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Points , Texas, in a club called the Cedar Creek Opry House. Seven Points is |
just east of Ellis County , across the Trinity River in western Henderson |
County , Texas. The Opry House as it was known then, was a two-story building |
that used to be a skating rink in its earlier life. The old rink was upstairs |
and became the dance floor of the Opry House, where the concert and bar scenes |
were filmed. One scene of the movie shows the front of the building with its |
name visible. Ellen Barkin was cast after impressing Beresford during a New |
York audition. At the time, she had appeared only in television movies; Diner |
, her feature film debut, was not yet in theaters. [13] When filming on Diner |
wrapped, Barkin joked to her agent about future roles, "No more troubled |
teenagers, unless the movie is with Robert De Niro , Robert Duvall or Robert |
Redford ." [28] Duvall said of Barkin, "She brings a real credibility for that |
part, plus she was young and attractive and had a certain sense of edge, a |
danger for her that was good for that part." [10] Some media outlets reported |
that Duvall and Barkin were involved romantically for a brief time during |
filming. [29] Wilford Brimley was cast at the urging of his good friend |
Duvall, who was not getting along well with Beresford and wanted "somebody |
down here that's on my side, somebody that I can relate to". [10] Beresford |
felt Brimley was too old for the part, but eventually agreed to the casting. |
[13] Filming [ edit ] Much of Tender Mercies was filmed in Waxahachie |
(pictured), the county seat of Ellis County , Texas . Most of Tender Mercies |
was filmed in Waxahachie and Palmer , two towns in Ellis County in north |
central Texas. [30] Beresford largely avoided the Victorian architecture and |
other picturesque elements of Waxahachie and instead focused on relatively |
barren locations more characteristic of West Texas . The town portrayed in the |
film is never identified by name. Foote said when he wrote the script he did |
not have the same isolated and lonely vision for the setting Beresford did, |
but he felt the atmosphere the director captured served the story well. [7] |
[13] Principal photography took place between November 2 and December 23, |
1981. [31] The plants used in the gardening scenes were brought inside at |
night to keep them from freezing. [32] Due to the tight schedule, the cast and |
crew worked seven days a week with very long hours each day. Although the |
Australian filmmakers and the crew, who were mostly from Dallas , got along |
very well both on and off the set, [31] Beresford and Duvall were at odds |
during the production. Beresford, in his usual approach, meticulously planned |
each scene, and Duvall, who preferred a free-form give-and-take on set, felt |
restricted by the director's methods. Although Duvall regularly acknowledged |
his talent as a director, he said of Beresford, "He has this dictatorial way |
of doing things with me that just doesn't cut it. Man, I have to have my |
freedom." [31] Although he had no problem with Duvall's acting methodology, |
the actor's temperament infuriated Beresford. While filming one scene with |
Harper and Barkin, he became so frustrated during a phone conversation with |
Duvall that he said, "Well if you want to direct the film, go right ahead," |
and walked off the set. [13] Beresford flew to New York and reportedly was |
ready to quit, until Duvall flew out to speak with him. After further |
arguments, the two made amends and returned to work on the film. [31] |
Beresford also clashed on set with Brimley. On the very first day of filming, |
he asked the actor to "pick up the pace", prompting Brimley to reply, "Hey, I |
didn't know anybody dropped it." [31] On another occasion, when Beresford |
tried to advise Brimley on how Harry would behave, Duvall recalled Brimley |
responding, "Now look, let me tell you something, I'm Harry. Harry's not over |
there, Harry's not over here. Until you fire me or get another actor, I'm |
Harry, and whatever I do is fine 'cause I'm Harry." [10] Duvall said he |
believed the on-set wrangling resulted in a combination of the director's and |
actors' visions and ultimately improved the picture. Likewise, Beresford said |
he did not feel the fights negatively affected the film because he and Duvall |
never disagreed on the interpretation of the Mac Sledge character. [13] Harper |
described the extent to which Duvall inhabited his character: "Someone once |
said to me, 'Well, how's Robert Duvall?' and I said, 'I don't know Robert |
Duvall. I know Mac Sledge very well. ' " [25] Beresford, too, said the |
transformation was so believable that he could feel his skin crawling up the |
back of his neck the first day of filming. [13] Duvall made an effort to help |
Harper, who was making her film debut. While preparing to shoot a scene in |
which Mac and Rosa Lee fight, he yelled at a make-up artist in front of Harper |
to make her angry and fuel her performance; he apologized to the make-up |
artist after the scene was shot. [25] Cinematographer Russell Boyd largely |
used available light to give the movie a natural feel, which Beresford said |
was crucial to its sense of authenticity. [13] Harper said Boyd was so quiet |
during filming that he mostly used just three words: " 'Yeah', 'right' and |
'sure ' ". [25] Beresford, Foote and Duvall considered the climactic scene to |
be the one in which Mac, tending the family garden, discusses with Rosa Lee |
his pain over his daughter's death. Beresford and Boyd filmed the scene in a |
long take and long shot so it could flow uninterrupted, with the lonely Texas |
landscape captured in the background. When studio executives received the |
footage, they contacted Beresford and requested close-up shots be intercut, |
but he insisted on keeping the long take intact. Duvall said he felt the scene |
underscored Mac's stoicism in the face of tragedy and loss. [10] [13] Music [ |
edit ] "If You'll Hold the Ladder (I'll Climb to the Top)", performed by |
Robert Duvall in Tender Mercies Robert Duvall insisted on singing his own |
songs in Tender Mercies . "Over You", performed by Betty Buckley in Tender |
Mercies "Over You" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song . Problems |
playing these files? See media help . Tender Mercies includes no original film |
score , and the musical soundtrack is limited to the performances of country |
songs and the domestic guitar playing that occur as part of the story. A score |
was composed for the movie, but Beresford had it removed because he felt it |
was "too sweet" and sounded phony in the context of the film, although he |
acknowledged it as "very skillful". [13] Duvall sang his own songs, a right he |
insisted be part of his contract. He commented, "What's the point if you're |
not going to do your own [singing]? They're just going to dub somebody else? I |
mean, there's no point to that." [10] The film's financial backers were |
initially concerned about whether he could sing well enough for the role. |
Those concerns were allayed after Duvall produced a tape of himself singing a |
cappella "On the Wings of a Dove", a Bob Ferguson country song featured in the |
film. [16] Duvall collaborated with Beresford in deciding on the unusual |
staging of the emotional scene in which Mac sings it after reflecting on the |
reunion with his daughter. The song is performed with Mac looking out a window |
with his back to the camera, his face unseen. Horton Foote thought the choice |
made the scene more moving and called it "an extraordinary moment" in the |
film. [7] [10] Duvall wrote two of Mac's other songs, "Fool's Waltz" and "I've |
Decided to Leave Here Forever". [33] Several leading country singers, |
Subsets and Splits
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