BRIGHT LIGHTS: STARRING CARRIE FISHER AND DEBBIE REYNOLDS (TV)
Summary
This documentary explores the careers and colorful lives of legendary actress/singer Debbie Reynolds and her actress/writer daughter Carrie Fisher.
As the film opens, home videos of Carrie and younger brother Todd's childhood are shown. Carrie attempts to make a soufflé as she explains that her "tsu-mommy," also her neighbor, is preparing for a performance at Connecticut's Mohegan Sun Resort, though Carrie is nervous that her mother is overtaxing herself. Debbie explains why she rarely feels nervous and never wishes to retire, and she charms her audiences with jokes about why her infamously philandering first husband Eddie Fisher was actually "the good one." Carrie notes that her mother "groomed" her for show business, inviting her to sing with her onstage as a teenager. She gives a tour of her eccentric home, which features her "ugly children portraits" collection and a sex doll of her famous "Star Wars" character, Princess Leia. Todd, along with wife Catherine Hickland, displays his sequential collection of film posters that "illustrates" his family's unusual life.
Carrie prepares for a "celebrity lap dance," also known as a fan convention, at which she signs autographs and poses for photos with hundreds of adoring "Star Wars" fans. She reflects on Leia's enduring legacy as a beloved character and feminist icon, noting that "she's me and I'm her." Hickland, who appeared on three episodes of "Knight Rider," reveals that she later bought the show's famous car. Carrie, who wrote the 1990 film "Postcards From the Edge" based on her and Debbie's tumultuous lives and relationship together, discusses how she graduated from casual marijuana use with her brother to a variety of harder drugs, leading to her eventual diagnosis of bipolar disorder. She explains that she has named her two extreme moods, with "Roy" being her hyper, joyful side and "Pam" being her depressed lowered mood. Former babysitter Constance Freiberg agrees that Carrie was a more difficult child than Todd and was very affected by her mother's divorces, first from Eddie after his highly publicized affair with family friend Elizabeth Taylor, and then from second husband Harry Karl, who sent the family into financial ruin with his drinking, gambling and sexual habits.
Carrie and Todd agree that their "unsinkable" mother seems unwell, but Debbie plows ahead with her plans to auction off her collection of classic Hollywood costumes and memorabilia items, including Marilyn Monroe's famous "subway dress" from "Some Like It Hot" (1955). Todd explains that their many attempts to create a Hollywood museum to house the items repeatedly fell through, leaving Debbie no choice but to sell them. Carrie worries about leaving her sick mother behind to travel to London for "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" (2015) rehearsals; she suffers through a strict exercise regimen to lose weight for the film, the sixth sequel to the iconic 1977 film, which she had assumed would be a forgettable "B-movie." Longtime pal and actor Griffin Dunne visits Carrie in London and accepts her bawdy birthday gift, recalling that he "relieved her of her virginity" as teens; they discuss her complex relationship with her unreliable and often exploitative father Eddie.
Only after Todd accidentally shot himself with a prop gun in 1973 did he bond with his father. Todd describes how his father ruined his own career with excessive drug use after being introduced to meth by the infamous "Dr. Feelgood," Max Jacobson, who administered "vitamin shots" to many celebrities, including President John F. Kennedy. Carrie explains that she always longed for her father's love and felt a sense of competition with her short-term stepmother Elizabeth Taylor. She finally achieved closure with the ailing Eddie as she "parented" him through his final months before his death in 2010. Debbie, sporting a nasty bruise from a fall at home, prepares for the third and final memorabilia auction, admitting that she is particularly reluctant to sell outfits belonging to the famous Rat Pack. Carrie agrees to help her with her so-called "retirement" performance in Las Vegas; in a 1995 interview, Debbie's own mother Maxene voices her distaste for show business as a career, revealing that young Debbie originally planned to be a gym teacher. Soldiering on through her failing health, Debbie thrills the Vegas crowd with songs and jokes, and Carrie joins her onstage for the heartfelt "I'll Never Say No."
Later, the family learns that Debbie is to receive the 2014 Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, though a distressed Carrie frets that her mother's health is too poor to even make it through the ceremony. Carrie watches "Funny Girl" (1968) as she wonders if she will ever "get to the end of her personality," admitting that she still struggles with manic episodes. At the SAG Awards, a nervous Carrie proudly introduces her mother, who then gives a brief and charming acceptance speech and declares that she "ain't down yet." At home, the family reflects on the meaning of the highly prestigious honor, joking and singing songs around Carrie's omnipresent, year-round Christmas tree.
Details
- NETWORK: HBO
- DATE: November 30, 1999 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:34:19
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 129833
- GENRE: Documentary
- SUBJECT HEADING: Documentary; Families; Actors and actresses
- SERIES RUN: HBO - TV, 2017
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Brett Ratner … Executive Producer
- Sheila Nevins … Executive Producer
- Nancy Abraham … Senior Producer
- Julie Nives … Producer
- Todd Fisher … Producer
- Alexis Bloom … Producer, Director
- Fisher Stevens … Producer, Director
- Zara Duffy … Co-Producer
- Max Tromba … Associate Producer
- Jeff Dye … Associate Producer
- Caitlin Tartaro … Digital Intermediate Producer
- George Dellinger … Sound Post Facility Producer
- Anthony Rhoads Jr. … Animation
- Will Bates … Music by
- Carrie Fisher … Interviewee
- Debbie Reynolds … Interviewee
- Todd Fisher … Interviewee
- Eddie Fisher … Interviewee
- Constance Freiberg … Interviewee
- Catherine Hickland … Interviewee
- Griffin Dunne … Interviewee
- Maxene Reynolds … Interviewee
- Harry Karl
- John F. Kennedy
- Max Jacobson
- Elizabeth Taylor