Behind The Song: Lynyrd Skynyrd, "Sweet Home Alabama"
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It ended really quick and tragically, but it started back. He appeared as an American businessman in Jule Gilfillan's romantic comedy-drama Restless. He also appeared in an off-Broadway production of Terrence McNally's controversial Corpus Christi, a retelling of the Passion, with the Jesus character and his disciples all being gay.
Tennant said Parks had a dog who would jump in the water and fetch rocks that were at the bottom. They put in the script a dog who dives for a bone — feeling it was a good example of small-town America — but the movie dog never wanted to go in the water. I was pretty uncomfortable, so that doesn't make the person working across from you comfortable.
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“Now Watergate does not bother me,” he sings with a snarl, “does your conscience bother you? ” Like the famous last verse of Randy Newman’s “Rednecks,” Van Zant deals with his own grave ambivalence by taking the assumptions of violent racism in the South and throwing them back in the faces of the rest of the country. Is it a worthwhile rebuttal of Neil Young’s attack, or merely an anxious defense mechanism? “Sweet Home Alabama” is a song that negotiates what it’s like to feel bad about feeling proud.
As the story goes, “Sweet Home Alabama” was originally intended as a response to Neil Young. Ronnie Van Zant, the lead singer of Lynyrd Skynyrd, was a big fan of Young’s music, but he was taken aback by Young’s early 70’s songs “Southern Man” and “Alabama,” which attacked the south for its backwards, racist past. In the original version, we hear lightning strike as they kiss and then a white light covers the screen. The scene cuts to friends and family dancing at a wedding reception.
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During a new interview, the movie's male lead, Josh Lucas, candidly revealed he'd make a second Sweet Home Alabama movie with Reese Witherspoon "in a second." Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. "I go back to when we were shooting that movie, I had this moment where I was like, 'Wow, this woman is a really brilliant, powerful person,'" Lucas told ET of Witherspoon. Witherspoon, 46, previously said that a sequel "would be a great idea" as she discussed the movie on Today with Hoda & Jenna in October. Glenn Garner is a Writer/Reporter who works heavily with PEOPLE's Movies and TV verticals. His first book The Guncle Guide was released in 2020 and was featured on Katie Couric's list of 100 recommended books of the year.
Tennant has written a treatment for a sequel about Witherspoon's character's child going to college. The ending was reshot because test audiences thought Reese Witherspoon's character died. Charlize Theron was originally supposed to star in the movie. Not long after three of the members of Lynyrd Skynyrd tragically died in a plane crash in 1977, Young performed a medley of "Alabama" and "Sweet Home Alabama" as a tribute. According to Rolling Stone, he's never played "Alabama" again since.
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Angry, Jake leaves to meet some friends at a local bar without signing the papers. Melanie follows and gets drunk, insults her old school friends, and outs her longtime friend, Bobby Ray. Jake scolds her and takes her home, preventing her from driving drunk, and Melanie wakes to find the signed divorce papers on her bed. This story is part of American Anthem, a yearlong series on songs that rouse, unite, celebrate and call to action. In May 2006, National Review ranked the song #4 on its list of the 50 greatest conservative rock songs. Lynyrd Skynyrd had recorded demos in Muscle Shoals with Johnson as a producer/recording engineer in 1971 and 1972, and Johnson helped refine many of the songs on the Pronounced album.
Lynyrd Skynyrd (vowels changed “to protect the guilty”) was born. Witherspoon celebrated the 20th anniversary of their movie in September with some fan-favorite scenes and a heartfelt tribute. "Twenty years ago, Sweet Home Alabama came out and completely changed my life," she wrote in the caption. "If you look at what she's doing, she's become a mogul." But the roots of “Sweet Home Alabama” can be traced much further than Neil Young. Like in the finished movie, in the original ending, Melanie leaves her fiancé at their wedding when she discovers she hasn't signed the documents to divorce Jake.
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Bobby Ray backs up her pretense that she is a relative and the family mansion is her childhood home. Melanie reconciles with her friends and learns that after she split with Jake, he had followed her to New York to win her back. Intimidated by the city and her success, he returned home to make something of himself first. She and Jake have a heart-to-heart, and Melanie realises why he never signed their divorce papers. Melanie visits Jake, who has repeatedly refused to sign divorce papers over the years since she left for New York. After he orders her out of his house, Melanie empties Jake's checking account, hoping to spur him into ending the marriage.
Lucas gained mainstream exposure after his roles in Sweet Home Alabama, A Beautiful Mind, and as Glenn Talbot in Hulk. He later had leading roles in movies such as Glory Road, Poseidon, and Stealth. In Glory Road, he starred as basketball coach Don Haskins, a role for which he gained 40 lb . The song remains a staple in southern and classic rock, and is arguably the band's signature song. Live video"Sweet Home Alabama" on YouTube"Sweet Home Alabama" is a song by American southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, released on the band's second album Second Helping .
The "extras" has several deleted scenes, and also includes the original ending that was scrapped after comments from test screenings. They had to re-shoot and I think the eventual ending is very appropriate. The first and last scenes complement each other very well. During the end credits some photos are shown with the cast. In a sequence of them Melanie's parents are "scared" by a punk with a pierced tongue, Mel's co-worker from the beginning of the movie, who comments on her accent when she dreams. "I was given the script; it wasn't very good. Everyone had passed on it in town," Tennant said.
There's a flash of lightning and it cuts to a wedding reception. He tells everyone "Melanie Carmichael is dead." Everyone is in shock. Then he says, "Long live Felony Melanie" and Melanie, who was just playing dead, gives him a kiss. They then go and dance as the Lynyrd Skynyrd song "Sweet Home Alabama" plays. This is why Reese says, "People need a passport to come down here." You can be a stranger in a strange land if you're not from the South.
Jake walks in holding Melanie in his arms who looks unconscious. He tells everyone, "Melanie Carmichael is dead." Everyone is in shock. Then he says, "Long live Felony Melanie," which is the nickname from her youth. They then go and dance as the Lynyrd Skynyrd song "Sweet Home Alabama" plays and the credits start.
Young had expressed his disappointment with racism in the South in two songs, "Southern Man" and "Alabama". Lucas supported President Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign, volunteering to help potential voters register at colleges in Pennsylvania. Lucas knocked on doors and phone banked, wearing an Obama shirt for 45 days.
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