Gena Rowlands, an Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor most recognizable to fashionable audiences for her emotional efficiency in The Pocket book, has Alzheimer’s illness.
Rowland’s son, actor and director Nick Cassavetes, confirmed to Leisure Weekly that his 94-year-old mom resides with the progressive type of dementia. Rowlands performed the older model of Rachel McAdams’ major character, Allie Hamilton, in The Pocket book – a personality who additionally develops Alzheimer’s illness.
“I acquired my mother to play older Allie, and we spent a whole lot of time speaking about Alzheimer’s and desirous to be genuine with it, and now, for the final 5 years, she’s had Alzheimer’s,” Cassavetes informed the publication, recalling his time as director of the movie. “She’s in full dementia. And it’s so loopy — we lived it, she acted it, and now it’s on us.”
The film model of The Pocket book, primarily based on Nicholas Sparks’ novel of the identical identify, is celebrating its twentieth anniversary this week.
In a 2004 interview with O journal, Rowlands opened up concerning the struggles her personal mom, actor Girl Rowland, confronted with the illness and why enjoying Allie was “notably exhausting.”
“This final one — The Pocket book, primarily based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks — was notably exhausting as a result of I play a personality who has Alzheimer’s,” she stated on the time. “I went by that with my mom, and if Nick hadn’t directed the movie, I don’t suppose I might have gone for it — it’s simply too exhausting. It was a troublesome however great film.”
Cassavetes informed Leisure Weekly working along with his mom on set required a vital retake, and whereas his mom wasn’t notably joyful about it, she dealt with it like a professional.
Gena Rowlands and Rachel McAdams throughout ‘The Pocket book’ New Line Cinema Los Angeles Premiere at Mann Village Theatre in Westwood, Calif.
Ray Mickshaw / WireImage for New Line Cinema
He recalled that in a single specific scene, the place older Allie lastly remembers her longtime love, Noah (performed by James Garner), studio executives requested that Rowlands cry extra.
When Cassavetes informed his mother that they wanted to reshoot the scene, she wasn’t happy. “She stated, ‘Let me get this straight. We’re reshooting due to my efficiency?’”
“We go to reshoots, and now it’s a type of issues the place mama’s pissed and I had requested her, ‘Are you able to do it, mother?’ She goes, ‘I can do something,’” he recalled.
And it solely took one take.
“I promise you, on my father’s life, that is true: Teardrops got here flying out of her eyes when she noticed (Garner), and she or he burst into tears. And I used to be like, okay, nicely, we acquired that… It’s the one time I used to be in hassle on set.”
American director Nick Cassavetes (L) and his mom and main actress Gena Rowlands pose for a photocall for ‘The Pocket book’ in 2004.
Mychele Daniau / AFP through Getty Pictures
In 2015, Rowlands picked up an honorary Academy Award for lifetime achievement. Her movie debut got here within the 1958 comedy The Excessive Value of Dwelling. She additionally obtained Oscar nominations for her work in 1974’s A Lady Below the Affect and 1980’s Gloria.
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