She gave tiny roles to her brother and her 21-year-old daughter, Tracy Reiner, from her former marriage to director Rob Reiner.Īs director, she could insert some of her own humor into the script. However, being the director means you can bring in friends to act, she quickly discovered. At one point, I said, ‘I’d much rather act.’ Actors get treated a lot better. She barely slept.Īnd worst of all, “I had cramps on the set,” she said. Then she made lists of technical terms she didn’t know. Together they meticulously planned out the next day’s shooting schedule. Girl or not, every night after shooting ended, Marshall holed up in her office with the film’s director of photography. I didn’t think I knew enough to wield it. “I used to smile"-four little words that, in her view, sum up the difficulties of directing. It was like cramming four years of college into one semester.
“I learned a lot, and I did need to learn. “I was scared stiff,” she said of her feature film debut. But when she must, she can discard the funny-girl mask. Marshall has a self-deprecating style of humor. Then I directed a pilot (“Working Stiffs” with Jim Belushi and Michael Keaton), that sold.” When I was doing ‘Laverne & Shirley,’ David Lander and Michael McKean (who played Lenny and Squiggy, respectively) wanted me to direct an episode in which they had big parts. For me, getting into show business was not a rational decision. “I know my brother (producer/director Garry Marshall) wanted to write and be an entertainer. “I don’t know if this comes from insecurity or shyness,” she said. Marshall, who avoids interviews when she can, seems uninterested in self-promotion. ‘Simply heartbroken’: Penny Marshall remembered for her TV and film achievements » Garry Marshall received a Man of the Year award. Penny Marshall, brother Garry Marshall and “Laverne & Shirley” costar Cindy Williams at the 1980 International Broadcasting Awards, held at Century Plaza Hotel in Century City. I said, ‘OK, I’ll just jump right in here.’ I have the Lone Ranger Syndrome. “I didn’t have time to think, ‘Should I or shouldn’t I?’ ” Marshall said. “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” had been shooting for a week, but director Howard Zieff was leaving the production. She finally made the leap when she received a desperate call from 20th Century Fox last fall. “I need an enormous amount of encouragement to do anything, even to go out to dinner,” she said. Penny Marshall says she dithered for years over feature-film directing possibilities. The story below is an archived story about her first time directing a film, “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” which ran in The Times on Oct. And it's far better that Whoopi's next two movies after this: "Burglar" and "Fatal Beauty".Editors note: Penny Marshall, who starred as a Milwaukee brewery worker in the top-rated 1970s and ’80s sitcom “Laverne & Shirley” before becoming a director of hit movies such as “Big” and “A League of Their Own” has died. She alone makes "Jumpin' Jack Flash" worth seeing. And there are good supporting performances by Stephen Collins, Carol Kane, John Wood, Annie Potts, Roscoe Lee Browne, Jim Belushi, Jon Lovitz, and the late Phil Hartman. There are also action scenes that really aren't necessary, but they're exciting and thrilling. Get a load of the foul language displayed by Goldberg in this scene. There's also the scene where, after almost getting killed, Goldberg confronts a police detective played by "Pretty Woman" and "Runaway Bride" director Garry Marshall (who oddly enough is the brother of the director of this film, former "Laverne & Shirley" star Penny Marshall making her directorial debut here). This scene proves that Goldberg is a great comic actress. Just get a load of the way Goldberg acts in this scene.
JUMPIN JACK FLASH MOVIE ON TV SCHEDULE CRACK
One of the best moments in the film is the one when the spy asks her to "sing with me and find the key", and she listens to the lyrics of the Mick Jagger song "Jumpin' Jack Flash" so she can find the word or words to crack the spy's code. But it's an entertaining movie, thanks to Goldberg's performance. Sure the premise of "Jumpin' Jack Flash" is silly. As a result she gets plunged into a world of international intrigue and danger.
At the end of a long day of work, she gets an awkward message from a British spy who's in trouble. Goldberg stars as Terry Doolittle, a computer operator at a New York bank. This was her first big comedy and she's terrific in it. "Jumpin' Jack Flash" is a very funny comedy-thriller starring comedienne and current "Hollywood Squares" star Whoopi Goldberg in the movie she made after her outstanding performance in "The Color Purple".