MovieChat Forums > Awakenings (1991) Discussion > Whatever happened to Penny Marshall?

Whatever happened to Penny Marshall?

posted 10 years ago by tyrexden
4 replies | jump to latest

This film was extremely well-directed, coming off of her hit film "Big".
I figured she'd be a player in the game for a while, after Awakenings.

Of course, it helps to have Robert DeNiro and Robin Williams in your film, but still thats not a guarantee either, as both of those guys have been in terrible films too.

Did she just lose interest in directing, or did the industry pass her by?

[–] jbohn1 10 years ago

Ever heard of "A League of their Own?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104694/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

[–] Brennan-8 10 years ago

I think she's been ill in recent years. But yeah, I get the OP's (implied) point that Marshall is maybe not as celebrated or even acknowledged as she should be.

I was thinking along these lines in recent weeks, seeing episodes of "Laverne & Shirley" and appreciating what a great comedic actress she was, especially with physical comedy.

[–] baileythedog 9 years ago

Did she just lose interest in directing, or did the industry pass her by?

I got the sense it was a little bit of both.

She was the first female director to hit box office of over $100 million. After Jumpin' Jack Flash, Big, Awakenings, and A League of Their Own, her next three feature films were not amazing. (Renaissance Man, Preacher's Wife, Riding in Cars With Boys.) After the last one in 2001, no directing credits until random TV episodes in 2009. I suspect that despite her bona fides with her first four features, she took a hit after the next three.

Then again, she's given interviews where she says that she's not interested in "modern" storylines. (Could be a spoiled grapes type response if she weren't given the work to begin with.) She began cancer treatment in 2009 (lung cancer--they must have caught it very early) and the last interview I saw with her (the PBS Robin Williams special last fall) she didn't look very strong.

Either way, it's a shame. She was a very talented director, I thought. Would have loved to have seen more of her work.

FOX411: Oh please.

PM: Please, I haven’t done a movie since 2001.

FOX411: So what have you been living on?

PM: Well, residuals. A couple of TV things I directed.

FOX411: How come no more movies?

PM: Because I don’t do horror. I don’t do vampires. I don’t do car crashes and I don’t do people in big metal suits and that’s what sells overseas. I tell stories so only the independents do that and they don’t pay you that much. I’d rather do TV or an HBO movie.

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2012/10/04/penny-marshall-talks-cancer-abortion-reconciling-with-laverne-shirley-co-star/

[–] Foster1486 (634) a year ago

She died in 2018

Her last work was 2016