who played as Jenna's daughter. She's Adrienne Shelly's daughter. So sad when I saw the last scene, where she can be seen cheerfully enjoy playing with her 'mother', when in real life she will not remember her or get a love attentions from Adrienne. Dang, The world is really a cold meanest place....
shareI know...so sad
Eagles may soar but weasels never get sucked into jet engines
How sad I thought she looked so adorable when they walked away from the Cafe/Pie Diner at the end and she was holding Jenna's hand she looks up at her in such a lovely trusting way seems quite sad now I know she is the daughter of Adrienne Shelly
shareIt really is so shocking. I think this is such a sweet movie and story~ it's so gentle at heart, and the fact of everything that happened to Shelley, for her life to end so brutally (and on the heels of the film), it just turns the idea of any sense of order in the universe upside down.
shareThe saddest moment in this film is the close, when Jenna and her child walk away and Dawn waves farewell. I am always struck by the fact that Adrienne Shelly really is waving goodbye to her daughter Sophie. This is the last screen image that we have of her. She is bidding farewell to the person she loved most in the world.
The song that is played over the credits 'Baby, Don't You Cry' was written by Adrienne herself, and it is the lullaby that she would sing to her daughter evey night. Now she will never hear it again. Tragic. I was deeply shocked at this murder, and the truly horrific manner of Shelly's death rocked me to the core of my being.
What makes it all the more awful is that the man who killed her worked in her building. He saw her evey day. He knew she had a husband and a little girl. He just didn't care.
How can anyone be so...evil?
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hAHA
shareFor the record, Sophie's father - Andy Ostroy - actually has a brief appearance in the film. He is listed in the credits as 'cake man' and is seen making a delivery to the diner. In a tragic twist, it was Ostroy who discovered his wife's murder when he returned home early in the afternoon of 1 Nov 2006. Shelly had not answered her phone all day and so he and the building's Security Chief (who knew the family) gained access to the apartment and found her body. I cannot imagine anything more horrible!
Andy Ostroy loved his wife very deeply and has now devoted his life to the Adrienne Shelly Foundation, which provides grants to female film-makers who wish to follow in Adrienne's footsteps. He was fully supported his wife in all her efforts, as she fully supported him. Those who shed a tear for poor little Lulu 'growing up without a father' should take note of this. I don't think that Andy Ostroy would have crossed the street to piss on Earl if he were on fire!
What he would do with Dreamkilla2000 is quite another matter.
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Andy Ostroy and Adrienne Shelly were not seperated. Andy drove Adrienne and Sophie to pre-school that morning and then dropped his wife off at their apartment complex before going to his office. He attemped to call Adrienne several times that day but she did not respond to either landline or cellphone. Becomming concerned for her safety Ostroy left work early and, upon returning to the building, asked the Door Security officer to acompany him to their apartment. I cannot imagine the horror that they must have felt when they found Shelly's body.
Though 'Waitress' had been completed at the time of Adrienne's murder, and had been accepted for the 'Sundance' film festival, it had not been released. Sadly, Adrienne Shelly's great talent was only recognised after her tragic death. I am convinced that if Adrienne had lived then she would now be a major figure in mainstream American cinema, something that many of us believe was long overdue.
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"Ms. Shelly, 40, lived not far away on Varick Street with her husband, Andy Ostroy, and her daughter, Sophie. She used the Abingdon Square apartment as the base of a career that included leading or featured roles in two dozen Off Broadway plays as well as movies and television shows."
From:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/07/nyregion/07actress.html?_r=1
She was at her office, not home.
The article goes on to say how police came to the person who was convicted. Perhaps you should do a little research before you practically acuse the husband of murder.
Gotta go. Kisses.
Well said, MTM-63. However, I must correct you on one point. Adrienne Shelly's office was located within her apartment. Her home address and her business address were one and the same place. Andy Ostroy is the CEO of the highly successful New York marketing firm Ostroy-Belardi, which is based in a seperate location. Ostroy did not 'pick his wife and daughter up' in order to drive them to pre-school. He didn't have to. The family all lived together, and were by all accounts very happy.
I do not know why Andy asked the Security Officer to come with him when he returned home to the apartment. It could be that the man had specialist training that Ostroy feared might be required. Then again, perhaps he was just out of his wits with worry and wanted someone to accompany him for moral support. Either way, there is no basis for implying that this was some kind of 'Ike and Tina' relationship and that Andy should be considered a viable suspect in the murder of his wife.
The original forensic report found no evidence of foul play, and for several days the case was written off as a suicide. Angry and grieving, Ostroy insisted that Shelly's death was murder and demanded that the NYPD launch a fresh investigation. A second forensic team re-examined the scene and found a shoeprint that belonged to Diego Pillco, a construction worker carrying out renovations on the apartment complex. Pillco was picked up for questioning and confessed in custody, telling the detectives that he was having one of his 'bad days' when he killed Adrienne. When asked what was going through his head when he tied the noose around Adrienne's neck, dragged her into the bathroom and hanged her from the shower rail, Pillco said that 'it reminded him of stringing up pigs back on the farm!'.
Adrienne Shelly was a prolific writer who had completed several screenplays before her death. Soon after setting up the Foundation, Andy Ostroy also established 'All For A Films', a production company that was set up with the sole aim of turning Adrienne's scripts into completed films. Their first movie, 'Serious Moonlight' starring Meg Ryan and Timothy Hutton is currently on release, and is soon to be followed by 'The Morgan Stories'.
UPDATE:
I have checked the news report to which MTM-63 so kindly posted the link, and I regret to say it contains a number of factual errors. The first being that the police were always sceptical that Shelly's death was suicide and that they simply allowed the media to speculate that is was so that that they could buy time to build a case against Pillco. This is not true. Without Andy's Ostroy's public insistance that Adrienne's death was not suicide, the NYPD would never have sent in another forensic team. If the detetectives had genuinely believed that Shelly had been murdered then Ostroy have been instructed to remain silent so as not to spook their prime suspect.
The second is the motivation for Pillco's attack. The story of the noise complaint, the screaming match and the fatal punch were quickly exposed as bogus. Nobody heard any arguement and Adrienne had no injuries to her face or head. The patholigist report stated that she was alive and fully conscious when the noose was slipped around her neck. Pillco was an obsessive fan of Spanish horror and killed Shelly on what is known as the 'Day of the Dead' in his part of the world. Despite its festive character, this is the darkest and most significant date in the occult callender. Upon further investigation detectives concluded that he had been stalking her from the moment that he first laid eyes on her, and that his primary intention was rape. It is also believed from the efficient way that he covered his tracks and posed Shelly's body that her murder was pre-meditated and highly organised.
Regretably, none of this could actually be proven in court. Since there was so little forensic evidence and Pillco's confession was obtained without a lawyer present, a plea-bargain was cooked up that saw Pillco confess to the manslaughter of Adrienne Shelly during a bungled robbery. After his sentence is completed he will be deported. In the meantime, you can find him on Facebook, making lots of nice new friends. All of whom appear to be very pretty latina chicas in their late teens and early twenties!
Do the words 'Manson Girls' mean anything to anyone?
So much for research on my end!
Thanks, Owen.
Gotta go. Kisses.
You are very welcome, MTM-63. For the record, though it appears that Pillco was obsessively stalking Adrienne Shelly, it is also believed that he was completely unaware of who she actually was! He did not get a job in her apartment building in order to get close to her. He got a job working in her apartment building because he wanted a job. The sad truth is that Pillco was stalking Adrienne as a woman and not as a celebrity. He did not know that she was a well known actress and film-maker until after her murder.
I am inclined to believe from the extremely subtle way that Pillco murdered Adrienne on his lunch break, and then covered his tracks so well that it took two CSI teams to find a single shoeprint, that he has almost certainly killed before. In fact, based on his ice-cold manner, I am inclined to believe that he has killed several times! You may also be pleased to learn that I have brought Pillco's presence on Facebook to the attention of Andy Ostroy. So with a bit of luck this odious See-You-Next-Tuesday will quickly have his account deleted.
Actually, the Day of the Dead is Nov 2nd. Nov 1st is All Saints' Day which is why Samhain/Oct 31st is called Halloween (All Hallows' Eve). They are celebrations of those who have passed on and recognition that we are all mortal. These observances are traditional in Mexican and South American culture and in no way mean that Diego Pillco practised occultism.
Frankly Owen, though I appreciate your informative posts, I'm a bit concerned about the depth to which you've involved yourself in regards to Adrienne Shelly. 2.5 yrs ago you were upset about her death and determined to give us correct, corroborated info but you have admitted yourself that her murder sent you into deep depression; now you are convinced -with no evidence given- that she was the target of a ritual occultist ceremony. Even going so far as to stress yourself out with notions of how a common Halloween decoration like a witch's broom will affect Shelly's daughter. I would hope that the Ostroys are the kind of people that recognize and celebrate what was given to them and are not morbidly focused on the last moments of their loved one's life. I'm not trying to bash on you, I am honestly worried.
"I have little ambition. I have many great thoughts about ambition, but no follow-through."
You are quite correct, Hera933. Thank you for pointing out my schoolboy error. In Spanish America the Day of the Dead does indeed fall on the November 2nd. It is only in Spanish Asia that is it celebrated on November 1st. When the British Museum held staged a event marking the Festival, they held it on November 1st, and I was guilty of making an assumption that this date was universal. I should have cross-checked my information according to the relevant geographical area. Mea Culpa. After all, the Christian communities mark Easter on different dates depending on whether they are Catholic/Protestant or Eastern Orthodox. So why should other cultures be any different?
However, Pillco WAS an obsessive fan of Spanish-language horror movies. As the Philipines is as renowned for churning out such flicks as Bollywood is for making musicals, I believe it is very possible that he took his inspiration from a mythology (including dates) borrowed from those movies. I am aware that there is no hard and fast evidence of this, but there is a saying "When you hear hoofbeats, think horses and not zebras!". It could be that the date of Shelly's murder was a pure coincidence, but if so, it was a damn big one! While we're on the subject of evidence, lets take a look at the evidence that Pillco is even guilty of this crime. A shoeprint in the bathroom? He worked in her bulding. A confused and contradictory confession? He was a teenager who had neither a lawyer nor a diplomatic representative present. In the UK this case would have been laughed out of court!
I am sure that you are aware that some people take a delight in twisting other people's cultures and belief systems to suit their own interpretation of the world. If a powerful Christian church consistantly and deliberately mis-represents the pagan Summer Soltice festival as a Satantic ritual, then before too long, most people will believe it. In a while, even Satanists will start to believe it and hold rites that coincide with the Soltice. This is something that will really piss off the genuine pagans, but there's not really a lot they can do about it. Most of the Bible's various names for the Devil are actually those of the host of non-Hebrew gods that the Jews wished to purge from the human psyche. It's just the same with the Halloween period. This time of year has become - unjustifiably - linked with evil.
For the record, I was not concerned about any negative effect that toy brooms, witches hats and such might have on Sophie Ostroy. She would simply regard them as great fun, and so she should. Halloween should be rehabilated as a cebebration of life and afterlife, and given all the respect that an ancient religious festival like Samhain deserves. Just like Easter, which is basically the old pagan fertility rite with a rather unconvincing Christian make-over. I mean, giant eggs and bunny-rabbits? Could anything be more obvious? No, I was concerned about how her father Andy must feel when he is bombarded with 'entertaining' images of psycho-killers-on-the-rampage on the anniversary of the horrific murder of of his wife and mother of his child.
Last Halloween I saw a poster in the high street promoting a death-metal band by the name of 'A Ticket To Hell'.
Do you really think that Andy Ostroy needs one of those?
I see your point, it just seemed like the tone of the post was rather...frantic. Thank you again for your informational responses.
"I have little ambition. I have many great thoughts about ambition, but no follow-through."
It's cool, Hera, and I thank you for your concern. It is much appreciated. However, if you are talking about the posting I left regarding how the adult members of Shelly's family must feel during the Halloween/Day of the Dead festival, I actually wrote it in a mood of overwealming sadness. I guess that we all read into a text the tone that we expect to find. If we are looking for frenzy, then we find frenzy. If we are looking for sarcasm or agression then we find sarcasm or agression. Quite simply, I found myself imagining the rictus grins that Adrienne's husband or brothers must be forced to plaster across their faces when they take Sophie Ostroy off to a kiddie's Halloween party. I just find it so tragic that something that should be an occasion of fun and frivolity has become a time of such misery and sorrow for them.
Last October, I heard a Halloween party CDs playing over the tanoy in the local supermarket. They came to a track entitled 'The Monsters In The Neighborhood', in which children gleefully recounted all the different kinds of scary creatures that inhabited the world around them. As I recall, it went something like this:
"There are Monsters in the neighborhood.
There are Monsters in the neighborhood.
There are Monsters you can meet,
when you're walking down the street.
There are Monsters in the neighborhood!"
Monsters in the neighborhood?
Yes, Hera, I'm very much afraid that there are...
I didn't know any of this...:(
shareI did not know any of that when I watched the movie. That is very sad. I am sure that her daughter will watch that movie's ending over and over for the rest of her life.
shareSophie Ostroy attended the dedicatation ceremony at the opening of the Adrienne Shelly Memorial Garden in New York on August 3. An article which features pictures of her and her surviving family can be found on the 'Gothamist' site listed below:
http://gothamist.com/2009/08/03garden php?gallery0pic=gallery
The article erroniously reports Sophie's age as 7, when I believe that she is actually still only 5.
imagine my shock when i was watching the credits just now and realized that adrienne shelly was dawn! i felt like i had been punched in the stomach! then i found out that toddler lulu was her daughter! i felt terrible for adrienne and her now motherless daughter. very sad.
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