Peggy Sue Got Married turns 40 this week, and the time-travel romance still carries one of the most eventful behind-the-scenes sagas in Hollywood. Before Kathleen Turner became Peggy Sue, the project lost a star and a director; later it sparked a public lawsuit and a West End musical.
It almost starred Debra Winger
The film was originally going to star Debra Winger and be directed by Jonathan Demme. They had creative differences, and Demme left, to be replaced by Penny Marshall, who would be making her feature directorial debut. Then Marshall had creative differences with the writers and left, and Winger quit out of loyalty to Marshall. Rastar offered the film to Francis Ford Coppola, hoping to entice Winger back, but Kathleen Turner became the star.
Coppola put his family in the cast
Two of Coppola’s relatives were cast: his daughter Sofia Coppola as Peggy Sue’s sister, Nancy, and his nephew Nicolas Cage as Charlie. Cage later said he never wanted to play the role but was asked multiple times by Coppola; he only agreed to take the part if he could play it in an over-the-top manner.
Twenty-hour days to protect final cut
Kathleen Turner stated that Coppola was contractually obligated to finish the film on time or lose final cut privilege. The cast and crew worked twenty hours a day, six days a week, to deliver the film to the studio on time.
Turner’s memoir accused Cage
Turner spoke numerous times about the difficulty of working with Cage. In her 2008 memoir she wrote that he caused so many problems and was arrested twice for drunk-driving and, she thought, once for stealing a dog. On the last night of filming, she wrote, he came into her trailer after drinking heavily and asked if she could ever forgive him. She replied, ‘Not right now. I have a scene to shoot. Excuse me,’ and walked out.
Cage sued and won
In 2008, in response to Turner’s claims that he had driven drunk and stolen a chihuahua, Cage sued her for defamation and won. He received a public apology from Turner, admission from her publisher that the claims were false and defamatory, and a pledge that Turner and the publisher would make a substantial donation to charity.
The voice was a Gumby-inspired choice
Turner also criticized Cage’s decision to wear false teeth and adopt a nasal fry; Cage said he based it on Pokey from The Gumby Show. In 2018, Turner said it was not her job to tell another actor what he should or shouldn’t do, so she asked Coppola, ‘You approved this choice?’ She felt the choice further illustrated her character’s disillusionment with the past.
Critics and the box office
Peggy Sue Got Married received positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 88% based on 32 reviews, with an average rating of 6.9/10. Metacritic assigned a score of 75 out of 100 based on 15 critics. Roger Ebert gave it four-out-of-four stars and called it ‘one of the best movies of the year.’ The film grossed $41.4 million in the United States, and it was the first box-office success for Coppola since The Outsiders (1983). It also earned three Academy Award nominations, and Turner won the 1986 National Board of Review Award for Best Actress.
A West End show cut short
The film was adapted by Leichtling and Sarner into a full-length musical theater production, which opened in London’s West End theatre district in 2001. Despite receiving solid reviews and a several million pound advance, the September 11 attacks forced the show to close early.
Which one surprised you most: the Winger near-miss, the twenty-hour shoot, or the Cage apology? Tell us your favourite Peggy Sue Got Married fact.
Facts from Wikipedia: Peggy Sue Got Married, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Film images from TMDB. This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.