All in all, "Death Becomes Her" is a deliciously dark comedy with a brilliant cast, great direction and some pretty convincing special effects - considering it was made way back in 1992!
It has some crowd-pleasing strengths, including a genuinely funny book, a swirling, retro, filmic score that features a knockout two-pronged 11 o'clock number for Hilty and Simard, and its best numbers put you in mind of Burt Bacharach and John Barry (no Ingrid Michaelson-like experiments here to confound future Tony ...
Even though her character, Madeline Ashton, is portrayed as a 50 or over year old woman throughout most of the film, Meryl Streep was in fact 43 years old when she shot this film.
Madeline drinks the potion which reverses her age, restoring her beauty, but Lisle warns her that she must disappear from the public eye after ten years, to avoid suspicion of her immortality, and treat her body well. Meanwhile, Helen seduces Ernest and convinces him to kill Madeline.
Underage Casting: Though her character, Helen Sharp, is portrayed as a 50 year old woman during the majority of the film, Goldie Hawn was actually 46 years old when she shot this film. Meryl Streep likewise was only 43 playing the 50-something Madeline.
How did they make them look younger in Death Becomes Her?
One of the most challenging apects of filming Death Becomes Her was make-up. Meryl Streep's character wears prosthetic makeup through much of the film to appear 50 and then suddenly appears very youthful again.
The two women have also worked together. Their roles in the 1992 black comedy Death Becomes Her made Hawn and Streep cult figures, and to this day, fans look upon the film with fondness. Hawn and Streep have also remained close over the years, even if they haven't worked together in another major movie.
One of Meryl Streep's first attempts at lighter fare was the fan-favorite 1992 dark comedy Death Becomes Her, which included one of her earlier vocal performances on film. Her original song “Me” is one of the expanded tracks on the LP (going from 2:18 to 3:28).
Rather, it's the fact that she is actually older than her three leading men - 55-year-old Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgard, 57 and Colin Firth, a tender 47. This isn't just a Hollywood rarity; it's a miracle on a par with Tom Cruise renouncing Scientology.
Running time: 2 HOURS, 25 MIN. Production: A Broadway in Chicago and Universal Theatrical Group production of a musical in two acts, book by Marco Pennette, music and lyrics by Julia Mattison and Noel Carey, based on the Universal Pictures film written by Martin Donovan and David Koepp, directed by Robert Zemeckis.
Death is bad because it offends the senses. Death causes anger and emotional pain and is unpleasant. Death is a physical phenomenon and itself is not evil since it does not have a moral vector. The act that led to death – say murder – may be evil because it was based on free will, which provides the moral dimension.
We know death is coming, so why does it make us so sad? There are, of course, many reasons. Our loved ones play important roles in our daily lives, and their deaths leave gaping holes. Often, we want more time with them — more joy, more laughter, more healing — and death makes those hopes impossible to fulfill.
Hawn explained that both she and Russell, 72, have been previously married to other people and she realized that when the relationship doesn't work out, “it's always ugly.” “Somebody has to take a look and say, 'How many divorces are fun? How many divorces actually don't cost money?
"No, we never got married but one thing that continues to grow is our love," Hawn wrote in a birthday tribute to Russell on Instagram in 2021. "You're a wild one, brilliant, lovable, childlike, perfectly maddening, a father supreme and deeply funny! I can't imagine my life without you at any age, Kurt Russell.
Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn met in 1966 on the set of Disney's musical The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band. At the time, both actors were determined to not date anyone else in the industry. Plus, given their six-year age difference, romance simply wasn't in the cards.
Meryl Streep landed her first Oscar nomination for just her second on-screen role: 1978's The Deer Hunter, opposite John Cazale. A few more performances after that and she'd find herself standing before Hollywood's elite, accepting the gold trophy for her complex “villain” role in 1980's Kramer vs. Kramer.
NC-17. The NC-17 rating is the highest rating (even higher than the R-rating) that a film can be given, and it means the movie is for adults only (ages 18 and older) and no one age 17 or younger will be admitted.
Despite promising that he has no interest in Madeline, Ernest promptly marries Madeline. This forces Helen into decline. 7 years later, she has become morbidly obese and lives in a hovel, eating melted ice cream and rewatching a tape of one of Madeline's films, which depicts her being violently strangled.
Madeline Ashton is one of the two protagonist villains in the black comedy film Death Becomes Her, alongside her rival Helen Sharp. The two women have known each other since they were schoolgirls, and have been rivals ever since.
