You are most welcome Ndrp0214.
People may find this hard to be believe now, but back in the early 1990s there was a tremendous amount of interest in Adrienne Shelly. After her success in the Hal Hartley films 'The Unbelievable Truth' and 'Trust', she was tipped to be a major star by the end of the decade. At that time, Adrienne Shelly was spoken of in the same breath as up-and-coming actresses such as Michelle Pfeiffer, Meg Ryan and Nicole Kidman. Her great beauty and obvious talent made her 'one to watch' and she appeared on the cover of London listing magazine Time Out. Following her interview with Geoff Andrews of the British Film Institute, 'The Unbelievable Truth' and 'Trust' were screened with some fanfare by Channel 4. Back in the US, John Willis' Screen World called Adrienne one of the twelve most promising actors of 1991, and in the same year Forbes Magazine went so far as to hail her as American cinema's 'next big thing'.
Sad to say, Adrienne's early promise was never fulfilled, and despite a highly successful career in indie cinema, she never enjoyed mainstream recognition. I don't know why. Apparently she was very professional and a joy to work with, but she was also notoriously particular about the roles she would accept, declining much work that she felt uncomfortable with. The fact that on-screen nudity was a deal-breaker for Shelly probably didn't help her career either. Michelle, Meg and Nicole all have frequent listings in the Celebrity Nude Database. Adrienne does not.
However, Shelly was no prude and one of her most iconic roles was that of the bondage and spanking fetishist Tanya Quinn in 'Homicide: Life On The Street'. In these times of 'Fifty Shades Of Grey', this may not seem particulary daring, but twenty years ago it was very different, and Adrienne's sympathetic portrayal of a woman involved in the BDSM scene really was pushing the envelope. It is also noteworthy that Tanya Quinn was a Submissive rather than a Dominant, and yet Adrienne had no problems with playing her in a positive manner despite being a keen feminist. For her, feminism really did mean 'our bodies, our choice'.
As the new century dawned, Shelly sequed into a behind-the-camera role, writing and directing short films. As an actress she still appeared as a guest star in series such as 'Oz' and 'Law and Order', but she had largely slipped into obscurity and cult status. All this was to change with her final movie 'Waitress', which starred Nathan Fillion and Keri Russell. This was accepted by the Sundance Film Festival in October of 2006, and would certainly been the breakthrough film that propelled Adrienne into the Hollywood mainstream. Sadly, she never lived to see it premiered.
Following Shelly's death, Andy Ostroy set up All For A Films, a production company with the sole purpose of turning all of his late wife's completed scripts into finished fims. Their first movie was 2009's 'Serious Moonlight', which starred Meg Ryan and Timothy Hutton and was directed by Adrienne's 'Waitress' co-star Cheryl Hines. This will be followed by 'The Morgan Stories', which is currently in pre-production. Ostroy also established the Adrienne Shelly Foundation, a charity which provides grants and bursaries to young women film-makers.
There is a final - and deeply disturbing - coda to this tragic story. Adrienne's killer, Diego Pillco, has access to the internet while in prison and he has established a Facebook account. In this he lists Sly Stallone as his favourite movie-star. In the 2002 film 'D-Tox', Stallone plays an FBI agent who is hunting a serial killer who fakes his murders as suicides and leaves no forensic evidence behind him. Shortly after the movie begins, Sly comes home to find his wife, Dina Meyer, has been murdered while he was at work. She has been hanged by the neck from a beam in the living-room and is naked from the waist down. Apart for the fact that Adrienne was found in the bathroom and was fully dressed, the movie murder and the real-life killing are identical. Dina Meyer and Adrienne Shelly were about the same age, and - apart from a few inches difference in height - were very similar physical types. Both women were very beautiful, had long, red-gold hair, fair skin, high cheekbones and big blue eyes.
This too, is chilling, but is it a coincidence?
Somehow I think not.
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Jaybone23
10 years ago
Wow. Just...wow. I think I remember the case when it happened in 2006, but I was totally unaware of this film until I stared watching it on one of the Movie Channel, uh, channels. I couldn't believe, given hindsight of course, all the acting talent in this weird, thoroughly unsatisfying B-movie from 1994.
I always liked Craig Sheffer and wondered why he didn't become a star. He's always worked, but he's hardly a household name. Of course I hated his character in this thing. (And this film came out AFTER "A River Runs Through It"...but I wonder if it was filmed BEFORE "River" was released.)
I've always liked Michelle Forbes, too, but she's not as well-known as she should be, even though she's been in some high profile TV series over the last several years.
And there's David Arquette. Not a great talent but now definitely a recognized name. Then there are the two present-day A-listers, in Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Josh Brolin. I wonder what they would have to say about this film today, though I'm sure it would be impossible to look at it again without thinking about the tragedy that befell Adrienne Shelly.
Thank you for your post, which brings to light a sad, bizarre little bit of Hollywood trivia. Adrienne Shelly was indeed beautiful and her murder a travesty, where the killer seemingly almost got away with it.
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owenrcarpenter
10 years ago
To be honest, I feel that in a very real sense Adrienne's killer DID get away with it! Diego Pillco was not convicted of murder - only manslaughter. He will still be younger upon his release that Adrienne was when she was killed! When the detectives asked Pillco what was going through his mind when he slipped the noose around the neck of a tiny, terrified woman who's 3-year old daughter was waiting to be picked up from pre-school, he replied, "It reminded me of stringing up pigs back on the farm." I have no doubt that Pillco will be as dangerous when he is set free as the day he was when he was jailed, but this is the law. The plea-bargain determined that Adrienne's death was an opportunistic robbbery gone sour, and this is what it was in the eyes of the criminal justice system. There was no rape, no murder. It was all just a tragic accident in the course of a burglary.
For the record, I believe that the DA made the smart choice. The evidence against Pillco was pretty flimsy and the danger of much of it being ruled inadmissable was too great. As far as I know, it consisted soley of a shoeprint in the bathroom left by a teenager who worked in the building combined with a confused and contradictory confession obtained with neither a lawyer nor diplomatic representative present - all via a translator! I'm a Brit, and I can assure you that in my country the judge would have laughed the prosecutor out of court if he walked in with a case like that. Ever see the Daniel Day-Lewis movie 'In The Name Of The Father', the one about the Irish family who spent over 15 years in jail due to false confessions and dodgy forensics? It was based on an actual, real-life case, and it was by NO means an isolated incident! This is why the PACE (Police and Criminal Evidence) Act was introduced. In theory, things like that can't happen now.
I had the pleasure of meeting the lovely Michelle Forbes a few years ago, and she broke down in tears as she spoke of her relationship with Adrienne. The two women met for the first time on the set of 'Roadflower' and bonded at once. Michelle hated the shoot (she described it diplomatically as 'problematic') and said that she was glad Adrienne was there to support her. At the end of filming Adrienne gave her a book of feminist poetry by HD that she said that she would never part with. When I gave Michelle the number of Andy Ostroy at the ASF she was so overcome that she kissed me! She is now working with the Foundation on fund-raising activities.
I also passed on the fact that Pillco is to all intents and purposes boasting of his crime on Facebook to Andy's secretary along with a copy of 'D-Tox' as evidence. With a bit of luck this worthless POS will have his account deleted, and perhaps his access to the internet revoked into the bargain. It's not enough by a long way, but as I said, this IS the law...
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