By Christopher
Potter | Associated Press
Why do a remake of Neil
Simon's "The Goodbye
Girl," a much-beloved 1977
Oscar-nominated movie that
remains fondly remembered?
"That's what I asked
(actor/director) Richard
Benjamin when he asked me to do
it," says Chelsea's Jeff
Daniels. "I said, 'Why?
Why are you doing this? The
original won all those
nominations (including best
picture), and Richard Dreyfuss
won an Oscar for it!'
"He said 'It's a great
romantic comedy! TNT (the cable
entertainment channel) really
loves the story, and it's time
to do it again. There's lots of
people who didn't see the
original. A lot of young
people.
"'And we want you to do
it! Neil Simon wants you to do
it!'
"So I took the job."
That's how Daniels ended up
playing Elliot Garfield (first
incarnated by Dreyfuss), a
mostly out-of-work actor who
finds himself forced to share a
cramped New York City apartment
with Paula McFadden (Patricia
Heaton of "Everybody Loves
Raymond"), an ex-Broadway
dancer, and her young daughter
Lucy (Hallie Eisenberg of
Pepsi-commercial fame). The
movie debuts on TV Jan. 16 on
TNT, but folks in Ann Arbor and
environs will get the jump on
the rest of the country via an
advance screening Saturday at
the Michigan Theater.
This world premiere is the
centerpiece of a gala benefit
whose proceeds will go to
Daniels' Purple Rose Theatre
Company. Says event coordinator
Judy Gallagher,
"Moviegoers will feel as
though they've stepped into the
magic of New York's theater
district as soon as they
arrive."
That's because the new
"Goodbye Girl" (show
time 7 p.m.) will be preceded
by a group of street
entertainers doing their thing
in the Michigan's outer lobby,
while Detroit's Bugs Beddow
Band will blast out high-energy
R&B on the Michigan's grand
staircase. Once seated,
moviegoers will be treated to
an on-stage performance by the
Big City Dance Company on a
special tilted stage.
Daniels will be on hand to
introduce the film itself -
which he says is "90
percent faithful to the
original. Neil (a compulsive
hands-on writer) changed about
10 percent of the dialogue and
situations."
For those who never saw the
first "Goodbye Girl":
Paula has developed a healthy
hatred for actors. "She's
been living with an actor named
Tony," says Daniels,
"and early in the movie
she finds a letter from him
saying he's left to do a movie
in Italy, and he's not coming
back." What the caddish
Tony fails to mention is that
he's sublet the apartment to
actor friend Elliot, who thinks
he has the place to himself.
After squabbling long and loud
over who's entitled to
residency, Paula and Elliot
agree to make the best of a bad
situation and share the
facilities. Yet even with the
rent split in two, it's evident
that either he or she or both
need to take home a regular
paycheck.
Says Daniels, "Paula's
forced to try and get a job
chorus-dancing again, but she's
older than her competition, and
there's a lot of jokes about
that. Eventually she does an
auto show (a sequence not in
the original), which Richard
turns into 'I Love Lucy'-style
slapstick with twirling
platforms that both work and
don't work."
Meantime Elliot wins his
"dream role,"
starring in an off-Broadway
production of "Richard
III" - only to bang heads
with a director who's convinced
the hump-backed King was gay
(Promo ad: "The Queen Who
Would be King").
"It was just a riot,"
says Daniels of the
"Richard III"
subplot, played with memorable
mincing by Dreyfuss. "I
don't remember what Dreyfuss
did, but then I remembered my
dad in costume at a Chelsea
Kiwanis Club Christmas show
when I was about 5 years old.
"He was prancing around in
Converse black high-top
sneakers and a pink tutu, and
the whole place just went nuts.
So I ended up in bright lime
greens, pinks, a feather boa
...
"Alan Cumming (of Broadway
"Cabaret" fame) plays
the 'Richard' director in Woody
Allen glasses and holding a
teacup. It was painfully funny
because we've both been there,
where on the first day of a
play rehearsal you realize the
director has a 'vision,' and
you know it's over before it
starts."
Updates in the film include a
scene "in which Paula
won't let me in the apartment.
I think, 'Well, I'll just call
the police,' I take out my cell
phone (not common in 1977),
drop it, and it falls down six
flights of stairs and
shatters." Other new
additions include computers and
Federal Express, Daniels says.
"The bottom line to doing
the film is that number one,
it's a great role. To go from A
to Z from comedy to drama to
farce to having tears streaming
down your face all in the same
part is very unusual.
"Number two, I got to work
for Neil. It was probably the
most important job I've had
since Woody (Allen, in
"The Purple Rose of
Cairo" and "Radio
Days"). Because you want
Neil Simon to think you're
good. And he did. I crossed the
finish line when he told me
that."
