NYWIFT Blog

#SummerHours: Book to Screen…and Back Again: Postcards from the Edge

Goodbye, winter caps—hello, summer hats! It’s that glorious time of year where many of us can switch from content creators to content consumers. NYWIFT members Mellini Kantayya and Kathryn O’Kane have put together #SummerHours, a series of fun summer books, movies, and TV shows by or about women.


By Mellini Kantayya

“Maybe I shouldn’t have given the guy who pumped my stomach my phone number, but who cares?” Carrie Fisher had me at “hello” with the opening line of her novel, Postcards from the Edge. In it, protagonist Suzanne Vale juggles recovery from addiction, her acting career, and larger-than-life celebrity mother—all told with Fisher’s dry wit and sharp punch lines.

postcards from the edge

Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine in the 1990 film adaptation of Postcards from the Edge

Past NYWIFT Muse Award honoree (and funder of The Writers Lab) Meryl Streep brings Suzanne to life in the film version. As Hal Hinson of The Washington Post said, “Meryl Streep gives the most fully articulated comic performance of her career…” Shirley MacLaine as the celebrity mother also delivers a thoroughly enjoyable performance—as well as a rendition of Sondheim’s “I’m Still Here” that is just fabulous.

 

(Cover photo by Bridgette Matthews)
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Mellini_Kantayya

Mellini_Kantayya Mellini Kantayya is an actor, author of "Actor. Writer. Whatever. (essays on my rise to the top of the bottom of the entertainment industry)", contributor to Huffington Post Comedy, and an active NYWIFT member. www.mellinikantayya.com

View all posts by Mellini_Kantayya

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