Jessica Lange: An Adventurer's Heart by Anthony Uzarowski (June 2023)

I do not like the title.

R2 I would’ve titled it Obsidian Shard: Jessica Lange.

I don't like the title either. It's a quote from Lange's 2008 commencement address to her daughter Hannah's graduating class at Sarah Lawrence. Looking forward to the book--thanks for posting.

Drunk and Faded: The Jessica Lange Story

So is this guy DL's very own Lange loon?

In the 70's she was one of the most beautiful women ever.

[quote]She has worked with some of the most celebrated names in the business, including Jack Nicholson, Bob Fosse, Martin Scorsese, Kim Stanley, Halle Berry, and Kathy Bates.

Not to mention your Misses Curtin and St. James!

And Miss Sandahl Bergman!

They could have substituted Tim Burton for Halle Berry.

R10, or Dustin Hoffman, Robert DeNiro, Albert Finney, Shirley Maclaine, etc.

R5 As an diva worth her salt and crown would be.

☝🏻😌

R5,

I don't think Sam Shepard was easy to live with, but he used to be sexy as hell.

R14 This is a moving recap of their relationship.

This scene was totally about them. Lange deserved a nod for her performance in this film.

Also, hopefully the author gets into Lange’s battle with depression. From Wiki:

Though she does not follow any set religion, she periodically practices Buddhism.[97] She once admitted, "It's been a discipline that makes sense more than anything because it's like a science. I've never been a religious person. I've always looked for some kind of spiritual meaning. I didn't grow up going to church. My mother's family were atheists and my father's side was confused."[97] She is also a vegetarian.[98]

Lange has also revealed that she suffers from severe bouts of depression,[18][99] once admitting, "I have never been a believer in psychoanalysis or therapy or anything like that. I've never done that."[99] She confessed, "Though my dark side is dormant right now, it continues to play a big role in whatever capacity I have to be creative. That's the well I'm able to tap into, where all the anguish, rage and sadness are stored."[18]

Shepard was a serial adulterer and alcoholic. He was a mean drunk who stirred up a lot of shit within the family. He grew to hate living in Stillwater near Lange's extended family (he and Lange and their kids moved there from Virginia in 1995). He'd get in his car and go on extended road trips/benders, without explanation or apology. Great writer, difficult partner.

Did you all know that Jessica is playing Marlena Dietrich in some new Netflix series? I just saw this!

Will it cover her somewhat serious drunken fall in 2009?

I think his ex-girlfriend Patti Smith probably would have been the best match for Shepard in the long term. She got his dick when she looked like a drowned sewer rat! And they remained close until he died, though Patti says it was fully platonic.

The title of the book is stupid to me. Reminds me of those children's biographies. You know, "Beryl Markham, An Adventurer's Heart" makes sense but not soo much with Jessica Lange, really.

I read somewhere that she is going to do the film adaptation of "Long Days Journey Into Night." I'm as good as there for that but I don't know if I'll bother with this book yet or not.

R4 I love that you know that.

R19 It’s a project produced by Ryan Murphy but still in the weeds of development. It’s supposed to cover Dietrich’s late-career Las Vegas years. She also has The Lonely Doll, based on Dare Wright’s life and toxic relationship with her mother, in development. Gia Coppola is supposed to direct and Naomi Watts is set to co-star.

R20 Some say that “fall,” which resulted in her breaking her collarbone, happened after Shepard pushed her. Interestingly enough, their separation was announced shortly, maybe months, after. It’ll be interesting to see how deeply this biographer delves into her personal life, and if he managed to interview her, though I doubt it.

R23- Wasn't The Lonely Doll shelved many, many years ago?

You sound like that former Assistant of Lange's who once gave us that awesome Oscars story from 1984...

She is my favorite actress of all time. So I try to keep up with her.

I loved Sam's documentary he did. It was lovely.

🚨 LANGE LOON ALERT 🚨

R25- I'm not the Lange Loon. I do dig her though!

Will the bio cover Jessica's [italic]la vie bohème?[/italic]

An adventurer's heart indeed!

Sam Shepard died of ALS in 2017. He was 73.

Pretty horrible way to go.

R24 It wasn’t shelved; it just hasn’t moved forward, as far as we know. Also, I’m not Lange’s former assistant, but I’d love to read about this story they told. As for the documentary, I’m assuming you’re referring to Shepard & Dark, which I never saw. In fact, I might watch it tonight. Last week, I watched This So-Called Disaster, Michael Almereyda's documentary on the weeks preceding to Shepard's stage production of his play "The Late Henry Moss," which starred Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Woody Harrelson, Cheech Marin, and James Gammon, who was utterly fascinating and riveting. That was a great behind-the-scenes doc.

R27 I think so!

R28 It was a terrible way to go, indeed. Jess loved him until the end, but she couldn’t put up with his madness anymore. He was a big part of the reason why she didn’t take more work. She’s talked about how he didn’t like her to go away to shoot.

Also, it seems she and Mikhail have rekindled their relationship.

R28

If it hasn’t moved forward it was shelved. No one is talking anymore about making it. You’ve been promoting it for years.

R30 Touché. Also…

[quote] You’ve been promoting it for years.

Did I?

It was first announced in 2016. I’m sure it’s on its way, just like Barbra’s remake of Gypsy.

R32 Lange and Barrymore were first announced to star in Grey Gardens in 2003, I believe? They eventually did. :shrug:

However, I’m more excited about her doing along Day’s Journey Into Night with Ed Harris. That needs to get announced this year. The fact that he revealed they’ll be shooting in “Ireland soon” tells me the deal’s been sealed. 🙏🏼

Here’s a present for you, Miss Loon

Marlene Dietrich embarked on her Las Vegas cabaret career in the mid-50s, when she was in her 50s, and took her act to on a world tour form the 1960s to the early 1970s. Jessica, at 73, is a little long in the tooth to play Vegas-era Dietrich, don't you think? Are they going to digitally de-age her like they did in AHS? That will be an expensive venture.

I hope the old broad gets one decent part. Feud was a disappointment, even though Miss Loon was sure she would win an Emmy.

"Shepard & Dark" is worth seeing, but I thought it was a very conventionally made and ultimately uninspired account of their friendship. There is a book of their letters that offers a much fuller picture; Shepard endured an abusive childhood and never really overcame the emotional damage, although he grappled with it in his writing. His alcoholism, bad behavior, and isolation as his health deteriorated are hard to read about.

I wonder if the book will detail her friendship with DL icon Tuesday Weld. They were pals in the NY Baryshnikov era.

The title is cheesy as fuck.

The cover image of Jessica in Frances seems a strange choice.

Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle. And Jessie will have her revenge on this author.

More AI image fun:

Much plastic surgery means her face actually looks like that ^

R38 I’ll definitely check it out.

R39 I always thought Weld and Lange should’ve played sisters. She would’ve made an excellent Mattie Fae to Lange’s Violet Weston, With Robin Wright, Diane Kruger, Lily James or Leslie Bibb playing her daughters.

R41 Bitch, please. She doesn’t look like the skull in shrink wrap that is Ms. Kidman. She’s beautifully weathered, just like a great dame.

^ The last bit was meant for R44.

R41 It’s a beautiful photograph of Lange in the midst of her craft and one of her most iconic roles, but I get what you mean.

R15 Jessica Lange always look much more attractive with long flowing hair. Just gorgeous.

The author Anthony is a devoted Lange fan and deep-dive researcher who contributed to a great book on Vivien Leigh. He's also hot and we sexted/exchanged nudes a few years ago now. We still keep in touch. Looking forward to reading this book! Love Jessica.

If any super fans want to copy Lange’s dress from the book’s cover, here’s the original costume sketch:

Lange’s is a copy/interpretation of this:

Anthony Uzarowski is indeed very cute, and his co-authored Ava Gardner book was good.

Overrated and destroyed her beauty with too much plastic surgery. I bet if she had allowed herself to age naturally, she still would have been beautiful.

The New Yorker has given this a positive advanced review:

And a biography of Sam will be published next spring.

Where's MY authorized biography?

It's on the shelf, next to your Oscar...

R56 When we're done scissoring, we'll spare a blade for your salty ass!

Glenn is a legend and a dear heart, but only one of us can nab Oscar Gold before they relegate us to that bullshit "Deborah Kerr Honorary Oscar" list.

Siggy derserves it first!

An extensive of preview of the book is up on Google Books! I just found out because I did a search of Tennessee Williams’ quote on Lange to see if it was included in any other publications, and apparently, Uzarowski included it in this book! 😭

I’m so ready for this.

:::dashes off to read the previews:::

Williams’ quote:

[quote]“I'm intrigued by Jessica Lange. I like her relationship with words, which she holds in her mind and in her mouth as if they were either the most delectable sweet or a particularly noxious substance that she cannot wait to propel toward her audience or an adversary. She is a masticating actress, I suppose, thinking all the time, the brain working, the mouth set in particular ways, the inhalation that precedes action. I think good things await her, and I don't think she is merely a pretty new thing. She has a strong presence that is bolstered by the sense that she knows more than she is revealing: She's got the goods on almost everyone, but she's withholding, and this makes her terribly appealing. It makes her dangerous, and I like a dangerous actress. She seems unafraid, except perhaps of time, because the mind is racing, getting to a conclusion or an effect or the truth terribly fast. This indicates that she is intelligent, and you can do a lot with a smart actress. I would ask you to watch her.”—Tennessee Williams

Fuck yes, I’m DEVOURING this book—or what I can read of it, at least—tonight.

It’s so interesting and telling that she never was a cheerleader or the homecoming queen, unlike so many other stars.

R61, her father was a traveling salesman and restless spirit (and supposedly, an alkie), who packed up the family and moved them frequently. Jessica never really felt settled and was an outsider among her school mates. It is no wonder that she ended up with Sam Shepard for many years. He once described himself as "peripatetic" and was known to disappear on his family for long periods of time. She found a guy just like dear ol' dad.

R62 You’re preaching to the choir, love, but I appreciate your efforts. Also, Uzarowski uses that same word, i.e., peripatetic, to describe Lange’s family’s existence during her youth. I’m just starting chapter 4 of the book and loving it.

“The Danny Seymour collection at the Harvard Film Archive contains materials produced by the photographer and filmmaker up until his disappearance in 1973. Films by Seymour in the collection include Home is where the heart is, a short on loneliness and drug use, starring a young Jessica Lange and made in collaboration with his friend and mentor Robert Frank, with whom Seymour had a profound relationship.”

Uzarowski describes her role as follows:

[quote]“Sporting a brown afro, she plays a waitress in a shabby diner, and although her role was small, her performance, when viewed today, carries hints of the expressive, sensual style that was to become her trademark in the years to come.”

It’s time to take a trip to Harvard…

Okay, so I cheated, searched for Meryl in the book, promising myself I’d only read one passage and go back to my place in the book, and lo and behold, I stumble upon a description of Meryl in attendance at the opening night of Lange’s first run in London as Mary Tyrone. Lange received a standing ovation led by Streep. (This book is going to end me.)

[quote]"As Jessica emerged from the wings, Meryl was the first one to jump from her seat, shouting 'Bravo!, and clapping," recalls film scholar Lucy Bolton, who was also in the audience that night.

[quote]Lange received a standing ovation led by Streep.

Did Streep do the same for Charles Dance?

I’m perusing it too now. The information about her relationship with Sam Shepard is very sad in such a mundane way. The classic case of people who loved each other but could never make it work - mainly because of Sam’s textbook issues, but I also feel like Jessica wasn’t really built to be a “wife” type either. It’s nice that they seemed to be on good terms by the time he passed.

I read the first four chapters, which you can preview in full. Only limited previews are available for the remaining chapters. Apparently, Lange’s first husband, Paco Grande cooperated with and was interviewed by Uzarowski for the writing of this book. He’s apparently still close with Lange, and noted that she has an upcoming project with Michael Suscy (Grey Gardens director) in the pipeline. I’m sure Paco told Lange about this book.

So, far it’s great, and gives one a good sense of the eccentric and adventurous life she’s led. I’ve preordered it.

R66 Did they have issues on Plenty? Anyway, I’m sure Meryl went to support them both. Incidentally, Meryl also went to see the 2005 Broadway production of The Glass Menagerie starring Lange and went back stage to congratulate the cast.

M is a real fan, honey. ☝🏼😌.

From The Playbill Broadway Yearbook (2005):

According to what I can see of this preview her and Shepard had lived apart since they left Minnesota in 2004, so the split was way earlier than a lot of people assumed - 2009, I think was what most DLers thought the breakup point was (because of some odd conjecture Sam had gotten physical with her? It was when she had that broken collarbone...). Seven years to publicly announce a break-up is a lot of time though.

R70 I remember an interview in which Lange openly spoke about them living apart but still being together. Many speculated that he was the cause of her broken collarbone due to how quickly reports of their separation followed that incident.

Is she in poor health? She hasn't acted in a few years and has nothing coming up.

R72 Don’t. ✋🏻

She did Marlowe as a favor to Neil Jordan, and just wrapped a film adaptation along Day’s Journey Into Night for Jonathan Kent opposite Ed Harris. Apparently, she’s also working on something with Michael Suscy. Incidentally, The Lonely Doll’s script status, which has Lange and Naomi Watts attached, and was supposed to be helmed by Gia Coppola, was just updated on IMDBPro. That would be perfect for Suscy to take over…

Shut up Lange Loon! She doesn’t work because no one will hire her except for a few scraps and low-budget films no one will see. Marlowe being the latest example.

So, Misha was engaged in an affair with ballerina Lisa Rinehart at the same time Jess and Sam were? (By the way, I think it’s telling about Lange’s character that she remained friendly with all of her lovers.)

Also:

[quote] If the wildness of their relationship sometimes scared Jessica—she would later recall "drinking, getting into fights, walking down the freeway trying to get away"—she was also realizing that getting away from Sam was the last thing she wanted.

R74 You’re retarded on so many fundamental levels, it’s quite heartbreaking.

They were both huge boozers, which doesn't really make for healthy relationships. Their kids seem fine though, totally out of the spotlight and normal, so they must have kept it together for a while.

It is kind of funny how she married the exact type of man her father was.

Or well, not married, but common-law. Why did they never officially get married? It's been said he proposed to her and she accepted way back around 1983.

R77 This is what she said in 2000:

[quote] You and Sam Shepard have never married. But does it feel like a marriage at this point?

[quote]Yeah. It's as much a marriage as I think anybody can have. I mean, in the beginning there was that whole residue left over from my first marriage and also from the '60s that whole kind of wacky thing about " I don't need somebody to tell me I'm married." And then time just passed. We've been together 17 years, so whether or not there's a piece of paper, it has the same kind of commitment.

I think, as she says, time just passed.

Okay, so parts of chapter 5 are previewed, all of 9 is, and 6, 7, and 8 are missing entirely. I’m reading through parts of 10. I didn’t know Lange has gotten Stanley the part in the Cat On a Hot Tin Roof adaptation nor that Kim went on to win an Emmy for it! So cool.

[quote] It is kind of funny how she married the exact type of man her father was.

Yeah, because that never happens!

Shepard bought a farm in Kentucky in 2000 and started breeding horses there soon after. He didn't like Minnesota, and was a mean drunk and serial adulterer, so Lange was probably better off with the separate lives arrangement before they officially announced their spilt years later.

[quote]r24 You sound like that former Assistant of Lange's who once gave us that awesome Oscars story from 1984...

[bold] ? ? ?

Nothing comes up for Tuesday Weld when you search the previews....Didn't Lange begin her relationship with Baryshnikov while he was serious with Weld?

Is she still a smoker?

R16 I agree she should have received a nod for Worst Supporting Actress in that Wim Wenders trainswreck.

From what I recall, I actually enjoyed Don't Come Knocking. Probably because I seriously love Wim Wenders and Sam Shepard. If you're not a huge fan of either, it probably does less than nothing for you. I remember Tim Roth being good in his small part, but he's good in nearly everything.

R87 Don't care for Wenders narrative features from the late late 90s onwards.

On the other hand his documentary remains strong.

R84 I searched for her too. I had read that the two became friends despite Weld’s relationship with Misha. To be fair, though, only about 25 percent of the book is available for preview, and when you do a search, I think it only searches those sections.

Very much looking forward to this.

Can't wait to read this...hope the author does a tour of some kind.

This just came in the mail. Flipping through the book, I stumbled upon this photograph and was delighted. And then I read the caption and was thrust into a somber, contemplative state.

Lange has had three close friends or associates succumb to AIDS: Antonio Lopez, Tony Richardson, and this beautiful man. Click the image to read the full caption.

What a beautiful photo....and she moves so expressively in "Blue Sky"...happy to see the guy who helped her choreograph all that movement.

R93 It’s a great read.

Here’s a great little interview with Anthony Uzarowski about writing this book. The audio quality of this video sucks—I had to hold the phone to my ear to hear it—but it’s a delight seeing two gay Lange Loons waxing rhapsodic about Lange.

Uzarowski is so cute...and his hand gestures are as eloquent as Lange's.

Interesting review from a Duluth perspective...

[quote]When asked in 2019 about her favorite city, Lange cited Paris, New Orleans and Duluth. "Because it's home," she said. "Shout-out to Duluth."