You might not have noticed (I know I hadn’t), but it’s been a full five years since we last saw Goldie Hawn on the big screen. As a fan of the 1970s ditz icon turned movie star (and longtime shacker-upper with Kurt Russell), I’d be sad about this if I felt Hawn had any interest in acting anymore. But after her last few uninspired appearances in the dreadful remake of the previously dreadful The Out-of-Towners (alongside fellow slummer Steve Martin), Town and Country and The Banger Sisters, Hawn just ceased to matter. Actually, it’s fair to say she hasn’t been completely on her game since Private Benjamin in 1980, while the last truly great movie with which she was associated was… Shampoo? I was two-years-old when Shampoo was released. Why do I dig this chick again?
I blame countless pay cable viewings of Seems Like Old Times and Foul Play (neither of which have held up all that well), and my recent infatuation with Spielberg’s The Sugarland Express (didn’t realize how much I loved that movie until a random viewing several years ago). If we can get a mature version of that Hawn back, then I might be able to get excited for her directorial debut, Ashes to Ashes. Hawn will star as a widower who travels to India to bury her husband’s ashes. When said remains go all James Doohan, undisclosed funny stuff happens.
Hawn co-wrote the film with Jeremy Pikser, a respected fella who’s collaborated a couple of times with Warren Beatty (he worked on Reds and scripted Bulworth). That’s encouraging. Also encouraging: Kurt’s gonna co-star. Not so encouraging: my hazy recollection of Overboard. Pre-production is scheduled to begin this fall, so it’s possible Ashes to Ashes won’t go before cameras until 2008.
Apropos of nothing, I’d like to add that Hawn was once married to Gus Trikonis, who directed the incredibly awesome The Swinging Barmaids (aka Eager Beavers). You owe it to yourself to see this movie posthaste.