Judy Davis
Was totally miscast. She was WAYYY too old to portray a 24/25 year old, didn't resemble Judy Garland at all, and I just didn't buy her. She was overacting about 95% of the time...
shareShe only played the older Judy, the young Judy was played by Tammy Blanchard. And towards the end of Judy Garland's life she looked about twenty years older than she was, look at the pictures of her on her imdb page, she's only 45 in one of them and she looks scary!
shareYes, I know there was another actress playing Judy, but Judy Davis took over when Judy Garland was supposed to be only 25! And it was totally unbelievable....and THAT was scary and ruined it for me...
shareYou're all nuts...Judy Davis channeled Judy Garland. She captured her very essence. And, she looked a lot like her as well. Perfect casting.....both Tammy Blanchard and Judy Davis, as the young and old Judy Garland, respectively, were marvelous, even though those two actresses comparatively are quite different from each other, it's amazing how much each of them captured Judy Garland.
shareI dont think that Judy Davis looked like Judy Garland at all. She was way too old to play the part and was overly dramatic.
shareI loved this movie until Judy Davis took over. Tammy was amazing and should have played Judy definitely through her 20's and probably up to her mid-30's. Judy Davis is a fine actress, but how can a 45 year old woman believably play someone in their early-20's? She simply didn't look the part. Davis could have stepped in when Judy G. was in her mid-30's to show how exhausted and old Judy G. looked by that stage of her life. It was especially awkward when Davis did the trolley song, supposedly playing a 22 year old Garland.
shareThat seems to be the general consensus as I read all the comments on what used to be the IMDb website. I saw this TV mini series in 2001 what it was first aired then watched again after seeing the 2019 movie "Judy" with Renee Zellweger.
I totally agree that Tammy Blanchard should have shot "The Trolley Song scene" and maybe a bit further as Judy was still younger. I have read the Judy Davis recreated that scene exactly and it was done frame by frame exactly as the original movie was shot. I have no doubt, Tammy Blanchard would have been able to recreate "The Trolley Song" scene with just as much realism as Judy Davis. Just seeing how Blanchard did the "Girl Crazy" scene makes me believe she would have done just as well recreating "The Trolley Song".
It cracks me up that ANYONE could characterize Judy's performance of Garland as "overly dramatic". Has anyone ever seen footage of the REAL Judy Garland? She was SO dramatic. Judy Davis did an incredible job in this film. I will agree wholeheartedly with Meryl Streep's account that it is one of the finest performances EVER put on film. Extraordinary, really.
shareIt wasn't so much that she was over-dramatic. It was just that she was completely wrong for the part. No matter how great an actress Judy Davis is (and she is wonderful), even with the wigs and the brown contact lenses, even though she was petite, the bottom line is Davis was just way TOO OLD to play 24 year old Judy. Did anyone notice those deep lines around her mouth and how thin her lips were? I won't even start on the wrinkly neck. It's true Judy looked older by her 30's, but in "Meet me in St. Louis," she still looked young and beautiful. Davis could only do so much as a middle-age actress playing a young girl. Hollywood makeup tricks can only go so far. In the scene where she's on her honeymoon with Vincent, the wrinkles are very obvious and she looks more like Minnelli's mother than his wife. They should have kept Tammy in the role a lot longer. Davis was fine later on, but trying to play a young woman was just a stupid idea. Now I can't even watch this movie without thinking Judy Garland is sleeping with Dr. House!
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