Heathers

This article is about the film Heathers. For other uses of "Heathers" and "Heather", see Heather (disambiguation).

Heathers
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Michael Lehmann
Produced by	Denise Di Novi
Written by	Daniel Waters
Starring	Winona Ryder Christian Slater Shannen Doherty Lisanne Falk Kim Walker Penelope Milford Glenn Shadix
Music by	David Newman
Cinematography	Francis Kenny
Editing by	Norman Hollyn
Studio	Cinemarque Entertainment
Distributed by	New World Pictures
Release date(s)	March 31, 1989 (1989-03-31) (US)
Running time	102 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$2 million
Box office	$1,108,462

Heathers is a 1989 dark comedy film starring Winona Ryder, Christian Slater and Shannen Doherty. The film portrays four girls in a trend-setting clique at a fictional Ohio high school. The girls — three of whom are named Heather — rule the school through intimidation, contempt, and sex appeal.

Heathers brought director Michael Lehmann and producer Denise Di Novi the 1990 Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature. Daniel Waters also gained recognition for his screenplay, which won a 1990 Edgar Award. The film was a U.S. box office failure, but went on to become a cult classic, with high rentals and sales business. In 2006, it was ranked #5 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the "50 Best High School Movies" and in 2008, it was ranked #412 on Empire's list of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.

Plot

The film centers on 17-year-old Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder), an intelligent teenager who is one of the most popular girls at Westerburg High School in Sherwood, Ohio. In addition to Veronica, the popular clique consists of three wealthy and beautiful (but deeply unhappy) girls with the same first name: the malicious leader, Heather Chandler (Kim Walker); the bookish bulimic Heather Duke (Shannen Doherty) and the weak-willed cheerleader Heather McNamara (Lisanne Falk). These three rule Westerburg through cruelty. Though they are the most "popular" students, the Heathers are feared and hated. Veronica has had enough of their shallow behavior and longs to return to her old life and her nerdy friends.

When a new student, a rebellious outsider named Jason Dean (Christian Slater), or J.D. for short, pulls a gun on school bullies Kurt Kelly (Lance Fenton) and Ram Sweeney (Patrick Labyorteaux) and fires blanks at them, Veronica finds herself fascinated with him. Veronica attends a frat party with Heather Chandler; when Veronica refuses sex and throws up, Heather vows to destroy her reputation. J.D. shows up at Veronica's house and after some flirting they end up making love outside, after which Veronica tells J.D. she wants to make Heather Chandler puke her guts out. The next morning, Veronica and J.D. break into Heather's mansion. J.D. serves Heather a liquid he claims is a hangover cure but is actually drain cleaner, killing her. J.D. urges Veronica to forge a dramatic suicide note in Heather Chandler's handwriting.

The school and community look on Heather Chandler's apparent suicide as a tragic but admirable decision made by a popular but sadly troubled teenager. Heather Duke soon steps into Heather Chandler's former role as clique leader and begins wearing a red scrunchie that had belonged to Chandler.

Several days later, the oafish Kurt and Ram spread a false rumor about Veronica giving oral sex to them at the same time, ruining her reputation at school. J.D. proposes that Veronica lure them into the woods behind the school with the promise to "make the rumors true"; then shoot them with "special" nonfatal German World War II bullets. J.D. offers plant materials beside the other boys suggesting they were homosexuals, as well as a suicide note stating the two were lovers participating in a suicide pact. Ram is shot but Veronica misses Kurt, who runs away. Veronica realizes that the bullets are real; J.D. chases Kurt back towards Veronica, who panics and shoots him. At their funeral, the boys are made into martyrs against homophobia. Although she keeps dating J.D., Veronica is alarmed by his behavior and his relationship with his father (Kirk Scott); she also learns that J.D.'s mother may have killed herself to escape his father.

Martha Dunnstock, an obese, regularly bullied student known as "Martha Dumptruck", pins a suicide note to her chest and walks into traffic. She survives but is badly injured and is mocked for trying to "act popular". Heather McNamara calls a popular radio show one night while Veronica and Heather Duke are listening and talks of depressing aspects in her life; the next day, Heather Duke tells the entire school about Heather McNamara's radio call; McNamara attempts to take her life by overdosing on pills in the girls' bathroom but is saved by Veronica.

Veronica tells J.D. that she will not participate in any more killings. He climbs into her room with a revolver to kill her, but Veronica instead tricks J.D., having used a harness to make it look like she has hanged herself. Thinking her dead, he rambles about his plan to blow up the entire school during a pep rally. A petition he has been circulating via Heather Duke, to get the band Big Fun to perform on campus was actually a disguised mass suicide note. Most of the students had already signed, so the mass murder would appear to be a mass suicide instead.

Veronica confronts J.D. in the boiler room, where he is rigging timed explosives. She shoots him when he refuses to stop the bomb. As J.D. collapses, he stabs the timer and it stops. Veronica walks out through the pep rally with everyone cheering, unaware there is still a bomb under the bleachers. The severely injured J.D. follows her outside with the bomb from the bleachers now strapped to his chest, offers up what amounts to a personal eulogy as Veronica looks on in respect, and detonates the bomb.

In the film's final scene, Veronica, covered in ash and bleeding slightly, confronts Heather Duke in the halls, takes Heather Chandler's red scrunchie, says "Heather my love, there's a new sheriff in town" and invites Martha Dunnstock to hang out on prom night and watch movies with her, a final display that the Heathers' reign is over.

Alternate ending

In an alternate ending, J.D. dies in the boiler room and Veronica is shown walking through the school, though only from the back. This is interrupted by shots of the bomb counting down, showing that Veronica had not shut it off. When she reaches the front of the school, Veronica turns around, allowing the viewer to see that the bomb was strapped to her chest. It hits zero, the screen turns black and Veronica says "Boom".

The next scene is the school prom. A banner says "WHAT A WASTE, OH THE HUMANITY." The students begin to dance, soon with people from different cliques as couples. Dead characters (including Kurt and J.D.) make appearances. The Heathers do a ring-around-the-rosey. The camera moves up to reveal Martha Dunnstock, then a smiling Veronica.

Cast

• Winona Ryder as Veronica Sawyer
• Christian Slater as Jason "J.D." Dean
• Shannen Doherty as Heather Duke
• Lisanne Falk as Heather McNamara
• Kim Walker as Heather Chandler
• Penelope Milford as Pauline Fleming
• Glenn Shadix as Father Ripper
• Lance Fenton as Kurt Kelly
• Patrick Labyorteaux as Ram Sweeney
• Jeremy Applegate as Peter Dawson
• Jon Matthews as Rodney
• Carrie Lynn as Martha "Dumptruck" Dunnstock
• Phill Lewis as Dennis
• Renée Estevez as Betty Finn
• Jennifer Rhodes as Mrs. Sawyer
• Bill Cort as Mr. Sawyer
• Kirk Scott as Big Bud Dean
• Mark Carlton as Mr. Kelly
• John Ingle as Principal Gowan

Production

Daniel Waters wanted his screenplay to go to director Stanley Kubrick, not only out of profound admiration for Kubrick but also from a perception that "Kubrick was the only person that could get away with a three-hour film". (The cafeteria scene opening Heathers was written as an homage to the barracks scene opening Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket.) After a number of failed attempts to get the script to Kubrick made Waters realize the apparent futility of the enterprise, he decided to give the script to Michael Lehmann, who then took it on with Denise Di Novi. Many actors and actresses turned down the project because of its dark subject matter. Early choices for J.D. and Veronica were Brad Pitt and Jennifer Connelly. Although Pitt auditioned for J.D., the filmmakers rejected him because they thought he came across as "too nice" and therefore would not be credible. Connelly declined. Winona Ryder — who was 16 at the time of filming and badly wanted the part — begged Waters to cast her. She was eventually given the role; Christian Slater was signed on after. Heather Graham, then 17, was cast as Heather McNamara, but her mother wouldn't allow her to do the film, so Lisanne Falk was given the role. Principal photography took place in 1988, and lasted 32 days.^{[citation needed]}

Two stars of the film died at an early age: Jeremy Applegate, who played Peter Dawson, committed suicide with a shotgun on March 23, 2000; and Kim Walker, who played Heather Chandler, died of a brain tumor on March 6, 2001.

Soundtrack

The film uses two versions of the song "Que Sera, Sera", the first by singer Syd Straw and another over the end credits by Sly and the Family Stone. On the film's DVD commentary, Di Novi mentions that the filmmakers wanted to use the original Doris Day version of the song, but Day would not lend her name to any project using profanity. Di Novi also notes that, when her father was a session musician for Day, he and the other musicians had to put money in a "swear jar" when they cursed.^{[citation needed]}

The song "Teenage Suicide (Don't Do It)" by the fictional band Big Fun was written and produced for the film by musician Don Dixon, and performed by the ad hoc group "Big Fun", which consisted of Dixon, Mitch Easter, Angie Carlson and Marti Jones. The song is included on Dixon's 1992 greatest hits album (If) I'm A Ham, Well You're A Sausage.

The film's electronic score was composed and performed by David Newman and a soundtrack CD was subsequently released.

Home media

Heathers was first released onto VHS in 1989, where it received strong sales and rentals, and is where it first became well known after being unsuccessful at the box office. It was released again on laserdisc on September 16, 1996 with restored stereo sound. This widescreen edition was digitally transferred from Trans Atlantic Pictures interpositive print under the supervision of cinematographer Francis Kenny. The sound was mastered from the magnetic sound elements. The film was first released onto DVD on March 30, 1999, in a barebones edition.

In 2001, a multi-region special edition DVD was released from Anchor Bay Entertainment in Dolby Digital 5.1. The DVD was released in the United States, Canada, Australia, and Europe to high sales. In 2004, a limited edition DVD set was released, and only 15,000 were produced. The set contained an audio commentary with director Michael Lehmann, producer Denise Di Novi and writer Daniel Waters, a 30-minute documentary titled Swatch Dogs and Diet Cokeheads, featuring interviews with Ryder, Slater, Doherty, Falk, Lehmann, Waters, Di Novi, Director of Photography Francis Kenny and Editor Norman Hollyn. It also includes a theatrical trailer, screenplay excerpt, original ending, biographies, 10-page full-color fold-out with photos and liner notes, a 8 cm "Heathers Rules!" ruler, and a 48-page full-color "yearbook style" booklet with rare photos.

On July 1, 2008, a new 20th anniversary special edition DVD set was released from Anchor Bay to coincide with the DVD of writer Waters' new film Sex and Death 101. The DVD features a new documentary, Return to Westerburg High. On November 18, 2008, Anchor Bay released a Blu-ray with all the special features from the 20th Anniversary DVD and a soundtrack in Dolby TrueHD 5.1.

Sequel

On June 2, 2009, Entertainment Weekly reported that Ryder had claimed that there will be a sequel to Heathers with Christian Slater coming back "as a kind of Obi-Wan character". Michael Lehmann, the man behind the original film, however, has denied that a sequel's development, saying "Winona's been talking about this for years — she brings it up every once in a while and Dan Waters and I will joke about it, but as far as I know there's no script and no plans to do the sequel."

Television series

In August 2009, it was announced that Heathers was to be adapted for television. Mark Rizzo has been hired to write the series, and Jenny Bicks will co-produce with Lakeshore Entertainment. It is described as a modernized version of the original story, and all characters from the film were expected to be scripted into the adaptation.

Musical

Heathers is currently being adapted into a stage musical which will be directed by Andy Fickman. Fickman also worked on the musical Reefer Madness, a parody of the anti-marijuana propaganda film of the same name which was turned into a feature film on Showtime. The Heathers musical, which opens with a number depicting Veronica's acceptance into the Heathers' clique, has received several readings in workshops in Los Angeles, and a three-show concert presentation at Joe's Pub in New York City on September 13–14, 2010. The cast of the Joe's Pub concert included Annaleigh Ashford as Veronica, Jenna Leigh Green as Heather Chandler, and Jeremy Jordan as J.D. The score does, in fact, include a rousing number called "My Dead Gay Son."

External links

• Heathers at the Internet Movie Database
• Heathers at AllRovi
• Heathers at Box Office Mojo
• Heathers at Rotten Tomatoes