Trivia / Marvin's Room

• Acclaimed Flop: The film has an 84% Rotten Tomatoes rating, Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 rating in his 1997 review, and Diane Keaton earned several award nominations for her leading role as Bessie. However, it did not recoup its budget; see Box Office Bomb below.
• All-Star Cast: Meryl Streep, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Diane Keaton headline the film. Robert De Niro, Hume Cronyn, Broadway legend Gwen Verdon, Dan Hedaya, and Margo Martindale appear in supporting roles. Kelly Ripa (in her feature film debut) and Cynthia Nixon (pre-Sex and the City) appear in minor roles.
• Box Office Bomb: The film's budget was $23 million, but it only made $12.8 million domestically.
• California Doubling: Set in Florida, but filmed mostly in Kaufman Astoria Studios in New York. However, according to this Orlando Sentinel article, exterior scenes were shot on location in Florida during the final three weeks of production in October 1995, including a three-day shoot in Walt Disney World.
• Cast the Runner-Up: Meryl Streep was initially considered for the role of Bessie. Instead, she was cast as Bessie's younger sister, Lee.
• Dawson Casting:
  • Played Straight with Leonardo DiCaprio, who was 20 playing 17-year-old Hank at the time of filming.
  • Averted with Hal Scardino, who was 10 playing 10-year-old Charlie.
• Produced by Cast Member: Robert De Niro appears as supporting character Dr. Wally, and also serves as one of the producers.
• Those Two Actors:
  • Meryl Streep:
    • She and Diane Keaton previously co-starred together in Manhattan.
    • She and Leonardo DiCaprio would later reunite in Adam McKay's Don't Look Up.
    • She and Robert De Niro previously starred together in The Deer Hunter and Falling in Love.
    • She and Dan Hedaya previously appeared together in The Seduction of Joe Tynan.
    • She and Margo Martindale would later reunite in ...First Do No Harm, The Hours, and August: Osage County.
  • Diane Keaton:
    • She and Robert De Niro previously appeared together in The Godfather Part II, and would later reunite in The Big Wedding.
    • She and Dan Hedaya appeared in this film the same year that they starred together in The First Wives Club.
  • Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro previously starred together in This Boy's Life, and reunited in Killers of the Flower Moon.
• What Could Have Been: Sigourney Weaver, Anjelica Huston, and Kathleen Turner were considered for the role of Bessie.
• Write What You Know: Scott McPherson based his screenplay on his experiences from living through the AIDS epidemic, which he died from in 1992.
• Write Who You Know: Scott McPherson based some of the characters on his older relatives who lived in Florida.

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