'Reality Bites'
The Ringer's Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Chuck Klosterman only need a couple smokes, a cup of coffee, and some good conversation about the 1994 coming-of-age dramedy 'Reality Bites,' starring Ethan Hawke, Winona Ryder, and Janeane Garofalo. Stick around at the end of the episode to hear Bill Simmons talk to Ethan Hawke about his experience and interpretation of 'Reality Bites' 25 years later.
Cast
Winona Ryder as Lelaina Pierce
Ethan Hawke as Troy Dyer
Ben Stiller as Michael Grates
Janeane Garofalo as Vickie Miner
Steve Zahn as Sammy Gray
John Mahoney as Grant Gubler
Directed by: Ben Stiller
Written by: Helen Childress
Notes
- Part of Bill's Gen X movie Mount Rushmore: Singles (1992), 'Reality Bites' (1994), 'Before Sunrise' (1995), and 'Kicking and Screaming' (1995).
- Made $33.4 million against an $11.5 million budget – a box office success.
- Ben Stiller's directorial debut; Ethan Hawke calls him a world-class director who makes strange, original movies.
- Winona Ryder fought for Ethan Hawke to be cast after seeing him in A Midnight Clear – it was in her contract.
- Janeane Garofalo was fired by Ben Stiller before filming for her attitude, then rehired because Winona Ryder stepped in on her behalf.
- Gwyneth Paltrow and Parker Posey both auditioned for the Vickie role.
- Product placement (Diet Coke, Rolling Rock, Super Big Gulps) was one of the ways they paid for the movie.
- The Lisa Loeb song 'Stay' came from this soundtrack; Ethan Hawke directed the music video.
- Ethan Hawke found a new character voice with Troy after struggling to create another character post-'Dead Poets Society'.
- Includes a bonus interview with Ethan Hawke discussing 'Reality Bites' 25 years later.
Categories
- The gas station 'My Sharona' dance scene.
- The fight when Troy brings another girl home – their angry interactions validate the connection more than the romantic scenes.
- The Melrose Place AIDS monologue by Steve Zahn.
- The Ben Stiller/Ethan Hawke showdown when Stiller picks up Ryder for a date.
- Janeane Garofalo's performance – she's so likable.
- Ethan Hawke's music performances, especially singing the Violent Femmes song in the bar.
- The soundtrack: World Party, Crowded House, Squeeze, My Sharona, Lisa Loeb, Lenny Kravitz.
- The band name 'Hey That's My Bike' – a perfect encapsulation of how bands were named in that era.
- Troy is just a fucking asshole in some scenes, in a really dark way that's harder to accept now.
- The Steve Zahn gay subplot is shoehorned – he has about two minutes to come out and then they're done with it.
- Troy's witty pop culture comebacks: 'I'm not a pepper,' 'This girl is cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs'.
- The Good Times game – really hard to explain to anyone under 35.
- Ethan Hawke was in a slump when Winona Ryder fought for him – she saw him in A Midnight Clear and demanded he play Troy.
- Gwyneth Paltrow and Parker Posey both auditioned for Vickie – Parker Posey is the only one who could have matched or exceeded Garofalo.
- The guy who plays the new husband of Winona Ryder's mom – the 'get a Ford' guy is the funniest thing in the movie relative to his screen time.
- John Mahoney as Grant from Good Morning Grant.
Yes – set in 1994 with 25 years of distance, like 'Dazed and Confused' style, 10 episodes of these characters in a house in Houston.
- Does Troy's band ever release an album?
- How long did Troy and Lelaina stay together? Bill says less than a year, then they run into each other 15 years later at Steve Zahn's wedding.
- How did Winona Ryder always have the cigarette three-quarters of the way down in every scene?
Split decision – Chuck says Ethan Hawke because he won the movie from a performance standpoint and literally gets the girl; Bill and Chris lean Winona Ryder because she single-handedly cast Hawke, saved Garofalo's job, and made the movie happen.