Trivia for
Steel Magnolias (1989)

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• This movie was based on a play written about a sister of Phi Mu sorority. Susan Harling was a member of the Kappa Iota chapter and her brother wrote the play on which the movie is based.
  
  
• Winona Ryder was originally offered the role of Shelby.
  
  
• When Robert Harling last spoke to his sister, he was telling her how hard it was to be a writer in New York and have people consider his work. His sister commented on how she wished she could help him somehow but she didn't know what she could do. When she died after surgery, Harling wrote the play that this movie is based on in her honor, thereby making him an established and respected writer.
  
  

• Daryl Hannah was originally turned down for the role of Annelle as the director thought that she was too attractive to play the part, she asked if she could come in and read for the part anyway. She arrived at the studio the next day dressed as Annelle and was so unrecognisable that security refused to let her in.
  
  
• Meg Ryan was initially under contract to play Shelby, the Julia Roberts role, but the producers let her out of it to play Sally in When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
  
  
• Is shot in the small Louisiana town of Natchitoches. Reportedly, the filmmakers placed such a great strain on the locals, particularly those who volunteered to be extras, that several years later, when the film The Man in the Moon (1991) was shot in the same town, extras were difficult to find, as so many townspeople had been burned by the Steel Magnolias crew.
  
  
• M'Lynn's home is actually two different houses. A Bed and Breakfast in Natchitoches was used for the outside front of the house. It is on Front Street by the river and can be easily located, as it is now known as "The Steel Magnolias Bed and Breakfast." The inside and back yard scenes were done at the home of Henry Taylor. During filming, the Taylors moved out and rented an apartment.
  
  
• There is no parish or town in Louisiana known as Chinquapin. "Chinquapin" is the name for a type of fish and a particular breed of oak tree. The town of Natchitoches in the parish of the same name served as the backdrop for the film. The town was named after the "NAKTOSH" Indians whose names means "chinquapin eaters". Natchitoches actually does have a large Christmas Light Festival annually. Natchitoches was also the first settlement in the Louisiana Territory.
  
  
• Herbert Ross wanted an authentic feel to the hospital scenes so he hired the doctors and nurses who tended to the writer's sister (on whom the movie and play are based) during her last days in hospital to play themselves during Julia Robert's scenes on life support
  
  
• After a poor take, director Herbert Ross reprimanded Dolly Parton and asked her if she could act. She replied "No, but it's your job to make me look like I can!"
  
  
• On the DVD's commentary track, Herbert Ross describes how Georges Delerue was not his first choice as a composer for this film. Another "well known" composer's music was rejected but he fails to say who.
  
  
• There was some initial resistance to casting Sally Field as M'Lynn, because the producers thought no one would believe her as the mother of a 22-year-old until she pointed out that, in real life, she had a 22-year-old son.
  
  
• Dolly Parton and 'Darryl Hannah' studied hair stylists so their scenes where they are doing hair would be real and authentic.
  
  
• When Bette Davis saw the off-Broadway play, she thought it would be a great film for her, envisioning herself as Ouiser, Katharine Hepburn as Clairee, and Elizabeth Taylor as Truvy. However, when she contacted the rights holders for the movie adaptation, she found out that they intended to cast much younger actresses.
  
  
• Opened on Broadway on April 4, 2005 at the Lyceum Theater and ran for 136 performances.
  
  

• SPOILER: Robert Harling, the man who wrote the play ‘Steel Magnolias’ in honor of his sister, plays the pastor who performs Shelby's wedding and then again her funeral.
  
  
• SPOILER: Robert Harling's mother was on set during the filming of the scenes while Shelby was in the hospital. During the scene when Shelby is taken off life support she was asked if she wanted to leave. She declined, saying that once the scene was over she wanted to see Shelby --Julia Roberts -- get up and walk away.
  
  

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