The Sunday Read: 'Cher Everlasting'

The Daily

The New York Times

Daily News, News

4.4 • 102.8K Ratings

🗓️ 27 December 2020

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The escapism of movies took on a new importance during pandemic isolation. Caity Weaver, the author of this week’s Sunday Read, says that to properly embrace this year’s cinematic achievements, the Academy Awards should not only hand out accolades to new releases, but also to the older films that sustained us through this period. If they did, Caity argues, Cher would be on course to win a second Oscar for her performance as Loretta Castorini in 1987’s “Moonstruck” — a film that, under lockdown, was a salve to many. On today’s episode, a conversation with Cher about the film’s production, cast and legacy. This story was written by Caity Weaver and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Katie Weaver, a writer for the New York Times magazine, and I recently wrote a piece
0:05.5	about a 1987 movie that people are really loving in 2020. For that piece, I got to talk to a very
0:12.4	special California lady I like to call share.
0:16.4	I don't actually like to call her share. It feels way too familiar.
0:31.7	Like Santa Claus Nick, but she is share and that is what she calls herself. So that's what I called her.
0:37.1	She called me babe at one point at least.
0:39.4	I can't remember a time when I didn't have at least some awareness of who share was.
0:46.5	If you've never heard of share, you're lying. And this movie, Moonstruck, as good as it is,
0:52.0	really should have been kind of a line on her very impressive resume. It came out 33 years ago.
0:58.1	It's not an anniversary. It's a little dated in many ways. But for some reason, people are making
1:05.5	a beeline for it. Moonstruck is a movie about a woman named Loretta Casturini, played by share.
1:16.8	Your hair is different. My everything is different.
1:19.7	Who lives at home in Brooklyn with her parents.
1:22.8	The movie follows a couple very eventful days in her otherwise extremely ordinary life.
1:29.6	You get a lot of vibe on your neck. He's coming back this morning. What's the matter with you?
1:34.3	Your life's going down the toilet. Cover up that damn thing. Come on. What's up makeup on?
1:45.0	And I think everyone experiencing the deprivations of 2020 can find something to cling to or be drawn to
1:53.1	in this movie. If you haven't been able to see your family for a long time, you get these really
1:58.8	warm, comforting scenes of Loretta at home with her parents and her grandfather and seeing her
2:05.4	on an uncle. If you are trapped at home with your family, you get to see Loretta leave her family
2:12.4	behind for a glamorous night on the town. If you miss shopping, Loretta buys new shoes. They're
2:18.9	red. They sparkle. If you, like me, miss free bread at restaurants, there are delicious scenes of
	...

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