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Sneakers
Sneakers
Sneakers
Blue Chips
The Player
Independence Day
Independence Day
Stats
- Episodes featuring their films
- 5
- Movies in this archive
- 4
Rewatchables episodes featuring Mary McDonnell’s films
Displaying all 5 episodes
Mentioned in discussions
Just One Oscar
James Horner’s score.
In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:47:37Read transcript
- The score wins the single Oscar; Mary McDonnell jokingly receives consideration for pretending not to be attracted to Redford. — Bill Simmons
Apex Mountain
Scrabble tiles and evading motion sensors qualify; the major actors mostly do not.
In the discussion (13)
Approx. transcript time · 01:33:18Read transcript
- Redford is rejected for Apex Mountain here. — Bill Simmons
- River Phoenix is probably rejected; Stand by Me, My Own Private Idaho, and Running on Empty are alternatives. — Bill Simmons
- Poitier is rejected, with 1967 identified as his stronger period. — Bill Simmons
- Aykroyd is rejected, and Species is preferred for strange Kingsley performances. — Bill Simmons
- The slow walk to evade security sensors is accepted. — Bill Simmons
- Scrabble tiles are accepted. — Bill Simmons
- Seinfeld wins for the name Cosmo. — Bill Simmons
- Geese sounding like a cocktail party is discussed, but its use in another unidentified film prevents a clean claim of originality. — Joanna Robinson
- Sneakers is preferred to Blue Chips for a Mary McDonnell character being pursued by an old flame. — Bill Simmons
- Dances with Wolves is preferred for McDonnell herself. — Kyle Brandt
- Braille Playboy is suggested as an Apex candidate. — Bill Simmons
- Helium-voice humor is enjoyed but not given its Apex here.
- A later tangent awards ceiling-vent crawling to John McClane after considering Jurassic Park. — Joanna Robinson
The most 1992 thing
Redford’s clothes, computer dating, answering machines, car phones, and the Bay Area setting
In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 00:53:22Read transcript
- Redford’s light-wash straight-leg jeans are nominated.
- His baseball jacket is nominated and compared with The Natural; the claim that it is the exact same jacket is disputed. — Joanna Robinson
- Mary McDonnell’s feathered hair is nominated.
- The team affording an Oakland theater and finding easy street parking feel specific to the earlier Bay Area. — Joanna Robinson
- Hacker graphics and manipulating a computer-dating service are nominated. — Bill Simmons
- The assumption that computer dating could not produce a bad match is challenged.
- An answering machine hiding place and a car-phone plot point are nominated. — Kyle Brandt
- Siskel billing Timothy Busfield ahead of other stars is selected as a striking sign of thirtysomething’s contemporary prominence. — Kyle Brandt
- The ending’s choice of charities for the redistributed money feels characteristic of 1992. — Bill Simmons
Apex Mountain
Shaq, Cousy and Pitino as actors; flunking TV; college basketball; Jenny as ex-wife
In the discussion (14)
Approx. transcript time · 01:37:09Read transcript
- Nolte is rejected. Cheating in a basketball movie prompts alternatives from White Men Can’t Jump and Above the Rim. — Bill Simmons
- Mary McDonnell and Bob Knight are rejected, with Knight’s 1987 championship after A Season on the Brink recalled as an alternative.
- Flunking television in college is accepted, followed by a joke about doing it again in 1996. — Chris Ryan
- Rick Fox’s brief role is placed in a strong acting run including Eddie, He Got Game and Oz, leading to a joke about an Oz rewatch. — Bill Simmons
- The Gambler remains the choice for basketball point-shaving scenes. Uncut Gems is suggested for sports betting but distinguished from point shaving. — Chris Ryan
- If widened to taking a dive in sports films, The Longest Yard and the devastating ending of The Color of Money are considered. — Bill Simmons
- Shaq and Penny as a pair are rejected, but Shaq as an actor is accepted emphatically. — Bill Simmons
- Bob Cousy and Rick Pitino as actors are accepted; Algiers is introduced with another joke about how difficult it is to reach. — Bill Simmons
- Blue Chips is named a favorite college basketball movie for capturing a generation of players, though 1970s films including Fast Break remain an alternative preference. — Van Lathan
- Recruiting-scene competition includes Moneyball’s first-base pitch to Chris Pratt’s character. — Van Lathan
- Hoosiers’ apparently indifferent approach to Jimmy Chitwood is preferred as another recruiting scene. — Chris Ryan
- He Got Game’s sexually charged Tech visit is another recruiting-scene choice.
- Jenny is proposed as an apex movie ex-wife for helping with tape, recruiting and emotional support while remaining physically separate from Pete. — Chris Ryan
- Jenny is compared with the wet-blanket sports-movie partner tradition; her final disappointment is defended because she has the film’s moral conscience. — Chris Ryan
In the discussion (12)
Approx. transcript time · 00:13:24Read transcript
- Friedkin’s basketball enthusiasm reportedly included considering a one-third Celtics purchase and consulting Cousy, explaining the latter’s appearance.
- The production reportedly used real players, coaches and games before six thousand spectators, but authentic play alone does not solve basketball’s cinematic difficulty. — Van Lathan
- Anthony C. Hall is described as both actor and player; many real coaches and college stars supplied the basketball cast.
- A claimed Kevin Garnett appearance cannot be located and his youth raises doubt; Geert Hammink is recognized. — Bill Simmons
- Shelton reportedly developed the script in 1981, with studio delays before White Men Can’t Jump revived interest; Lansing brought in Friedkin while Shelton made Cobb. — Bill Simmons
- Basketball was reportedly filmed at Frankfort High using full competitive games plus set plays; Knight repeatedly disrupted planned endings by coaching to win. — Bill Simmons
- A $35 million budget and $26 million gross are reported; later home-video value and enduring cultural references are offered as qualifications. — Bill Simmons
- Shaq’s reported worst-new-star Razzie nomination is rejected as unfair because his performance is good. — Bill Simmons
- Friedkin’s reported claim that sports films cannot reproduce a real game’s unpredictable suspense is dismissed as sour grapes, with successful sports movies offered as the objection. — Bill Simmons
- Shaq reportedly wore very thin soles to reduce height differences; framing him farther from Nolte and Mary McDonnell is discussed as another solution. — Chris Ryan
- Shaq’s last college game is recalled as an Indiana loss to the team featuring Knight and the actor playing Ricky; Indiana’s subsequent Final Four loss to Duke is also recalled. — Bill Simmons
- Butch’s Chicago gym is identified as Mount Carmel High School, and the crew including Shaq reportedly stayed at a Lafayette Howard Johnson’s for two weeks. — Van Lathan
Recasting Couch
Robert De Niro for Fred Ward’s role is the strongest recasting proposal, alongside multiple ideas for Bonnie.
In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 01:16:35Read transcript
- Robert De Niro is proposed for Fred Ward’s security-chief role. — Bill Simmons
- Jennifer Jason Leigh is proposed for Bonnie. — Wesley Morris
- Mary McDonnell is considered for Bonnie. — Wesley Morris
- Holly Hunter is considered for Bonnie. — Wesley Morris
- Joan Cusack is considered for Bonnie.
- Annabella Sciorra is considered for Bonnie. — Sean Fennessey
- Glenn Headly is considered for Bonnie. — Wesley Morris
- Lisa Kudrow is considered for Bonnie. — Wesley Morris
Half-Assed Internet Research
Stargate origin; military withdrawal; model effects; Oscar-nominee game; Clinton screening; VHS campaign; improvisation; Loggia's Airplane mix-up
In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 01:05:24Read transcript
- The idea came while Emmerich promoted Stargate: asked about aliens, he imagined waking to a 15-mile-wide spaceship and told Devlin it was their next movie. — Bill Simmons
- The U.S. military was originally involved and bowed out, apparently over Area 51. — Bill Simmons
- There were 3,000-plus effects shots, with models such as a 10-by-5-foot White House blown up; the White House interior set was reused from The American President and Nixon. — Bill Simmons
- In a game naming the six Oscar nominees in the cast, Will Smith and Pullman are named first. — Shea Serrano
- Goldblum and then Judd Hirsch are named, winning the game; Loggia, Mary McDonnell and Randy Quaid are the others. — Chris Ryan
- A White House screening for Bill Clinton, who loved it, and an oral-history anecdote about Vivica Fox meeting him. — Bill Simmons
- A six-week, $30 million VHS campaign made it the best-selling live-action video ever. — Bill Simmons
- Most scenes with Goldblum and Judd Hirsch or Will Smith were improvised, and 70 mock news broadcasts were made. — Bill Simmons
- Robert Loggia was told to watch Airplane instead of Airport, thought they were secretly making a spoof and refused to leave his trailer. — Bill Simmons
Recasting Couch
Christopher Lloyd, Dennis Hopper or Al Pacino as the Area 51 doctor; Demi Moore or Sharon Stone for Mary McDonnell's role; Martin Lawrence for Connick
In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:02:22Read transcript
- Option two: the wacky Area 51 doctor should be a real famous person, such as Christopher Lloyd as a Doc Brown wink or Dennis Hopper. — Bill Simmons
- Pacino is suggested for two scenes at $10 million, with an impression.
- Option one: never having been a Mary McDonnell person (after an Amy Adams comparison), Demi Moore is wanted for four scenes, and her death would be more shocking. — Bill Simmons
- A defense: McDonnell is good in John Sails movies. — Bill Simmons
- For a three-day role, go big; Sharon Stone is suggested and would have been an unexpected death. — Bill Simmons
- Returning to recasting, Connick could be swapped for Martin Lawrence if the seat just needs a funny guy. — Bill Simmons
Displaying all 8 discussions
