The Simpsons Go 'Sideways'

Tonight is Oscars night and back in 2005 the movie Sideways, which introduced Sandra Oh to a wider audience, won an Academy Award for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay) and picked up a nomination for Best Motion Picture of the Year. It ended up losing out to Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby.

A few years ago The Simpsons did a homage to the movie, including the famous scene where Sandra Oh as Stephanie beats the crap out of Thomas Hayden Church's character with a motorcycle helmet. Check it out in the video below:

Sandra Oh - Simpsonified

'This Chick Stephanie.. She's Got It All Goin' On'

Random pic of the week:

Sandra Oh and Sideways co-star Virginia Madsen promoting the movie at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, 2004.

A Sideways Photo Shoot

Random pic of the week:

Photo: Bryce Duffy

Sandra Oh at a photo shoot in 2005 with her co-stars Thomas Haden Church, Paul Giamatti, Virginia Madsen and director Alexander Payne from the movie Sideways.

In other "news", Grey's Anatomy will be on hiatus until January, which means slow news days are coming. If you have anything news worthy you think we should post, e-mail us at contact@sandraohnews.com or use the contact form here

I Need Some Fine Wine And You, You Need To Be Nicer

If there was an Oscar category for Best Delivery Of A Line, Sandra 's line in this clip from Sideways would surely be one of the contenders:

Sandra Oh and Thomas Hayden Church in Sideways

Which line from Grey's Anatomy would you nominate? Let us know in the comments below.

Author Of Sideways Says "Screw You" To Sandra Oh

A lil' bit of controversy...

The cast of Sideways and author Rex Pickett (on the far right)
at the premiere of the movie in Los Angeles, 2004.

When books are adapted into films, it's not uncommon to change plots, characters and other details. The movie Sideways - in which Sandra Oh had a supporting role - was based on a book by author Rex Pickett, and as with most adaptations, the novel Sideways and the film version are different. This review of the book lists some of those differences.

It turns out that Rex Pickett is rather bothered by the change made to Sandra's character Stephanie, and he holds Sandra personally responsible for that. (FYI: In the book, Sandra's character is called Terra who is described as a "petite blonde" and who doesn't have a daughter. )

Pickett has now written a sequel to Sideways which he is currently promoting, and in an interview with Palate Press he talks about how he has written Sandra's character out of the new book completely to make sure that Sandra doesn't appear in the sequel, should it ever get made:

Maya and Terra, the women from Sideways who date Miles and Jack, were based on real women in Santa Barbara County. But in Vertical, Maya appears only briefly, and Terra is out of the story completely, having moved to Reno to become a lap dancer.

Pickett didn’t want to talk about the real Maya, but was happy to tell the story of his revenge against Terra.

“[Actress] Sandra Oh made a lot of changes to my script. She boasted about it on NPR[’s Fresh Air (listen to the interview here)],” Pickett said. “She changed the name of the character to ‘Stephanie.’ She changed her vehicle to a motorcycle. She added the mixed-race kid. I hate that bowling alley scene in the movie. I leave every time I see it.”

“[Director] Alexander [Payne] had just married Sandra Oh. He was in love with her. Alexander would never have taken those suggestions from anybody else. Then they had a bitter divorce, and she got half the money he made from Sideways, which was a lot of money because Alexander got points from the gross worldwide. But when she got the role on Grey’s Anatomy, that was afterward and she didn’t have to share that money.”

By writing her character out of Vertical, Pickett ensured that Payne won’t have to work with Oh again if he makes the sequel.

“Lap dancing, that’s a little wave to Alexander,” Pickett said. “I’m not happy that she changed the role. So it’s ‘screw you.’”

Yikes, dude!

Bad Girl

Random quote of the day:

Sandra Oh and Thomas Haden Church in Sideways.

[Stephanie pours Jack and Miles full glasses of sample wine]

Jack:  Oh, Stephanie, you bad girl.

Stephanie: I know, I need to be spanked.

- Sideways, 2004.

Line-Up

Random pic of the day:

 Sandra Oh and the rest of the cast of Sideways at the Directors Guild of America Awards, January 29, 2005.

Photo via

Saucy!

Random pic of the day:

Sandra Oh and her co-stars from Sideways at the LA premiere of the movie on October 12, 2004.

Sideways Is A Top Pick

Associated Press movie critic Christy Lemire has picked her top 10 films of the decade and Sideways made the list at no. 5:

5. “Sideways” (No. 1 for 2004) — Also starring Paul Giamatti, further proving that beneath his character-actor looks lie the talent and versatility of a leading man. Disarmingly written and beautifully cast, with equal amounts of humor and heart, Alexander Payne’s middle-aged, coming-of-age tale of loneliness, love of wine and unlikely relationships resonates long after the lights go up. Superb supporting work from Virginia Madsen, Thomas Haden Church and Sandra Oh.

Source

The Story Behind The Picture

Virginia Madsen, who starred with Sandra in Sideways, shared the backstory to this now famous picture from the movie in a recent interview:

(Click to enlarge)

This was their first scene on the production in the rolling hills of Santa Ynez mountains [California wine country] and not far from Michael Jackson’s Neverland.

Alexander Payne, the director and then husband of Sandra Oh, gave them a picnic basket with a bottle of wine inside.

“Go over there,” he said, pointing to an area near a tree.

Abound with curiosity, all four actors do so. They walk quite a distance, far from Alexander and the cameras. Sitting, they all kind’a look at one another, like “What do we do now?”

Sandra cups her hands around her mouth to make a megaphone and yells, “Do we start eating?”

“YES!” yells Alexander. They grab a couple sandwiches, but still not sure what to do. Then they eye the bottle of wine. Sandra yells out once again, “ Do we drink the wine??”

Alexander responds in slow cadence,“Yes…drink…the…wine…and…have….a…picnic!” They did.

When I show Virginia this photograph during the interview she smiles, chuckles and says, “We all were so happy.” Then she adds, “We were all toasting because we were employed.”

Source