Rosie O'Donnell says Now and Then filmmakers erased character's lesbian sexuality
Rosie O'Donnell revealed that a team member behind the 1995 comedy Now and Then erased elements of her character's sexuality from the final film.
"I would love to do a Now and Then sequel," O'Donnell told Brooke Shields on Tuesday's episode of the Now What? podcast. "You know what's funny about the movie Now and Then? My character was gay. She was a lesbian. And in the film, I'm very close to Rita Wilson's character and I'm a gynecologist and I'm delivering her baby. And then I look up from catching the baby and I say to her, 'I love you.' You know, just friends, not as a lover. And when they showed the film, the producer said, 'Let's take out that she's gay.' And they took every little, tiny thing that I had done to build the character into an accurate gay woman and made her straight." (EW has since clarified with a representative for O'Donnell that she meant the studio — not the film's producers — removed the character's sexuality.)
Shields noted that the development must've angered O'Donnell, who hadn't yet come out as a lesbian at the time.
"I was like, 'This can't be really happening. Is this really happening?' But you know, this was before Will and Grace. This was before Ellen [DeGeneres] was out. And it was very controversial to be gay and — my agent didn't know if I should take the job because 'What if people find out that you're gay?' And I was like, 'Come on, I'm an actress,'" she recalled.
EW has reached out to representatives for distributor New Line Cinema, Now and Then producers Demi Moore and Suzanne Todd, as well as director Lesli Linka Glatter for additional comment.
Everett Collection Rosie O'Donnell in 'Now and Then.'
O'Donnell appeared in the film as the older version of Christina Ricci's Roberta Martin, whose story unfolds across two separate time periods as a group of friends navigate life together.
Though the film received mostly negative reviews from critics, it grossed a healthy $37.6 million globally against a $12 million budget, and has since gained a cult following nearly 30 years after its initial run.
Listen to O'Donnell discuss Now and Then with Shields in the podcast above.
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