Here's what Penny Marshall said about filming Riding in Cars With Boys:
https://www.datalounge.com/thread/29153548-let-s-talk-about-penny-marshall
Jim Brooks had gotten ahold of the rights to Riding in Cars with Boys from Sara Colleton, who had optioned Beverly Donofrio’s memoir about getting pregnant at fifteen and overcoming numerous challenges on her way to getting a degree and becoming a writer. After reading the script, I didn’t love it. But, as Jim probably knew would happen when he pushed the project in front of me, I identified with the character from my own experiences of having a kid and getting married. Even if a girl hasn’t gone through that she’s probably thought, What if.
My wheels began turning. I had people in New York read actresses for the part of Beverly and I read them like crazy at my house. I brought in Kate Hudson, Marisa Tomei (I didn’t need her to play ball in this one), and Reese Witherspoon, who was pregnant and asked me not to videotape her. I said fine. So she read and did a good job. Hillary Swank and Angelina Jolie both came in. Anne Hathaway did, too. But she was too young. I sent her over to my brother, who used her in The Princess Diaries and said thank you to me.
I had readings for the other parts, too. I wasn’t even through the list of actresses and actors being sent to me and I could have cut a whole movie together just from my readings. But then Jim came to me and suggested Drew Barrymore for the lead. He saw her in the role. I thought she was a terrific girl and very nice, but I had Marisa and Kate in mind. It didn’t matter. Amy Pascal, the studio president, informed me that Jim had already promised the part to Drew. I was furious. If that was the case, why not tell me? That’s all I ever asked from anyone. Tell me the truth. I wouldn’t have wasted so many people’s time, including mine. So I hired Brittany Murphy as her best friend, added Sara Gilbert, and got ready to go.
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TMC-4 (19447)
3 years ago
Continued:
Then suddenly we had to put everything on hold and wait for Charlie’s Angels to wrap. Once we did start, nothing was smooth. Drew[ didn’t think my Academy Award–winning cinematographer, Chris Menges, was lighting her properly. Chris explained why she was wrong. But Jim made me fire Chris, one of the nicest people in the business, and I had to bring Miroslav out of retirement. I brought in Jimmy Woods to play Beverly’s father, but he was on a movie with Denzel that went long, requiring me to shoot pieces of scenes as I waited for him. Lorraine Bracco, who played his wife, would say a line that should have had Jimmy there to respond to, but what could I do?
The script also drove me crazy; there were no transitions. I’d call Steve Zahn in all the time to make them up as we went along. One time he said, “Can I bring my dog?” I said, ‘Sure.” I didn’t care who or what was there as long as I could get from one part to the next. I mean we saw Beverly as a child, then as a teen, then raising her child, and then as an author needing permission from her ex before she could publish her book. There were no in-betweens. It just skipped years. Plus Jim, who could normally be counted on for his share of brilliant ideas, was going through a divorce and producing What About Joan, a television series with Joan Cusack, so he was a little preoccupied. It all was a mess from the get-go. As a general rule, don’t work with people who are getting divorced. They’re thinking about other things.
We shot a bit on City Island, in New York, but spent the bulk of production in New Jersey. We built our own town on the campus of the defunct Upsala College, in East Orange. After we finished, the fire department set fire to the homes and storefronts we’d built and used them for practice. Meanwhile, I brought in people I knew, like Rosie Perez, who was funny, and David Moscow, who had been in Big.
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