Synopsis

"A Prairie Home Companion" is a comic fable whose story unfolds within the frame of one fateful radio broadcast and the effect it has on the players, performers and presiding genius of a long-running live radio variety show who discover that this evening will be the program’s last. Amongst those performing are the Johnson Sisters, Yolanda and Rhonda, a country duet act that has survived the county-fair circuit; Yolanda's daughter, Lola, who gets her big chance to sing on the show and then forgets the words; Dusty and Lefty, Old Trailhands, a singing cowboy act; old-timer and solo artist Chuck Akers and Garrison Keillor in the role of a hangdog M.C. It's a rainy Saturday night in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the fans have filed into the Fitzgerald Theatre to see "A Prairie Home Companion", a staple of radio station WLT. What they don't know is WLT has been sold to a Texas conglomerate and that tonight's show will be the very last. For one performer it will not only be their last performance, it will be their last night on earth.

What The Critics Say

"A Prairie Home Companion glides along effortlessly offering some sweet sentiment, loads of gentle laughs and some great little musical moments." Louis B Hobson JAM! MOVIES "What a lovely film this is, so gentle and whimsical, so simple and profound." Roger Ebert CHICAGO SUN-TIMES "Fans of Keillor or Altman will have a grand old time. Fans of both will be near ecstatic." Jack Garner ROCHESTER DEMOCRAT and CHRONICLE "Robert Altman might be 81 years old, but damn he still knows how to direct a big cast of characters in an entertaining movie." Scott Nash THREE MOVIE BUFFS "Gets big laughs in its clever, rapid-fire delivery and finds beauty and wisdom within its narrative simplicity." Dustin Putman THEMOVIEBOY "A beautiful farewell party, one that balances drama and comedy with ample, unexpected heart." Sean O'Connell CHARLOTTE WEEKLY "I mean, pitching a film like this on the last night of this show being recorded, it's sort of like the end of an era. I love that. This is a film maker that I admire enormously. I think he's had his ups and downs, but for me his ups are absolutely as high as you can get. I think it's a masterpiece. I love it when he gets it right, and he gets it right with this. It is an old man celebrating everything that's good about that Mid West, where he comes from. I think it's been really cleverly written. I think it's a meeting of two minds, with Garrison Keillor and Altmann. 4 1/2 STARS." Margaret Pomeranz ABC AT THE MOVIES

"For a film about death and endings, A Prairie Home Companion is a cracking good time -- a warm, golden bauble within which to shelter, like the radio show that inspired it, from the misery and ennui that engulf us in and out of the multiplex." Ella Taylor L.A. WEEKLY "Altman's direction and Keillor's writing mesh perfectly in this quirky, yet 'homey and welcoming' film." John Venable SUPERCALA.COM "Robert Altman has a real knack for making quality, quirky movies. 'A Prairie Home Companion' is no exception." Jeanne Kaplan KAPLAN vs KAPLAN "It's often those small, tossaway moments - Keillor reviewing script unabashed in his underpants, Streep cheekily yipping extra 'ees' out of a sung 'prairie,' that make it special." Laura Clifford REELING REVIEWS "Like the show that inspired it, "A Prairie Home Companion" is not about anything in particular. Perhaps it is about everything in general: About remembering, and treasuring the past, and loving performers not because they are new but because they have lasted. About smiling and being amused, but not laughing out loud, because in Minnesota loud laughter is seen as a vice practiced on the coasts. About how all things pass away, but if you live your life well, everything was fun while it lasted." Roger Ebert CHICAGO SUN-TIMES "I’d never heard of Garrison Keillor or his show, though I believe it can be heard in Australia, and I was delighted to meet this dry character with his sonorous voice and homespun philosophies, as well as the colourful members of his band and the guy who does his sound effects. The other characters have been fictionalised by Altman, and they’re a great bunch – Streep and Tomlin as the singing sisters, Lindsay Lohan as Streep’s daughter who steps in to save the day. 4 1/2 STARS." David Stratton ABC AT THE MOVIES

The Inside Story If you're one of those people who hanker after the good old days or reminisce over radio or television shows from bygone era's, "A Prairie Home Companion" will prove a nostalgic experience. And you don't have to be that 'old' to be one of the many bemoaning the loss of a long standing television show you've become very attached to or the demise of your favourite radio presenter. Unfortunately, as we are learning very quickly these days, nothing lasts for ever. In the corporate world, it is a rule that has on many occassions applied to things deemed to be both profitable or highly successful. In our fast tracking twenty first century world where pension and superanuation funds, boards, shareholders, corporate and personal greed are the driving forces behind the frenzied world of the stock market, nothing it seems is safe. In Academy Award winning director Robert Altman's latest film, radio station WTL home of the long standing show "A Prairie Home Companion", has been sold to a Texas conglomerate. It's a death sentence for the staff, performers and its loyal audience. The story is a spin off from Garrison Keillor’s acclaimed radio program "A Prairie Home Companion", which is heard weekly by more than 4 million listeners on 558 radio stations across the United States. Overseas, the program is heard on the BBC, RTE (Ireland) and satellite and cable services across Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand reaching more than 35 million homes. Last year the show celebrated its 30th anniversary. Keillor scripted the film, spun from his celebrated radio show, for legendary director "Mash" and "Gosford Park" director, Robert Altman. "I do some of this on my radio show, but the problem with the radio show is I’m writing for myself and I’m not an actor," Says Keillor. "So my hope was to write a screenplay and then actors would take it over and do it." As luck would have it, a friend of Keillor's knew Altman’s attorney, George Sheanshang, who in turn placed a call to the acclaimed director. Altman recalls George telling him, "Garrison Keillor, do you know who he is?" Altman said, "Yeah. Yeah. My wife religiously listens to his shows and I listen to him occasionally. And I’m a fan." George said, "‘Well, he has an idea he wants to make a film and he wants you to make it." Altman said, "I’d be happy to talk to him." Keillor and Altman met for dinner in Chicago. "Mr Altman's not given to bullshit and flattery, and that’s a Midwestern trait, I think", Keillor said. "It makes everything much easier. When we first met and in any succeeding meeting, we didn’t look each other in the eye and tell each other how much we loved each other’s work. We don’t do that in the Midwest. If you want to work with somebody on something, that's compliment enough for anybody. Work is the ultimate compliment." What Keillor may not have known was that Altman and radio went back many years. "My first interest in dramatics was radio," Altman explained. "I remember listening to radio as a kid in the 1930s, lying on the floor like all the kids at that time. My big idol when I was a young man was Norman Corwin, who essentially created the radio drama. And the first professional dramatic thing I did, outside of a little theatre, was radio drama writing. So radio is very dear and near to me." Keillor's story had just the right ingredients for Altman. "It’s a mix of radio and theatre, which made it a perfect call for me," he said. "I wanted to do "A Prairie Home Companion": to do Garrison’s kind of humor, using Garrison and the other people that are on his show." The big difference between the real life radio show and the one featured in Keillor's story is that the film version is "simply a weekend program on a mom and pop radio station in St Paul." For the screen version Keillor created new characters such as the Johnson Sisters. "Those characters sort of burst full-blown into the screenplay," Keillor remarks. "The two remaining sisters of a sister's quartet who had this one big chance a long time ago and they lost out on the brass ring. They fell off the ladder back into making the rounds of ordinary shows, playing county fairs and schoolhouses and churches and singing on the radio. Far from a glamorous life. I love that kind of character: defeated but steadfast, and basically cheerful. Yolanda is certainly this staunch woman of courage and good humor in the face of defeat." So how does that hold up in the face of the show going to air on its final night? "If you hold the axe over people’s heads, well, there’s a story right there. And then if they sort of ignore it and pay no attention and don’t weep and carry on; they just sort of march up to the edge of the cliff and walk over, the way people do in real life: that appealed to me," Keillor remarked. "These are supposedly Midwestern people and they would tend to accept their demise with a certain aplomb. My aim was to give MrAltman interesting possibilities, knowing that he would cut and shape them and things would change." The combination of Keillor, Altman and an excellent storyline attracted a big cast. Meryl Streep committed to the project in its early stages, as did Altman's good friend and longtime colleague Lily Tomlin, who portrayed a member of a gospel choir in the director’s classic "Nashville". They would play Yolanda and Rhonda Johnson, respectively. Hands up all those who didn't know Two time Academy Award winner Meryl Streep could sing. Shame, shame, shame. Streep in fact sung in "Postcards From The Edge". "I knew that Meryl Streep was going to be a guest singer on the show, because she’s a terrifc singer," Keillor explains. "I think Lindsay Lohan said in an interview that she was going to play Meryl Steep’s daughter. Which seemed like a terrifc idea. It really was a benefit to have specific actors in mind." Included in the cast is Tommy Lee Jones who remembers receiving a call from Altman. "I got a call from Robert Altman, and most actors heed that call. He’s well-known for being a wonderful director to work for and to work with, because he has respect for acting and looks on it as a significant part of the process, as opposed to an inconvenience that has to be gotten out of the way somehow so one can go about the real job of cinema. As a result, he puts together some brilliant casts. When you put together an ensemble like this, it’s hard to resist even a small part in that company," he said. And in case you're wondering, "A Prairie Home Companion" was shot in the Fitzgerald Theatre, St Paul, Minnesota which has been home base for Keillor’s program since 1978. So is it a film or a documentary? "I guess you could say we did this in a documentary style. We were not trying to disguise use of the cameras," Altman says. "It’s as though this is stuff that was caught rather than staged: the camera happened to be there when these people were passing by." What Altman and the cast have created is something that certainly has the feel of the 'real deal'. Using a brilliant ensemble cast plus regulars who appear on the radio show works sensationally. The onscreen variety show was filmed live in front of an audience, and the Fitzgerald’s stage hands performed the jobs they do on a weekly basis, working side by side with Altman’s production team. What They Had To Say "It was an interesting challenge. There’s so many different Guy Noir sketches that Garrison has done over the years," Kline notes. “In a way, it gave me a rough outline to work with and also a freedom, because we’ve never seen what he looks like. Garrison was very generous about allowing me to physicalize the character in any way I saw fit. I felt bound to try to be true to the spirit of Guy Noir, but the fact that he’s a doorman and he’s raving, barking mad and lives in a world all his own. That was very liberating."
"Whatever is on the page, Altman is going to have the screen just chock-full. There’s something going on here, something going on there. Everybody’s miked, which is one of his hallmarks" says Lily Tomlin.
"With this character, you don’t explain everything," says Virginia Madsen. "If my character speaks a language, she speaks in the language of prayer. She doesn’t think of herself as dangerous at all; her job is to bring people home to God. My character just loves the humans, and loves the show."
"Molly sort of morphed into a pregnant curmudgeon – but a professional," says Maya Rudolph, who was in fact quite pregnant during the production. "As he tells his tales and moves from person to person and is about to miss cues – or at least Molly thinks he is because of these long tales thatshe’s probably heard hundreds and thousands of times by now – she gets a little tired of it."
"I’ve done a lot of live music in films, and this was the easiest musical execution that I’ve ever been involved with. The music, to me, was like dialogue, and Rich Dworsky (the shows musical supervisor) kept it all in line for me," notes the five time Academy Award nominee, Altman.
"He’ll shoot ten pages in one afternoon and most people shoot maybe a page and a half at a time. So, ten pages and twenty people and three cameras; you really don’t know what’s up, and everybody’s pulling out their little mischief," Streep said. "It gets really fun." The Verdict "If you're one of those people who hanker after the good old days or reminisce over radio or television shows from bygone era's, "A Prairie Home Companion" will prove a nostalgic experience. Great songs performed by a variety of artist including Meryl Streep & Lily Tomlin as the Johnson sisters; John C Reilly and Woody Harrelson singing and strummimg away as the 'Old Trailhands' (their second appearance on stage is hilarious); Garrison Keillor the shows M.C. and, Lindsay Lohan who plays Yolanda's daughter Lola, a young girl who has a fixation with dark poetry. Combine these with a whacky former private eye who is in charge of security; a pregnant stagehand in a tizz; a mysterious woman in white; great music; some very funny moments; and a surprising revelation or two and, yes, you are in for a real treat. Thanks to the talented Garrison Keillor, Academy Award winning director Robert Altman and a fine cast, "A Prairie Home Companion" gives an audience the feeling of 'being there'. Highly recommended. 4 STARS." Cast & Crew Bytes "A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION" stars .......
Meryl Streep ["The Mancurian Candidate", "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events", "The Ant Bully" and "The Devil Wears Prada"]; Lily Tomlin ["Tea with Mussolini", "Orange County", "I Love Huckabees" and "The Ant Bully"]; Kevin Kline ["The Ice Storm", "De-Lovely" and "The Pink Panther"]; John C Reilly ["Chicago", "The Aviator" and "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby"]; Woody Harrelson ["Anger Management", "After The Sunset" and "North Country"]; Virginia Madsen ["Ghosts of Mississippi", "The Haunting" and "Sideways"] and Garrison Keillor ["Redux Riding Hood"] as G.K.
"A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION" was .......
directed by Robert Altman ["MASH", "The Long Goodbye", "The Player" and "Gosford Park"]; screenplay by Garrison Keillor ["A Prairie Home Companion"]; production design by Dina Goldman ["Camp" and "The Groomsmen"]; cinematography by Edward Lachman ["The Limey" and "Far from Heaven"]; casting by Pam Dixon ["Vertical Limit", "3000 Miles to Graceland" and "Man of the Year"] set decoration by Tora Peterson ["The Business Of Strangers", "Pipe Dream" and "Camp"] and costume design by Catherine Marie Thomas ["Sidewalks Of New York", "Kill Bill: Vol 1 & Vol 2" and "The Matador"]. Run Time 105 minutes Rated PG [AUST] Copyright ©2006 - Picturehouse - All Rights Reserved Copyright Protected © 2006 - Impact Internet Services - All Rights Reserved