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Charlie's Angels (Film)
Charlie's Angels is a 2000 American action comedy film directed by McG, starring Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, and Lucy Liu as three women working for a private investigation agency. The film is based on the television series of the same name from the late 1970s, which was adapted by screenwriters Ryan Rowe, Ed Solomon, and John August.
The film, co-produced by Tall Trees Productions and Flower Films, distributed by Columbia Pictures, is a loose sequel of the original TV series. John Forsythe from the original series returned as Charlie's voice.
The film was followed with the 2003 sequel, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. It opened in the United States on June 27, 2003, and was number one at the box office for that weekend and made a worldwide total of $259.2 million.
The script of the 2000 film, was re-written at least 30 times until one was deemed "acceptable" by the producers and director. A total of 18 different writers worked on this film.
The role of Alex was originally offered to Angelina Jolie who turned it down after admitting she was not a fan of the original series. It was then offered to Jada Pinkett Smith who declined it to film Bamboozled (2000) instead. Thandie Newton was finally cast but had to leave owing to freak weather which caused the Mission: Impossible II (2000) schedule to overrun. The role was eventually taken by Lucy Liu.
The Thin Man, played by Crispin Glover, originally had a speaking role, but Glover didn't like the lines, so he asked for them to be removed. The director and producer agreed to make it a non-speaking role to give the character a more mysterious feel.
The original cast of "Charlie's Angels" (1976) - Jaclyn Smith, Kate Jackson and Farrah Fawcett - were invited to make cameo appearances, but declined. Reportedly, Farrah said she'd only do it if she were allowed to be the voice of Charlie, and Kate Jackson insisted on playing the villainous role that eventually went to Kelly Lynch. Ultimately, John Forsythe and Kate Smith did appear in the sequel, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003), though Kate's role was uncredited.
The hillside house is modelled after a real California architectural landmark, the Chemosphere House created by architect John Lautner. The entire house was created on a soundstage and was actually much larger and rounder than the original.
Drew Barrymore bought the screen rights to "Charlie's Angels" (1976) prior to the movie being filmed - a decision that earned her an estimated $40 million for the first film and a possible $80 million for the second.
Although the "bad guys" use guns in the film, the Angels do not. Drew Barrymore, who was also one of the producers, insisted that the Angels be able to do all their fighting without firearms. The girls trained with their martial arts master for three months, eight hours a day.
Cheung-Yan Yuen, the film's martial arts choreographer and trainer appears as a fellow passenger on the plane in first class at the start of the film.
Charlie's Angels (TV)
Charlie's Angels is a television series about three women who work for a private investigation agency, and is one of the first shows to showcase women in roles traditionally reserved for men. The series was broadcast in the USA on the ABC Television Network from 1976 to 1981 and was one of the most successful series of the 1970s. Charlie's Angels was created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts and produced by Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg. In pre-production, the original proposed title was The Alley Cats, with the idea being that the show would be a vehicle for up-and-coming actress Kate Jackson, who had proven very popular with viewers in another police drama, The Rookies. Kate is also the one who came up with the new title for the series upon seeing a painting of three angels on Aaron Spelling's office wall. But Harry's Angels was written off so as not to conflict with another television series, Harry O. Kate Jackson was initially cast as Kelly, but the actress was more attracted to the role of Sabrina, and her request to switch roles was granted; thus, the early part of the pilot relies very heavily on Jaclyn Smith, as the casting change had been made too late in the day to make a further rewrite.
The premise was three women, the Angels (originally Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett-Majors, and Jaclyn Smith), graduated from the Los Angeles police academy only to be assigned such duties as handling switchboards and directing traffic. They quit and were hired to work for the Charles Townsend Agency as private investigators. Their boss, Charlie (voiced by John Forsythe), is never seen full face. (In a few episodes the viewer sees the back of his head and his arms, and he is often surrounded by beautiful women.) Charlie assigns cases to the Angels and his liaison, Bosley (David Doyle), via a speaker phone. Farrah and Kate left the series during its run. Farrah was replaced by Cheryl Ladd as Kris Munroe, Jill's sister and a former police officer from San Francisco. Kate was replaced by Shelley Hack as Tiffany Welles, a former police officer from Boston. In the final season, Tanya Roberts replaced Shelley as Julie Rogers, a former model.
Like other American TV crime shows of the 1970s, Charlie's Angels was generally formatted in the way of a procedural drama. Most episodes followed a regular structure whereby a crime is committed; the Angels are given the case details by Charlie and Bosley at the Townsend Office; the trio go undercover (usually involving something skimpy for Kelly and Jill (later Kris); towards the end of the episode one of them is uncovered and it is a race against time for the others to rescue their friend before they meet some horrid fate. Inevitably, the final scene would be back at the Townsend Office with Charlie offering his congratulations for a job well done.
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