Heartburn

Top 10 Fun Facts

1. "Heartburn" was TV's Monk, Tony Shalhoub's feature film debut. As it is the case for so many first-time actors, most of Shalhoub's scenes were cut, including a love scene with Meryl Streep. Look for Shalhoub's big screen appearance as...wait for it...wait for it...a plane passenger.
2. Meryl Streep had a very special and strong bond with the actress who played her baby daughter Annie in the film "Heartburn" The baby was played by Streep's real life daughter, Mamie Gummer.
3. Meryl Streep kept her family very close during the filming of the movie "Heartburn." Her mother Mary Streep and her younger brother Dana Streep both appear as guests at a dinner party.
4. Even two-time Academy Award winners have to start somewhere. Kevin Spacey appeared briefly in his first feature film, "Heartburn," as a subway thief. Slightly more exciting that Tony Shalhoub's 'plane passenger' role.
5. Versatile thespian Mandy Patinkin was cast in the role of Mark Forman in the film "Heartburn." Apparently he was not versatile enough and was replaced by Jack Nicholson after filming had begun.
6. Roger Ebert suggested that "Heartburn" writer Nora Ephron should have based the film on another marriage instead of her own. Her closeness to the subject matter rendered her unable to find little humor in the pain of a cheating husband and her attempt at comedy was no laughing matter.
7. In Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Carousel," Jack Nicholson's performance of "Soliloquy" was a nod to the parents of "Heartburn" writer Nora Ephron.  Her father wrote and produced the film adaptation of the musical. Nicholson also signs Itsy Bitsy Spider; a nod to musically-challenged parents everywhere.
8. The movie "Heartburn" is based on the marriage of its screenwriter, Nora Ephron and her cheating husband "All the President's Men" Carl Bernstein. Ephron was heartless in her film treatment of her husband's mistress, who later became a Baroness and the first female leader of the House of Lords.
9. Clearly bitter about her divorce, "Heartburn" screenwriter Nora Ephron wrote that her philandering ex-husband was capable of having sex with a venetian blind and described one of his mistresses as a giraffe with big feet. This bitterness overflowed into the film.
10. The film "Heartburn" is a thinly disguised tail about noted Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein and his hard done by wife. Not only did Bernstein chase stories, he also chased women, including; Martha Stewart, Bianca Jagger, and Elizabeth Taylor.

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