Sandy Dennis
This is one of my favorite movies but JESUS! Sandy Dennis bugs me in this film. She sounds handicapped. And a tad too annoying.
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MovieChat Forums > Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) Discussion > Sandy Dennis
I think she is great! One of the most convincing drunk performances ever, that's for sure.
.this is really happening.
flaiky, I agree with you. She seemed drunk. I began to wonder if she was actually drunk in the movie. Obviously not, but her delivery of lines, her body movements, the way her face contorted....marvelous!
shareI think she's supposed to be annoying as Honey, and I think Dennis brought a little too much stage overplay to it rather than the subtlty it may have needed, but I also think Dennis was a bit of a dip and a flake, which colored all her performances.
Personally, I can't believe they kept in her giant spit bubble. Realistic perhaps, but...urgh.
Am I anywhere near the imaginary cliff?share
In the commentary Mike Nichols describes Sandy Dennis as weirdly brilliant. She was heavy into her own method acting and would go away all day by herself to get into character when they aren't rolling.
"Say anything about me, dahling, as long as it isn't boring."-Tallulah Bankhead
I loved her - especially her interpretive dance.
shareEXACTLY! She was supposed to be both! When you first see her character, you think "okay, nice blonde woman." but then you realize she is as messed up as everyone else.
shareThis is one of the great American films, with towering performances all around. And, for me, Nichols' best film.
I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall as Liz & Richard prepared for this movie. And to be on the set as the scenes were shot must have been almost breathtaking. An amazing tour de force for actors, this movie is amazingly raw, bizarre, delicate, an in-your-face rampage, and psychological abuse taken to a high art form.
I felt sometimes she plays it as if she's a child.
shareDefnitely bugs me! She ruins a good part of an otherwise superb film! I think it's not that she's handicapped, but possibly mentally ill (the character) -- Sandy is just a bad actor. Wait...if she plays an annoying character so WELL that we can't stand her, does that mean she's a GOOD actress? Aw, who cares? George Segel was annoying too. So pompous and yet moronic.
Both actors (I think) have done much better as perps on "Law & Order"!
Nothing is what it seems. Everything is a test. Rule #1: Don't...get...caught.
Really? Just goes to show how 2 people can watch the same movie and walk away with completely different opinions.
I thought Sandy Dennis was wonderful in this film. Playing drunk is one of the hardest types of performances to pull off--actors often over-do it and end up looking totally ridiculous, but Dennis did it so well, you really believed she was intoxicated. She didnt' attempt to upstage Taylor either.
In fact, i'll go out on a limb and say that it was definitely one of the top 3 best acing roles I've ever seen.
I know Segal has been on L&O (who hasn't?) but I wasn't aware Sandy Dennis had a role...do you mind telling which "version" so I can look for it (was it Criminal Intent, SVU, or the generic one...thansk!)
Good point about how difficult it is to play a drunk person. I thought she didn't make the usual mistakes of stumbling around and banging into things, but came off more as having a nervous breakdown, which perhaps she was, given the fact that she already had a "hysterical (fake) pregnancy". One good thing about her character was that she seemed to be the most "authentic" of all the characters. One might think that this would be Martha, but I saw her anger and aggressiveness as a defense against a deep sadness and sense of inadequacy.
I wish I could tell you which version of L&O I'm thinking of, but I'll look around and see if I'm right about this. Hasn't almost everyone been on those shows at one point or other? ;P
Nothing is what it seems. Everything is a test. Rule #1: Don't...get...caught.
Really? Just goes to show how 2 people can watch the same movie and walk away with completely different opinions.
I thought Sandy Dennis was wonderful in this film. Playing drunk is one of the hardest types of performances to pull off--actors often over-do it and end up looking totally ridiculous, but Dennis did it so well, you really believed she was intoxicated. She didnt' attempt to upstage Taylor either.
In fact, i'll go out on a limb and say that it was definitely one of the top 3 best acing roles I've ever seen.
I know Segal has been on L&O (who hasn't?) but I wasn't aware Sandy Dennis had a role...do you mind telling which "version" so I can look for it (was it Criminal Intent, SVU, or the generic one...thanks!)