MovieChat Forums > Crimes of the Heart (1987) Discussion > Did anyone have a problem with

Did anyone have a problem with

posted 17 years ago by brfluc-1
24 replies | jump to latest

I recently found out that Jessica Lange was pregnant while filming this movie. She and Sissy Spacek are two of my favorite actresses; if you ever want to see true acting, watch "'Night Mother". My problem is with Jessica Lange~every five seconds, she's lighting a cigarette. Does anyone else find this offensive? I'm a mother and though I'm no saint, I wouldn't do anything to hurt my child. I'm hoping the cigarette's weren't "real"; did anyone else have a problem with this?

[–] sparksjoy 17 years ago

It's over 20 years old, when smoking while pregnant wasn't the big thing it is today.

[–] rebelgirl_va 17 years ago

Besides, we don't know that she was actually "inhaling". You can fake smoke a cigarette.

[–] la_iguana 17 years ago

you are just a bit too emotionally invested in this. it's not your place to judge.

[–] Brynnda 17 years ago

I just read that, too, brfluc, about Lange being pregnant while filming the movie. I just watched this last night and loved it, but you do bring up a good point about the harmful cigarette smoking ! Maybe she wasn't inhaling..i hope not ! But maybe if she was, she realizes how harmful it is now to babies (or anyone, for that matter) and doesn't do it anymore, at least around pregnant women.

[–] Basho 17 years ago

Many times when an actor is required to smoke for a role but has no desire to risk getting hooked they use cigarettes made of dried lettuce leaves or even spices. When a very young Tatum O'Neal was required to smoke in 'Paper Moon' she used this sort of cigarette and they have been in use for quite some time. Onscreen they are impossible to tell from the real thing and the actor can inhale and give the appearance of smoking without actually harming their health.

[–] larpine 16 years ago

Have to agree with the earier post, this isn't the place to debate prenatal health and it's not your place to judge.

BTW, Lange has smoked since she was very young is soon to turn sixty, a grandmother, and allows herself two cigerettes a day.

[–] yttimsmc11 16 years ago

Smoking period (pregnant or otherwise) didn't become a "big deal" till the nineties.

Que Sera, Sera...

[–] netshopper-2 15 years ago

Not true! Smoking was discovered to be linked to lung cancer in the 1950s. Smoking while pregnant was not endorsed many decades before the 90s as you think. I had a baby in the 80s and we were concerned about cigs, artifical sweeteners, anti-biotics, alcohol, cat turds...you name it.

[–] coxm-1 16 years ago

"Does anyone else find this offensive? I'm a mother and though I'm no saint, I wouldn't do anything to hurt my child. I'm hoping the cigarette's weren't "real"; did anyone else have a problem with this?"

Having directed the play version, twice, I can tell you that smoking was a big part of Her Character. Her Character has lines about smoking. You need to realize that a character an actor/actress plays is the character, not the person playing the character.

[–] Hermoine 15 years ago

Jessica Lange was not pregant during the making of this film. She had recently had a baby though.

[–] larpine 15 years ago

I'm interested, where did you direct the play?? I have to ask.

[–] coxm-1 15 years ago

"I'm interested, where did you direct the play?? I have to ask."

1st time was with The Community Alliance of Stage and Theatre (CAST) in Douglasville in 1996.

2nd time was with the Whistlestop Players in 2005.

[–] carolyn38104 15 years ago

To Coxm-1, you mention Whistlestop Players. Was this in a Southern town? I once worked with a group with this name.

[–] coxm-1 15 years ago

To Coxm-1, you mention Whistlestop Players. Was this in a Southern town? I once worked with a group with this name.

Yes, in Douglasville, GA.

[–] hodie 11 years ago

My mom smoked when she was pregnant with us in the 1950s. None of the three children she had suffered any ill effects. Both my parents quit during the late 60s/early 70s when the Surgeon General's warning came out.

My husband, an ex-smoker, has a very good eye for seeing if an actor in a movie is actually inhaling or not. Watching this film tonight, I asked him whether he thought Lange was a smoker. He watched and said, "Big-time!"

[–] kendoll82 15 years ago

Shut up.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Jack_Rabbit_Slims91 13 years ago

As mentioned before, it wasn't a major deal but this was becoming the late 1980s and I'm sure Lange herself and the producers would have made a conscious effort to avoid any harm to herself or her child. You have to understand, films require numerous takes of different shots, many scenes can be very time consuming. I doubt Lange would have been required to smoke actual cigarettes every take, they smoke herbal cigarettes or similar harmless substitutes.

As for her children IMDb lists the births as Hanna Jane Shepard (January 13, 1986) and Samuel Walker Shepard (June 14, 1987), I did a little research and this was filmed beginning May to at most July 1986. Which would have been between her two pregnancies. I personally thought she was looking rather curvaceous in the film, and thought she was pregnant herself.

The Social Network/David Fincher/Annette Bening/Colin Firth/Christian Bale/Jacki Weaver

[–] hodie 11 years ago

It's not the nicotine in cigarettes that is so dangerous, though that is the addictive substance. It's the tar that screws up the lungs. I would imagine inhaling smoke from even herbal cigarettes would still result in the ingestion of tar.