A work in constant progress (and occasional regress).
Featuring:
Robert Marks, Mimi Weddell
Directed by:
Jyll Johnstone
Release Date:
January 1, 2008
Original Title:
Hats Off
Production Companies:
Canobie Films
Ratings / Certifications:
N/A
Documentary - A documentary on a New York City woman who has spent most of her 93 years in the world of movies, TV, commercial, and print media.
Hats Off profiles the beauty and eccentricities of an extraordinary woman, 93-year-old actress Mimi Weddell. With the style and grace of Katherine Hepburn, the smoky wit and wisdom of Dorothy Parker, and her own personal philosophy, "rise above it," Mimi is truly an iconic American original, rising above the mundane and difficult confines of her own daily life to reach for the stars and fulfill her dreams. Hats Off captures the essence of this most unusual woman, named at age 90 by New York Magazine as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in New York," whose full-time acting career began at age 65 upon the passing of her husband, and whose daily routine mocks the traditional image of old age. From grueling 14-hour days at cattle call auditions to her weekly gymnastics and dance workouts, Mimi Weddell exudes a 'can-do, will-do' attitude in the face of life's trials and tribulations, and moves through her challenges with grace, encouraging us all to be more than we are. Shot over the course of 10 years, Hats Off covers a time span when most seniors are planning their funerals and estate bequests. Instead, Hats Off follows the breathtaking pace of Weddell, a bohemian free spirit now forced to share her east side Manhattan apartment with her two more traditionally-minded grown children and a grandchild. Like most families, their relationship is complex, and the mother-daughter/mother-son dynamic adds a fascinating layer of depth to an already compelling and entertaining film. When her beloved husband Dick dies, "leaving nothing behind but bills, poor man," Mimi does what she has to do to stay afloat, even attending an audition on the way to his memorial and landing the lead role in the cult film Dracula's Last Rites, which marks the beginning of her career. Since that time, 25 years ago, Mimi has been seen in print ads for companies Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Juicy Couture, and Nike, to name a few; in photo spreads for Vanity Fair and Vogue; on TV series including Sex and the City and Law and Order; and in feature films such as: Across the Universe, Hitch, and The Purple Rose of Cairo. But Weddell isn't a star. She never wanted to be. She just wants to work. An examination of family relationships, love, and ultimately the dreams which drive us.
Cinematography:
Sophie E. Constantinou
Ed Marritz
Director:
Jyll Johnstone
Editor:
Kate Stilley Steiner
Bill Weber
Music:
Steve Buzzell
Frankie Spellman
Nyracai Davis
Producer:
Michael Arlen Davis
Jyll Johnstone
Visual Effects:
James Kenney
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Data are -- hey, it's a plural -- subject to the limitations of their sources. (For example, TMDB search results currently max out at 20.) I am limiting myself to free data sources for now. (No, a "free trial" is not free.)
While much of the above data are retrieved directly from outside APIs and other such sources, data from American Film Institute (AFI) and British Film Institute (BFI) were manually entered the old fashioned way into a MySQL database. Re BFI I took the following liberties:
Regarding profile removals and data corrections:
Filtering is applied here to film projects flagged as "adult" by TheMovieDB. Pending "popular demand" I am contemplating a login and profile system with preferences (such as whether to allow adult images to appear) and permissions (such as data entry).
Whereas the overall purpose of this website is to serve as a personal demo/portfolio/workshop of web and data skills, this Movies section is not meant to compete with or substitute for far more definitive movie websites.
Whether or not he still clings to an award which he won in 1986 as a film critic for his college's newspaper, Jeffrey Hartmann is not responsible for the texts of overviews and biographies supplied by external data sources.