheim. "I had to tell him ahead of time that the father character was not like him," said Guggenheim. "They had their own issues – some heavy, heavy issues – but I changed him to be more dismissive of her. So I wanted him to understand that. But he loved it, and was very emotional when he saw it. I think they all feel like Will [Shue] will be remembered, and what the family went through will be understood."

Carly Schroeder and Elisabeth Shue
Carly Schroeder and Elisabeth Shue
In the movie, Gracie does not move on to become an actor either. Shue gave up soccer at Gracie's age and an acclaimed decades-long career was born. "[I'm] still acting out, but at least now it’s a profession," Elisabeth said. "I actually make money at it. Yeah, I think it was part of the theme of trying to find myself in a family of three brothers, trying to find an expression and individuality that I could express that was me. I definitely look at some of my earlier work and see that there is a need to express a feminine kind of girl next store quality that wasn’t necessarily in my life, but needed to express that through acting."

From the male side of the Shue family, Andrew claims his sister was the real inspiration. "It’s interesting that she felt the need to try and measure up on the athletic field, because we were all boys playing this game but in the end, we really end up following her in many ways because of the determination she had and her being able to find her way all on her own as an actor," said Andrew. "Now we follow her in many respects in how she’s handled herself with great humility in the business. And it’s a tough business. So we’re glad that not only are we honoring our brother but we get to celebrate her journey, which is pretty incredible."

Elisabeth ends up playing a version of her own mother in the movie, the family matriarch who encouraged dad to support their only daughter's dream. " I thought she was going to be an interesting character, just knowing my mother and at the same time, knowing how important that character really was to the film. She represents a generation before, a generation of moms who really didn’t get to follow their dreams the way I got the opportunity to."

Andrew opted for a smaller part. "I was the assistant coach and a teacher," he said. "This was something that was not about resurrecting my acting career. It was a family project, so I just wanted to make sure I was in there somewhere just for the fun of it, to be honest."

But behind the scenes, Andrew worked overtime. "It was hard to do everything because one of the things that got lost was just trying to enjoy it,” he said. “This is once-in-a-lifetime opportunity where you’re telling a story you care so much about, working with people who you love, you’re in your hometown and doing all these things that you want to step back and take it all in and just have fun. It’s hard work making a movie. It’s hard work making a movie without your family. It’s really hard work making a movie with your family, because we’re all very strong-willed people. We all have great ideas and the decision making process became an interesting thing to navigate."

That included director Guggenheim, who was not quite familiar with his own wife's acting method. "Sometimes when I do an emotional scene, I get into a state that is not necessarily very pleasant to be around because I’m sort of holding on to some of the emotion that I’m feeling in a scene," Elisabeth said. "I remember one day Davis saying, `What’s wrong with you? Why are you so grouchy?’ 'I’m trying to stay with this because I have to go out there.' I didn’t even know it was my method, to be honest, because nobody had ever called me on it."

Dermot Mulroney and Andrew Shue
Dermot Mulroney and Andrew Shue
Guggenheim got his say on the issue too. "Samuel Goldwyn, the great film producer, had the theory of relativity, which is never work with your relatives," the director joked. "And he was right. I mean, it's really hard working with your family. My wife treats me with less respect as a director than people I've never met before. That's because she knows me, you know? So I'd be like, 'So I'm thinking in this scene, you should do this, this, and this.' And she goes, 'I'm not doing that. What are you talking about?' But that's why I love her. She doesn't take no for an answer. She's tough and won't bend."

Other actors felt right at home in the Shue family film project. "I could see from the start, the way it was shaping up in that it was based on Elisabeth's experience and what her family went through with the loss of a sibling," said Mulroney. "She and I'd been friends for a while, so I knew about that in her family history, but then when I read the script, it seemed like it was put together so well…To work with friends on a movie based on a sport that I really like made perfect sense."

Playing her producer and costar as a child, actress Carly Schroeder blocked the pressure of such responsibility out of her mind. She explained, "Andrew told me about two or three days ago, 'You know, now that the movie's over I can tell you this: I'm so glad you were good in it or else the movie really would have sucked.' I'm like, 'Please don't tell me that. The movie hasn't come out yet. There can still be critics that hate it' but he's like, 'The movie really was riding on you.' I'm like, 'Why would you say that?"

Ultimately, even Guggenheim agrees that the family bond gave the film one of its greatest strengths. In a pivotal scene, Elisabeth's character tells Gracie not to let anyone take her dreams away from her. "It's Elisabeth playing her own mother, coming and giving the person based on her life story, the key lesson in life," said Guggenheim. "How beautiful is that, to somehow be your own parent and to make happen this seminal life moment? When we watched that scene, we were like, 'Wow, this is magic.' Not for the movie, but for us. For Elisabeth. It's almost like a kind of therapy to play your own parent and say to yourself what you would want your parent to say to you. That's incredible. People got goose bumps. And I still love that scene. I love that scene."



Photo(s) by Dave Edwards- © 2007- DailyCeleb.com- All Rights Reserved

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