Terms of Endearment

Terms of Endearment (1983)

Timing: 2:12 (132 min)

7.097/10
725

7.361/10
16937

7.4/10
70000

All about film

Video 7

Photo 28

Actors and characters

Release date

1983-11-20

Country

United States

Production

Paramount

Genre

Drama, Comedy

Budget

$8 000 000

Revenue

$164 223 489

Website

Director

James L. Brooks

Actors

Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito, Jeff Daniels, John Lithgow, Lisa Hart Carroll, Betty King, Huckleberry Fox, Troy Bishop
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

James L. Brooks

Operator

Andrzej Bartkowiak

Composer

Michael Gore

Artist

Audition

Juliet Taylor, Ellen Chenoweth

Editing

Richard Marks
All team (53)

• The role of Emma was originally written for actress Sissy Spacek.
• Shirley MacLaine turned down an offer to play Dr. Lesh in Tobe Hooper's horror film 'Poltergeist' (1982) in order to star in 'Terms of Endearment'. Her performance as Aurora earned the actress an 'Oscar' award for 'Best Actress'. Beatrice Strait played Dr. Lesh in 'Poltergeist'.
• Towards the end of filming, the director and one of the screenwriters, James L. Brooks, were congratulated on the upcoming completion of the first film and given a comic book 'Life in Hell' by Matt Groening. Brooks was so impressed with the comics that he asked Groening to create short animated films for 'The Tracey Ullman Show' (1987-1990), which subsequently gave rise to the animated series 'The Simpsons' (1989).
• During filming, Debra Winger was characterized by somewhat erratic behavior, as she was at the time recovering from a serious cocaine addiction. At one point, she and Shirley MacLaine nearly came to blows.
• According to Shirley MacLaine, Jack Nicholson also behaved quite strangely during filming, and once showed up on set almost naked. Many of the scenes they performed were pure improvisation.
• John Lithgow ended up in the film's cast because he was replacing another actor. All of his scenes were filmed in three days during a break from filming with Herbert Ross (1927-2001) on the drama 'Bound for Glory' (1984).
• The character of Garrett Breedlove does not exist in the original novel; he was specifically introduced into the script in the hope that Burt Reynolds (1936-2018) would agree to the role. Reynolds read the script, liked it, but was already committed to filming Hal Needham's (1931-2013) comedy-drama 'Stroker Ace' (1983). Paul Newman (1925-2008) and Harrison Ford also turned down the role of Breedlove, before Jack Nicholson accepted it. In preparation for the role, Nicholson specifically traveled to Houston, where he spoke with astronauts.
• Initially, Jennifer Jones (1919-2009) owned the rights to the novel, and she wanted to play the role of Aurora herself. Sissy Spacek was initially considered for the role played by Debra Winger. Jones and her millionaire husband Norton Simon (1907-1993) bought the screenplay from James L. Brooks, but he decided it would be better not to tailor the character of Aurora to a specific actress, and convinced Paramount Pictures to acquire the rights from Jones and Simon. When receiving the 'Oscar' for this film, Brooks specifically thanked Jennifer Jones Simon.
• This is not stated explicitly, but the main part of the plot unfolds in the 1970s. Approximately midway through the film, a 1979 calendar can be seen on the wall. During this period, NASA had absolutely no need for Garrett's services. The last mission of the Apollo program ended in 1975, and the next crewed spaceflight was the first Space Shuttle flight in 1981.
• Shirley MacLaine turned down the offer to play Dr. Lesh in Tobe Hooper's horror film *Poltergeist* (1982) to star in *Terms of Endearment*. Playing the role of Aurora earned the actress an Academy Award for Best Actress. Dr. Lesh in *Poltergeist* was played by Beatrice Strait.