Desperately Seeking Susan

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Desperately Seeking Susan
Poster for the film, featuring a photograph by Herb Ritts
Directed by	Susan Seidelman
Produced by	Sarah Pillsbury Midge Sanford
Written by	Leora Barish
Starring	Rosanna Arquette Madonna Aidan Quinn Will Patton John Turturro
Music by	Thomas Newman
Cinematography	Edward Lachman
Editing by	Andrew Mondshein
Distributed by	Orion Pictures
Release date(s)	March 29, 1985 U.S. release
Running time	104 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$4,500,000 (estimated)
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Desperately Seeking Susan is a 1985 film directed by Susan Seidelman and starring Rosanna Arquette and Madonna.

1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Awards
4 Soundtrack and music video
5 Trivia
6 Stage musical
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Plot

Arquette plays Roberta, a bored suburban housewife living in Fort Lee, New Jersey, who is fascinated with a woman she only knows about by reading messages to and from her in the personals section of a New York City tabloid. This fascination reaches a peak when one such ad with the headline "Desperately Seeking Susan" proposes a rendezvous in Battery Park with the man who seeks her. Roberta goes to Battery Park too, and gets a glimpse of the woman, played by Madonna, whose life so fascinates her. In a series of events involving mistaken identity, amnesia, and other farcical elements Roberta goes from voyeur to participant in an Alice in Wonderland-style plot, ostensibly motivated by the search for a pair of stolen earrings.

[edit] Cast

Actor/Actress	Role
Rosanna Arquette	Roberta Glass
Madonna	Susan
Aidan Quinn	Dez
Mark Blum	Gary Glass, Roberta's husband
Robert Joy	Jim (the man who placed the "Desperately Seeking Susan" ad)
Laurie Metcalf	Leslie Glass, Roberta's sister-in-law
Anna Levine	Crystal
Will Patton	Wayne Nolan
Peter Maloney	Ian the magician
Steven Wright	Larry Stillman D.D.S.
John Turturro	Ray, the master of ceremonies at the Magic Club
Anne Carlisle	Victoria
José Angel Santana	Boutique Owner
Giancarlo Esposito	Street Vendor
Richard Hell	Bruce Meeker
Ann Magnuson	Cigarette Girl
Michael Bramon	Band Member

[edit] Awards

Arquette won a BAFTA Award for her portrayal of Roberta; the fact that the award was for a "supporting role" reflected the surge in popularity that Madonna was experiencing at the time, since in terms of billing, number of scenes, lines of dialog, and plot, Arquette was actually the film's star.

Rosanna Arquette was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical.

The film also received a nomination for a César Award for Best Foreign Film.

The New York Times film critic Vincent Canby named the film as one of the 10 best films of 1985. ^[1]

[edit] Soundtrack and music video

The film captures the feel of the underground Bohemian/New Wave scene of the early to mid-1980s New York City, a scene that in real life helped Madonna get her big break in the music business. Madonna recorded a song for the movie, titled "Desperately Seeking Susan". It ended up not being used in the film, and a demo she just finished at the time called "Into the Groove" was used instead. The demo version can only be heard in the movie. The song was a huge commercial success but was not included on the film's soundtrack, despite being heard in the film. The music video for "Into the Groove" consists of clips from the film compiled by Doug Dowdle of Parallax Productions.

[edit] Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

The filmakers had initially wanted Diane Keaton and Goldie Hawn to play the roles of Roberta and Susan. But the director decided to cast newcomers Rosanna Arquette and Madonna instead. Bruce Willis was up for the role of "Dez". Melanie Griffith was up for the part of "Susan" as well.
Madonna barely beat out Ellen Barkin to the part of Susan. Barkin was the producers first choice for the part, but the director claimed Barkin had a lack of substance.
The Statue of Liberty can be seen in the film when it is still covered in scaffolding during its two year renovation.
The DVD commentary track for the film (recorded in 1996) noted that after Madonna's first screen test, the producers asked her to take four weeks of acting lessons and get screen-tested again. Although the second screen test wasn't much of an improvement, the director still wanted her for the role, as much for her presence and sense of style as for anything else.
Costume designer Santo Loquasto designed Susan's pyramid jacket.
The film was inspired in part by the 1974 film Céline et Julie vont en bateau (Céline and Julie Go Boating).^{[citation needed]}
The film also has an alternate ending, where the duo, Susan and Roberta, are invited to Egypt after helping to return the earrings. They are depicted next to the pyramids on camels. The director cut this scene from the end saying that it was unnecessary and audiences at the test screenings thought the film should have already ended much earlier.^{[citation needed]}
The 1964 sci-fi movie The Time Travelers is playing in scenes 6 and 23 (melts at the end of the movie).
The movie was originally filmed in the summer of 1984, early in Madonna's rise to popularity, and was intended to be an R-rated feature. However, following the success of the singer's 1984-85 hits "Like a Virgin" and "Material Girl," the film was trimmed in content by Orion Pictures in order to receive a PG-13 rating in order for Madonna's teenage fanbase to be able to see it.^{[citation needed]}
The interior / exterior shots of The Magic Club were filmed in Harlem.
Some of the scenes were filmed in Danceteria, a club that Madonna frequented and which gave her a start in the music business.

[edit] Stage musical

The film has been developed into a stage musical which received its world premiere at London's Novello Theatre on November 15 2007, following previews from October 16, 2007. The musical version features music and lyrics by Blondie and Deborah Harry, including a brand new song written especially for the show. The production was directed by Angus Jackson, with book and concept by Peter Michael Marino, and sets and costumes by Tim Hatley. Produced by Susan Gallin, Ron Kastner, Mark Rubinstein and Old Vic productions, the musical starred Emma Williams as Susan and Kelly Price as Roberta, with Steven Houghton as Alex.

Despite a star-studded opening night, the musical was critically mauled, and announced its final performance just thirteen days after opening night for December 15, 2007, losing over £3.5 million. There are no further productions of the musical planned.