FILM
IWOULD LOVE to live my life the way Gilda did,” says film director Lisa D’Apolito about comedian Gilda Radner, the subject of her new documentary, Love, Gilda. “I’d love to find the humor even in challenging situations, though that is not always easy for me to do.”
Few of us, certainly, have figured out how to access the grace under fire that Radner consistently displayed. This loving, funny, and extraordinarily moving film, which makes its UK debut at the Phoenix Cinema, East Finchley on December 9, takes us through the ups and downs of her all-tooshort life: the tremendous success she achieved on Saturday Night Live (she was the first performer hired when the show premiered in 1975, quickly becoming a major fan favorite) and with a one-woman show on Broadway; her struggles with eating disorders, which began in childhood and landed her in the hospital at the peak of her fame; the self-doubts that haunted her despite public acclaim (“She never felt pretty,” D’Apolito mentions as one example, “but I think she was beautiful”); and her search for true romantic love.
She finally found such a love, with husband Gene Wilder, but her happiness was cut short: In 1986, two years after marrying Wilder, Radner was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She died of the disease in 1989, one month before her 43rd birthday.
D’Apolito — who has a background in film production and acting as well as in directing
— will be present to participate in a Q&A after the December 9 screening; the event kicks off a retrospective of Radner’s work that will take place at the Phoenix through to the end of February.
The director was inspired to make this film seven years ago, while working on a series of videos for Gilda’s Club — an organization founded in Radner’s memory by Wilder and a therapist of Radner’s, Joanna Bull, with locations throughout the US, to support people with cancer along with their families and friends.
In the organisation’s flagship location in New York City, “Gilda’s very present,” D’Apolito notes. “There are murals of her when you walk in. The members are very connected to her. I thought Gilda’s legacy was unique. She was one of the most iconic female comedians, but she also lives on in the world of cancer, helping people every day.”
Finding backers for the film was at times an uphill battle —a nd one Dan Tom Schiller, Gilda Radner, John Belushi, Aykroyd and Jane Curtin of the reasons D’Apolito was given for this resistance is somewhat shocking. “It took four and a half years to finish,” she recalls. “It was hard to get funding. I was told that people didn’t know who Gilda Radner was.”
Love, Gilda is a worthy addition to the body of work that will ensure Radner’s legacy for future generations. Premiering as the openingnight entry for the Tribeca Film Festival in the spring of 2018, the