9. Even though there were a lot of cooks in the kitchen, the film’s cast and crew ended up going to work with an unfinished script.
“It was very difficult,” Ardolino admitted to the Chicago Tribune in June 1992, after the completed film was successfully released in theaters. “The script was originally written for Bette Midler and had to be adjusted when Whoopi came on the scene, so it was tough.”
He added: “We all thought the adjustment would only take a few weeks. But a few weeks was not enough time.”
No divine intervention was imminent, they just started working with what they had. Ardolino said, “It put Whoopi and I in a difficult position. It’s a problem when you’re shooting out of order and then all of a sudden there’s a scene that hasn’t been written yet. What precedes it? What follows?”
But it’s clear they made it work, a credit to everyone involved.
“Whoopi had a problem with the studio at one point, but she and I actually had to do it. I mean, we had to have scenes shot every day,” the director said. “We never had a blowout, we never had a situation where we didn’t have something in the can every day. We complained sometimes because it was difficult for each other, but we got along well. There was a lot of stress, but I think we did our best. Whoopi was very creative and we challenged each other.”
