Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Edward Albee's 1962 play was replete with dialogue. Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, New York, NY. WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? The screenplay by Ernest Lehman is an adaptation of the play of the same title by Edward Albee. The film stars Elizabeth Taylor as Martha and Richard Burton as George, with George Segal as Nick and Sandy Dennis as Honey. All of the film's four main actors were nominated in their respective acting categories. The film won five awards, including a second Academy Award for Best Actress for Elizabeth Taylor and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Sandy Dennis. However, the film lost to A Man for All Seasons for the Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay awards, and both Richard Burton and George Segal failed to win in their categories. In 2. 01. 3, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being . After they return home drunk from a party, Martha reveals she has invited a young married couple, whom she'd met at the party, for a drink. As the four drink, Martha and George engage in scathing verbal abuse in front of Nick and Honey. The younger couple is first embarrassed and later enmeshed. The wives briefly separate from the husbands, and upon their return, Honey reveals that Martha has told her about her and George's son, adding that she understands that the following day (Sunday) will mark his sixteenth birthday. George is visibly angry that Martha has divulged this information. Martha taunts George aggressively and he retaliates with his usual passive aggression. Martha tells an embarrassing story about how she humiliated him in front of her father. Martha's taunts continue, and George reacts violently by breaking a bottle. Nick and Honey become increasingly unsettled, and Honey, who has had too much to drink, runs to the bathroom to vomit. Martha goes to the kitchen to make coffee, and George and Nick go outside. The younger man confesses he was attracted to Honey more for her family's money than passion, and married her only because he mistakenly believed she was pregnant. George describes his own marriage as one of never- ending accommodation and adjustment, then admits he considers Nick a threat. George also tells a story about a boy he grew up with who had accidentally killed his mother and years later, his father, and ended up living out his days in a mental hospital. Nick admits he aims to charm and sleep his way to the top, and jokes that Martha would be a good place to start. When their guests propose leaving, George insists on driving them home. They approach a roadhouse, and Honey suggests they stop to dance. A brief summary and review for Edward Albee's darkly comedic play, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward. One of my favorite scenes (and there are oh so many) from the film adaptation of 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' For the longest time. Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? George, a disillusioned academic, and Martha, his caustic wife, have just come home from a faculty party. While Honey and George watch, Nick suggestively dances with Martha, who continues to mock and criticize George. George unplugs the jukebox and announces the game is over. In response, Martha alludes to the fact he may have murdered his parents like the protagonist in his unpublished, non- fiction novel, prompting George to attack Martha until Nick pulls him away from her. George tells the group about a second novel he allegedly has written about a young couple from the Midwest, a good- looking teacher and his timid wife, who marry because of her hysterical pregnancy and money, then settle in a small college town. An embarrassed Honey realizes Nick indiscreetly told George about their past and runs from the room. Nick promises revenge on George, and then runs after Honey. In the parking lot, George tells his wife he cannot stand the way she constantly humiliates him, and she tauntingly accuses him of having married her for just that reason. Their rage erupts into a declaration of . Martha drives off, retrieving Nick and Honey, leaving George to make his way back home on foot. When he arrives home, he discovers the car crashed on the drive and Honey half conscious on the back seat and sees Martha and Nick together through the bedroom window. Through Honey's drunken babbling, George begins to suspect that her pregnancy was in fact real, and that she secretly had an abortion. He then devises a plan to get back at Martha. When Martha accuses Nick of being sexually inadequate, he blames his impotence on all the liquor he has consumed. George then appears holding snapdragons, which he throws at Martha and Nick in another game. He mentions his and Martha's son, prompting her to reminisce about his birth and childhood and how he was nearly destroyed by his father. George accuses Martha of engaging in destructive and abusive behavior with the boy, who frequently ran away to escape her attention. George then announces he has received a telegram with bad news. By declaring their son dead, accordingly, George has . George explains that their one mutually- agreed- upon rule was to never mention the . George starts singing the song . Neither the audience nor the critics understood how much the Hollywood landscape was changing in the 1. Production Code. Despite serious opposition to this decision, Lehman prevailed. Warner approached Albee about buying the film rights for the play, he told Albee that he wanted to cast Bette Davis and James Mason in the roles of Martha and George. Albee was delighted by this cast, believing that . In the end though, he still felt that . The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) followed with an even stronger statement, warning the studio. At the time of the film's release, a gatefold two- LP record soundtrack album set that included the entire film's dialogue was released by Warner Bros. This was one of the only cases in which a film studio released an album of a film's vocals in its entirety, as the film (at that time) could never be shown in reruns on network television. The only piece of music heard throughout the entire album is a song titled . As Martha tells her story about punching George in the jaw in front of her father to Nick and Honey, it is heard very clearly while in the film it became distant and muffled as the camera followed George into another room to get a gun. The album also ran a half- hour shorter than the movie as most pauses and long silent moments were removed. However, virtually every line remains intact. The album's cover has the four main actors on the cover and the back cover has some background information about the four actors, information about the five month shooting schedule, some information about Albee, and a brief synopsis of the film. This album is out of print, was never re- released in any other formats, is extremely rare and hard to find, and is highly prized among collectors in almost any condition. The music from the film was issued as a single- LP release that featured 1. North's score from the film. This album was bootlegged unofficially onto an undated German CD and issued on CD by DRG in 2. Differences from the play. The minor characters of the roadhouse owner, who has only a few lines of dialogue, and his wife, who serves a tray of drinks and leaves silently, were played by the film's gaffer, Frank Flanagan, and his wife, Agnes. The play is set entirely in Martha and George's house. In the film, one scene takes place at the roadhouse, one in George and Martha's yard, and one in their car. Despite these minor deviations, however, the film is extremely faithful to the play. The filmmakers used the original play as the screenplay and, aside from toning down some of the profanity slightly . In an interview at the time of the release, Taylor referred to this phrase as pushing boundaries.)Nick is never referred to or addressed by name during the film or the play. Distribution. He printed the following quote from one of the studio chiefs: ! We've got a seven million dollar dirty movie on our hands! In order for the film to be released with MPAA approval, Warner Bros. In addition, all contracts with theatres exhibiting the film included a clause to prohibit anyone under the age of 1. It is also said that Jack L. Warner chose to pay a fine of $5,0. It has since been re- released in a 2- disc special edition that was concurrently released across North America and much of Europe. Accolades. Each of the four actors was nominated for an Oscar but only Elizabeth Taylor and Sandy Dennis won, for Best Actress and Supporting Actress, respectively. The film also won the Black and White Cinematography award for Haskell Wexler's stark, black- and- white camera work (it was the last film to win before the category was eliminated), Best Costume Design and for Best Art Direction (Richard Sylbert, George James Hopkins).! Movies (1. 0th Anniversary Edition), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? And its existence counterbalances every gauche public display the Burtons perpetrated, every ream of wasted newsprint devoted to their sometimes silly, outsized lives, and every mediocre film they made before and after its production. It is the peak of their collective and individual careers. And they would never recover from it.? At one point, it is remarked ? Warner Bros. British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved September 2. Retrieved December 1. Clooney, Nick (November 2. The Movies That Changed Us: Reflections on the Screen. New York: Atria Books, a trademark of Simon & Schuster. Dark Victory: The Life of Bette Davis. New York: Holt Paperbacks, a trademark of Henry Holt and Company. Retrieved February 2. Retrieved February 2. Motion Picture Association of America. Archived from the original on 2. Retrieved February 2. The History of Sex in American Film. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger.
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