Heathers

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Heathers is a 1989 black comedy film starring Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, and Shannen Doherty. The film portrays four girls in a trend-setting clique at a fictional Ohio high school. The girls — three of whom are named Heather — rule the school through intimidation, contempt, and sex appeal.

Heathers brought director Michael Lehmann and producer Denise Di Novi the 1990 Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature. Daniel Waters also gained recognition for his screenplay, which won a 1990 Edgar Award. The film was a U.S. box office failure, but went on to become a cult classic, with high rentals and sales business. In 2006, it was ranked #5 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the "50 Best High School Movies" and in 2008, it was ranked #412 on Empire's list of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time

Plot

This film centers on seventeen year old Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder), an extremely intelligent teeanger who is one of the most popular girls at Westerburg High School in Sherwood, Ohio. In addition to Veronica, the popular clique consists of three wealthy and beautiful (but deeply unhappy) girls with the same first name: the malicious leader of the pack, Heather Chandler (Kim Walker); the initially timid, bulimic Heather Duke (Shannen Doherty); and the weak-willed cheerleader Heather McNamara (Lisanne Falk). These three malevolent girls rule Westerberg through cruelty and emotional sadism. Although they are the most "popular" students at Westerberg, the Heathers are feared and hated rather than adored, and Veronica has had enough of their shallow, vicious behaviour and longs to return to her old life and her nerdy friends (whom the Heathers despise).

When a new student, a rebellious, self-styled outsider named Jason Dean (Slater), or J.D. for short, pulls a gun on school bullies Kurt (Lance Fenton) and Ram (Patrick Labyorteaux) and fires blanks at them, Veronica finds herself fascinated with him. Veronica attends a frat party with Heather Chandler, where Heather tries to pimp her out to an obnoxious fraternity brother; after Veronica throws up and then lashes out at Heather, she'd coldly told her social standing at Westerberg is going to be destroyed on Monday morning. J.D. shows up at Veronica house, and after some flirting they end up playing strip croquette and making love outside, after which Veronica tells J.D. she wants to make Heather Chandler puke her guts out. The next morning, Veronica and J.D. break into her mansion and jokingly prepare a cup full of drain cleaner to bring Heather as a morning wake-up drink. Veronica decides on milk and orange juice as a suitable form of revenge, as the combination can induce vomiting. J.D. distracts Veronica with a kiss and Veronica takes the wrong cup to give Heather. J.D. notices the mistake, but does not inform Veronica; Heather Chandler drinks the drain cleaner and dies in front of them, falling head-first through a glass table in the process.

J.D. urges Veronica to protect herself from suspicion of murder by using her talent for copying handwriting to forge a suicide note in Heather Chandler's handwriting. Veronica off-handedly asks J.D. if he'd ever done anything like this before, and he pointedly doesn't answer her. Based upon the note, the school and community look on Heather Chandler's death as a dramatic, yet somehow hip, decision made by a popular but sadly troubled teenager. Heather Duke soon steps into Heather Chandler's former role as clique leader, and begins wearing a red scrunchie that had belonged to Chandler.

Several days later, after Veronica blew them off on a double-date with Heather McNamara, the oafish Kurt and Ram spread a false rumor about Veronica's giving oral sex to Kurt and Ram at the same time, ruining her reputation at school. J.D. proposes that Veronica lure them into the woods behind the school with the promise to "make the rumors true"; then, they will shoot them with "special" German WWII bullets that will knock them unconscious but not kill them. J.D. will plant "gay" materials beside the other boys, including a candy dish, a stick of mascara, a postcard of Joan Crawford, a gay porn magazine, a bottle of mineral water, and a suicide note stating the two were lovers participating in a suicide pact. Ram is shot but Veronica misses Kurt, who runs away. Veronica realizes that the bullets are real; J.D. chases Kurt back towards Veronica, who panics and shoots him dead. At their funeral, Kurt's father is seen wailing, "My son's a homosexual, and I love him. I love my dead gay son!", and the boys are made into martyrs against homophobia. Although she keeps dating J.D., Veronica is alarmed by his angry views and also by J.D.'s unfriendly relationship with his harsh, corrupt father; she also learns that J.D.'s mom may have killed herself to get away from his dad.

Other students begin mimicking the perceived behavior of the popular dead kids and attempting suicide themselves. Martha Dunnstock, an obese, regularly bullied student known as "Martha Dumptruck", pins a suicide note to her chest and walks into traffic. She survives but is badly injured, and is mocked for trying to "act popular." Heather McNamara calls a popular radio show one night while Veronica and Heather Duke are listening and talks of depressing aspects in her life; the next day, Heather Duke tells the entire school about Heather McNamara's radio call and McNamara attempts to take her life by overdosing on pills in the girls' bathroom, but is saved by Veronica. Heather Duke, however, has turned out to be as nasty and malicious as the late Heather Chandler, and she and Veronica cease to be friends.

Veronica tells J.D. that she will not participate in any more killings. He plans to kill Heather Duke next, and subtly threatens to do the same to Veronica if she does not cooperate. Veronica instead tricks J.D. by using a harness to make it look like she has hanged herself. Heartbroken, he reveals his plan to blow up the entire school during a pep rally. A petition he has been circulating, via Heather Duke, to get the band Big Fun to perform on campus was actually a disguised suicide note. Most of the students had already signed, so the mass murder would appear to be a mass suicide instead.

Veronica confronts J.D. in the boiler room, where he is rigging timed explosives. She attempts to kill him when he refuses to stop the bomb. As J.D. collapses, he accidentally stops the timer. Veronica walks out through the pep rally with everyone cheering, unaware of their narrowly-missed demise. The severely injured J.D. follows her outside, offers up what amounts to a personal eulogy as Veronica looks on in respect, and detonates a bomb that is strapped to his chest.

In the film's final scene, Veronica, covered in ash and bleeding slightly, confronts Heather Duke in the halls, takes Heather Chandler's red Scrunchie, says "Heather my love, there's a new sheriff in town", and invites Martha Dunnstock to hang out on prom night and watch movies with her, a final display that the Heathers' reign is finally over.

Cast

Winona Ryder as Veronica Sawyer

Christian Slater as Jason "J.D." Dean

Shannen Doherty as Heather Duke

Lisanne Falk as Heather McNamara

Kim Walker as Heather Chandler

Penelope Milford as Pauline Fleming

Glenn Shadix as Father Ripper

Lance Fenton as Kurt Kelly

Patrick Labyorteaux as Ram Sweeney

Jeremy Applegate as Peter Dawson

Jon Matthews as Rodney

Carrie Lynn as Martha "Dumptruck" Dunnstock

Phill Lewis as Dennis

Reneé Estevez as Betty Finn

Jennifer Rhodes as Mrs. Sawyer

Bill Cort as Mr. Sawyer

Kirk Scott as Big Bud Dean

Mark Carlton as Mr. Kelly

John Ingle as Principal Gowan

Production

Daniel Waters wanted his screenplay to go to director Stanley Kubrick, not only out of profound admiration for Kubrick but also from a perception that "Kubrick was the only person that could get away with a three-hour film". (The cafeteria scene opening Heathers was written as an homage to the barracks scene opening Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket.) After a number of failed attempts to get the script to Kubrick made Waters realize the apparent futility of the enterprise, he decided to give the script to Michael Lehmann, who then took it on with Denise Di Novi. Many actors and actresses turned down the project because of its dark subject matter. Early choices for J.D. and Veronica were Brad Pitt and Jennifer Connelly. Although Pitt auditioned for J.D., the filmmakers rejected him because they thought he came across as "too nice" and therefore would not be credible. Connelly declined. Winona Ryder — who was 16 at the time of filming and badly wanted the part — begged Waters to cast her. She was eventually given the role; Christian Slater was signed on after. Heather Graham, then 17, was cast as Heather McNamara, but her mother wouldn't allow her to do the film. Filming took place in 1988, and lasted 32 days.

Three stars of the film died at an early age: Jeremy Applegate, who played Peter Dawson, committed suicide with a shotgun on March 23, 2000; Kim Walker, who played Heather Chandler, died of a brain tumor on March 6, 2001; and Glenn Shadix, who played Father Ripper, accidentally fell at his condominium in Birmingham, Alabama, and died of blunt trauma to his head on September 7, 2010.

Soundtrack

The film uses two versions of the song "Que Sera, Sera", the first by singer Syd Straw and another over the end credits by Sly & the Family Stone. On the film's DVD commentary, Di Novi mentions that the filmmakers wanted to use the original Doris Day version of the song, but Day would not lend her name to any project using profanity. Di Novi also notes that, when her father was a session musician for Day, he and the other musicians had to put money in a "swear jar" when they cursed.

The song "Teenage Suicide (Don't Do It)" by the fictional band Big Fun was written and produced for the film by musician Don Dixon, and performed by the ad hoc group "Big Fun", which consisted of Dixon, Mitch Easter, Angie Carlson and Marti Jones. The song is included on Dixon's 1992 greatest hits album (If) I'm A Ham, Well You're A Sausage.

The film's electronic score was composed and performed by David Newman and a soundtrack CD was subsequently released.

Home media

Heathers was first released onto VHS in 1989, where it received strong sales and rentals, and is where it first became well known after being unsuccessful at the box office. It was released again on laserdisc on September 16, 1996 with restored stereo sound. This widescreen edition was digitally transferred from Trans Atlantic Pictures interpositive print under the supervision of cinematographer Francis Kenny. The sound was mastered from the magnetic sound elements. The film was first released onto DVD on March 30, 1999, in a barebones edition.

In 2001, a multi-region special edition DVD was released from Anchor Bay in Dolby Digital 5.1. The DVD was released in the United States, Canada, Australia, Europe to high sales. In 2004, a limited edition DVD set was released, and only 15,000 were produced. The set contained an audio commentary with director Michael Lehmann, producer Denise Di Novi and writer Daniel Waters, a 30-minute documentary titled Swatch Dogs And Diet Cokeheads, featuring interviews with Ryder, Slater, Doherty, Falk, Lehmann, Waters, Di Novi, Director of Photography Francis Kenny and Editor Norman Hollyn. It also includes a theatrical trailer, screenplay excerpt, original ending, biographies, 10-page full-color fold-out with photos and liner notes, a 8 cm "Heathers Rules!" ruler, and a 48-page full-color "yearbook style" booklet with rare photos.

On July 1, 2008, a new 20th anniversary special edition DVD set was released from Anchor Bay to coincide with the DVD of Daniel Waters' new film Sex and Death 101. The DVD features a new documentary, Return to Westerberg High. On November 18, 2008, Anchor Bay released a Blu-ray Disc with all the special features from the 20th Anniversary DVD and a soundtrack in Dolby TrueHD 5.1.

Alternate ending

On the 2-disc 20th Anniversary High School Reunion DVD edition of Heathers, the "special features" section contains the script for a different ending which was considered too dark for teen audiences and nixed by New World Pictures, the distributor.

In this version, J.D. dies in the boiler room, and Veronica is shown walking through the school, though only from the back. This is interrupted by shots of the bomb counting down, showing that Veronica had not shut it off. When she reaches the front of the school, Veronica turns around, allowing the viewer to see that the bomb was strapped to her chest. It hits zero, the screen turns black, and Veronica says "Boom".

The next scene is the school prom. A banner says "WHAT A WASTE, OH THE HUMANITY." The students begin to dance, soon with people from different cliques as couples. Dead characters (such as Kurt and JD) make appearances. The Heathers do a ring-around-the-rosey. The camera moves up to reveal Martha Dunnstock, then a smiling Veronica.

Sequel

On June 2, 2009, Entertainment Weekly reported that Winona Ryder had confirmed that there will be a sequel to Heathers with Christian Slater coming back "as a kind of Obi-Wan character". Michael Lehmann, the man behind the original movie, however, has denied that a sequel is in development, saying "Winona’s been talking about this for years — she brings it up every once in a while and Dan Waters and I will joke about it, but as far as I know there’s no script and no plans to do the sequel."

Television series

In August 2009, it was announced that Heathers was to be adapted for television. Mark Rizzo has been hired to write the series, and Jenny Bicks will co-produce with Lakeshore Entertainment. It is described as a modernized version of the original story, and all characters from the film are all expected to be scripted into the adaptation.

Musical

Heathers is currently being adapted into a stage musical by Laurence O'Keefe and Kevin Murphy. Murphy, along with Dan Studney, previously wrote the musical Reefer Madness, a parody of the anti-marijuana propaganda film of the same name which was turned into a feature film on Showtime. The Heathers musical, which opens with a number depicting Veronica's acceptance into the Heathers' clique, has received several readings in workshops in Los Angeles, and a three-show concert presentation at Joe's Pub in New York City on September 13–14, 2010. The cast of the Joe's Pub concert included Annaleigh Ashford as Veronica, Jenna Leigh Green as Heather Chandler, and Jeremy Jordan as J.D. The score does, in fact, include a rousing number called "My Dead Gay Son."

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