Superstar (film)
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| Superstar | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical Poster |
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| Directed by | Bruce McCulloch |
| Produced by | Lorne Michaels |
| Written by | Steve Koren |
| Starring | Molly Shannon Will Ferrell Harland Williams Elaine Hendrix Tom Green Mark McKinney |
| Music by | Michael Gore (Song: You Wanna Be A Star) |
| Cinematography | Walt Lloyd |
| Editing by | Malcolm Campbell |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | October 8, 1999 |
| Running time | 81 min |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $14,000,000 |
| Gross revenue | $30,636,478 |
Superstar is a 1999 comedy movie and Saturday Night Live spin-off about a quirky, socially inept girl named Mary Katherine Gallagher. The character was created by SNL star Molly Shannon and appeared as a recurring character on SNL in numerous skits. The story follows Mary Katherine trying to find her place in her Catholic high school. The movie is directed by former Kids in the Hall member Bruce McCulloch.
It stars Molly Shannon, Will Ferrell and Elaine Hendrix. SNL and Kids in the Hall alum Mark McKinney, who appeared in many of the Mary Katherine Gallagher SNL skits on TV, also has a minor role as a priest.
Molly Shannon received a nomination for Blockbuster Entertainment Award "Favorite Actress - Comedy", but lost out to Heather Graham in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.
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[edit] Plot
Mary Katherine Gallagher (Shannon) is an Irish-American Catholic school girl and social outcast in a Catholic high school. She wants to be a superstar so she can get a kiss from Sky Corrigan (Ferrell). When Mary is sent to Special Education, she makes a new best friend, the tomboyish and equally socially-awkward Helen Lewengrub (Emmy Laybourne).
Mary sees her chance to become a superstar when her school promotes a talent show. She wants to try out, but Grandma Gallagher (Glynis Johns), will not let her. Mary tries out anyway, and when she goes to sign up, a stereotypical cheerleader, Evian Carrie Graham (Elaine Hendrix), gets in a fight with her. The fight causes Evian and Sky to break up, and now Sky is a "single hunk of beefcake on the rebound". Mary is now determined to get in the talent show so Sky will notice her. When Grandma Gallagher finds out that her granddaughter got into the talent show, she finally tells the truth about how her parents died - they were stomped to death while performing in a Riverdance-like competition. This is why Grandma Gallagher is against her granddaughter performing.
However, Grandma Gallagher decides to help Mary do her act in the talent show, as long as she performs for herself. Mary and the other Special Education students spend days practicing. Mary wins the competition as well as Sky's heart. When she kisses Sky though, she discovers he is a horrible kisser and chooses to kiss her friend Slater (Harland Williams) instead.
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Character |
|---|---|
| Molly Shannon | Mary Katherine Gallagher |
| Will Ferrell | Sky Corrigan/Jesus |
| Elaine Hendrix | Evian Graham |
| Harland Williams | Eric Slater |
| Mark McKinney | Father Tylenol Ritley |
| Glynis Johns | Grandma Gallagher |
| Jason Blicker | Howard |
| Gerry Bamman | Father John Insomnic |
| Emmy Laybourne | Helen |
| Jennifer Irwin | Maria |
| Rob Stefaniuk | Thomas Smith |
| Natalie Radford | Autumn Winters |
| Karyn Dwyer | Summer Falls |
| Tom Green | Dylan |
| Chuck Campbell | Owen |
[edit] Trivia
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Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (September 2007) |
- Actors Will Ferrell, Molly Shannon, and Mark McKinney all appeared together in another film, A Night at the Roxbury. In that movie, Ferrell was also Shannon's romantic interest. McKinney also plays a church figure in both films. Shannon and Ferrell would also reunite in 2006 for Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, where Ferrell would play the title character.
- Every car in the background is a Volkswagen New Beetle, although it's unknown if VW helped finance the film, but this would continue in the line of Adam Sandler's films, which often promote brands without compensation, such as Popeye's chicken in Little Nicky, and numerous store-chains in Eight Crazy Nights.
- Some scenes were from Trafalgar Castle School in Whitby, Ontario. In one scene the actors were coming outside from a big archway, at which two bronze lions stood on either side but were taken out in editing.
- Mary Katherine often quotes/acts scenes from her favorite 70s made-for-TV-movies The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, Sybil (1976 film), The House Without a Christmas Tree though Molly Shannon is actually ad-libbing new dialogue for the scenes.
