My Stepmother Is an Alien
| My Stepmother Is an Alien | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Maija Džeriņa |
| Written by | Ðanak Veléy |
| Starring |
|
| Music by | Susan Shelley |
| Distributed by | National Cooperative Confederation |
Release date | 30 May 1988 |
Running time | 55 minutes |
| Country | Gylias |
| Language | English |
| Budget | Ŧ10 million |
| Box office | Ŧ50 million |
My Stepmother Is an Alien is a 1988 Gylian film, directed by Maija Džeriņa and starring Tani Makléy, Alison Hannigan, Les Neþ, and Teresa Ganzel. It is a science fiction comedy revolving around Talarna, an alien woman sent on a secret mission to Earth after her home planet's gravity is mistakenly disrupted by Nali, a widowed astronomer raising his daughter as a single father.
Upon release, My Stepmother Is an Alien received critical acclaim, and was a financial success. It was one of the most popular Gylian films of 1988, and remains a well-regarded comedy.
Plot
Nali is a widowed astronomer who works at a radio telescope, researching ways to send radio waves into deep space. One of his attempts reaches a planet in the Orion system, causing disruption to its gravity. Talarna is sent to investigate who did it and how. She brings with her an alien device disguised as a designer purse, which is able to instantly create any object.
Arriving in Gylias, Talarna finds a party hosted by Nali's sister Nele. The attendees initially are amused by her outdated pop culture and political references, taking them to be a mild eccentricity. However, her struggles with simple tasks nearly cause her exposure as an alien. She goes home with Nali and learns how to have sex, which she greatly enjoys. The two begin dating.
Nali's daughter, Sindi, is glad that her father found someone, as her mother had died 5 years before. Sindi and Talarna bond quickly. Sindi accidentally discovers Talarna is an alien, but finds the discovery exciting. She agrees to help Talarna keep it secret, which brings the two closer together. During an outing in the city, Nele also notices some of Talarna's quirks, but thinks nothing of them.
Talarna begins enjoying life as a human and encountering new experiences. One night, Sindi asks her about her homeworld, and she admits that once her mission is over, she will return. Sindi replies that this would devastate her father, which causes Talarna to question her decisions.
Nele invites Nali, Talarna, and Sindi to go to a show together. On the way back, Talarna saves them from a traffic accident, revealing her powers. Nali and Nele accept that Talarna is an alien, and Nele congratulates her brother for preparing the first interplanetary marriage. Nali and Talarna are inspired to propose to each other.
Nali figures out how to recreate the radio wave and saves Talarna's planet. Making contact with its leaders, Talarna and Nali convince them it was an accident, not an act of aggression. The planet establishes its first embassy on Earth. The film ends with Talarna, Nali, and Sindi going on vacation to celebrate their marriage. During the credits, various Tyranian leaders are shown reacting to the announcement that the extraterrestrials chose Gylias as their main embassy with humanity.
Cast
- Tani Makléy as Talarna
- Alison Hannigan as Sindi
- Les Neþ as Nali
- Teresa Ganzel as Nele
Production
Screenwriter Ðanak Veléy first came up with the idea for the film as a drama. He wrote the first draft around 1984, but was unable to attract much interest. One producer advised him that the idea would work better as a comedy. He took the advice and wrote a second draft. The second draft reached director Maija Džeriņa, who became interested in the project.
Maija had several meetings with Ðanak in 1987, to further edit the draft. Maija told Ðanak that the premise was strong but the execution was lacking, and there were too many characters. The two worked together on simplifying the screenplay, with Maija suggesting that the main focus should be the relationship between Talarna and Sindi.
Ðanak recalled that numerous scenes were discarded or cut down drastically, and the main cast was also reduced to four characters: Nali, Sindi, Nele, and Talarna. When he once argued with Maija about eliminating the scenes set on Talarna's home planet, Maija replied, "My friend, this film is called My Stepmother Is an Alien. What do you think is more important — the 'stepmother', or the 'alien'?".
One advantage from the simplification was that with the most science-fiction scenes eliminated, the film's budget could be reduced accordingly. When they had the final screenplay ready, Maija sought a studio to support the movie, and would tell producers, "We can get this done for Ŧ10 million, maybe Ŧ20 million at most."
Filming began on 29 February 1988, and finished on 2 May 1988, ahead of schedule.
Ossorian-Delkoran actor Alison Hannigan was the first to be cast, as Sindi.
Tani Makléy was a local singer, actress, and TV host, whose audition impressed Maija and convinced her Tani had "the glamour and the humour" to pull off the role of Talarna, especially since much humour came from Talarna's incongruously glamorous appearance.
Les Neþ was cast as Nali due to his "sensitive" audition and chemistry with Alison.
Finally, Teresa Ganzel was cast as Nele after Maija saw her in an ATV Mişeyáke variety show.
Susan Shelley composed the film's score. She decided to enhance the comedy by "scoring as if it was a serious film". She produced an orchestral score, which was recorded by the Mişeyáke Municipal Orchestra with herself as conductor, with the theremin employed to represent Talarna's alien-ness.
Reception
The film's premiere, on 30 May 1988, was notably attended by President Sáe Nyran and her husband, Prime Minister Filomena Pinheiro and her husband, and Mayor of Mişeyáke Arau Kanac. Sáe issued a proclamation declaring that day to be "Stepfamily Day", to honour the "importance, dedication, and contribution of step-parents everywhere".
My Stepmother Is an Alien was a critical and commercial success upon release. Reviews praised its comedic script, strong performances, and Susan's score.
The film became the major distribution success of that summer, and ultimately earned Ŧ50 million at the box office. Gylias Review described it as representative of the Gylian ideal of success, as its reputation came more from its consistent distribution figures and repeat viewings rather than its opening weekend.
It was digitally restored and released on Laserdisc, DVD, and Proton in the 1990s.
Legacy
My Stepmother Is an Alien has frequently been cited as one of the best films of the 1980s, and a symbol of Maija's transformation from the "groundbreaking surrealist" of the Free Territories to the crowd-pleasing "applied avant-garde" director of her later career.
Downtown praised it in 2008 as "a modest film that set itself the ambition to tell a good story in an entertaining manner, and surpassed its ambitions in the right spots just enough to earn enduring affection".
The film boosted Teresa Ganzel's profile and earned her acclaim for her role, but couldn't break her out of relative obscurity. She joked that she was overshadowed by Tani Makléy because Nele was "quirky and charming", in contrast to Talarna's "gorgeous blonde". She wrote in her memoir that she felt this worked out in the end: "If I had been Talarna instead of Nele, I would've worried about missing out on Miss Vavoom—the role of my lifetime."