Oscar winning film slated for March 2
“Driving Miss Daisy,” winner of the Best Picture Oscar for 1989, will be shown at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, March 2, at the Waupaca Area Public Library.
Dr. Jack Rhodes will introduce the picture, which is the March feature for the First Thursday Film Series.
Rhodes notes that “Driving Miss Daisy” won three additional Academy Awards: Best Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Make-Up.
“Longtime stage and screen actress Jessica Tandy walked away with the acting honors that year,” Rhodes said, “but there are also great performances by Morgan Freeman, as her chauffeur Hoke, and by the comic actor Dan Aykroyd, as her son Boolie. Both actors also received nominations for their roles in this film.”
Also in the cast are Patti LuPone and Esther Rolle.
“Driving Miss Daisy” tells the tale of a wealthy Atlanta woman whose son decides she needs a chauffeur after one too many minor car accidents. The movie is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Alfred Uhry and covers 25 years in the developing friendship between driver and passenger.
Uhry himself adapted his own play for the screen, winning the Adapted Screenplay Oscar in the process. The much-honored film was directed by Bruce Beresford.
Rhodes said that films shown in the First Thursday Series are typically from the classic period of Hollywood movies, customarily identified as 1927 through 1968.
“‘Driving Miss Daisy’ was made after the close of the classic era, yet it partakes of that earlier period in every way and is set in the ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s,” Rhodes said. “The movie evokes a distant time and place while discussing issues and emotions that remain pertinent today.”
Complimentary popcorn, sodas and theatre treats will be provided. No reservations are necessary for this free presentation.
For more information, call the library at 715-258-4414.