ROSIE O’Donnell, one of the biggest stars in America, not only had Irish heritage (and an authentic accent), she had that mix of cosy warmth, vulnerability, toughness and stoicism that Agnes had to have. It was a great casting suggestion which, aligned to Anjelica as director and Brendan’s script, made this a film that couldn’t possibly fail.
Yet, would Rosie be interested in playing the part of Agnes? O’Donnell was an extremely busy woman, with a chat show on Fox Television and a new baby she had adopted with her female partner.
O’Donnell made a hundred shows a year and it was claimed she’d turned down ‘trillions’ to make Flintstones 2. However, when she received the Agnes Browne script sent over by her pal Anjelica, she read it – and loved it. Rosie reckoned her own mother, even though she’d grown up in the Bronx, was Agnes.
‘She agreed to take our meeting,’ says Brendan. ‘And we knew that was tantamount to acceptance. Rosie clearly loved the Agnes role so much she’d change her life plans for the year. I thought, “We’re laughin’ here!”’
The plan was that Brendan, Anjelica Huston and Jim Sheridan would fly to New York to meet up with the former Betty Rubble and club her over the head with charm and persistence.
But the trip looked problematic before the trio even set off. Brendan and his fellow Dubliner weren’t hitting it off, despite the fact that Jim Sheridan’s production outfit were effectively rescuing the project.
Brendan reckoned Jim was ‘too sure of himself’. Then again, Jim had every right to be. Sheridan was a major player in the film business. That first night in New York, for example, Jim invited Brendan out to dinner with ‘a couple of interesting people’. Brendan later regretted having turned down the invite. The ‘interesting people’ turned out to be Marlon Brando and Lauren Bacall.
Meantime, back in New York, it was time for Brendan, Jim Sheridan, Anjelica Huston and some of the production team to travel up to Westchester to meet with Rosie O’Donnell.
‘She lived in a lovely big house in the country. And she was great. I really liked her right from the start, and when I looked at her I thought, “Now, this is Mrs Brown.” She’d read the book, which she loved, and I discovered she’d learned a bit about me, which was nice. She was delighted to hear that I was a stand-up comic; she’d started off in stand-up too. So we had that in common. And it all went so well. Rosie added she had some great ideas for the film. For example, she had this idea of an early scene where Agnes is in the bath with all of the babies. And it was great because it would have been so Agnes.
‘Then she said, “Let’s get down to business! Now, I can only do this film if my stuff can be shot in this fixed period of time. I understand how difficult this is. And I don’t want to create problems for anybody. But what I have arranged is that Fox will let me use their private jet, to fly me to wherever you want me, at no charge to the production company.”
‘Now, I’m thinking, “Thank the Lord! We are so home and dry here.”’
Money wasn’t an issue either. The film company offered Rosie $1.2 million, a drop in the bucket for the actress, but it wasn’t about cash. She simply loved the Agnes Browne character.
‘Then we went on to add more ideas, when one of the production team threw her the possibility of Bette Midler playing Agnes’s best pal, Marion. And I got a real measure of Rosie’s belief in making the story as real as possible, because a little while later during a coffee break she said to me, “You cannot have that woman in this movie, Brendan! She just doesn’t fit!” So I said, “Relax. There have been no decisions made on that, Rosie. Let’s just get you in, and between us we’ll call the shots.” But she looked at me cold and said, “Brendan, don’t let them fuck this film up.”’ (Whoopi Goldberg also read the script, fell in love with it and wanted to play Marion. But the presence of a black female in 1960s Dublin would have been a little difficult to explain.)
Back in Rosie’s living room, Brendan reckons Jim Sheridan rocked the boat by saying to Rosie, ‘I want you available whenever I want you.’
‘Now, I was completely panicking when he said this because you can’t lay down rules to a star like her, especially one who’s doing the film for relatively little money.
‘“Well, then,” says Rosie, “in that case I can’t do the movie.”
‘“You can’t just set out your own conditions.”
‘“I’m not setting out conditions, Jim. I’m just telling you when I’m available.”
‘And the meeting became very heated. So I cut in and said, “Look, let’s all take a breath of fresh air. Guys, I’ll make coffee.”
‘I was panicking at this point but tried to keep it all together. There was no way I was going to see Rosie O’Donnell walk away from this movie. So I said, “Rosie, calm down. It can be sorted. Trust me.” And I left her making the coffee while I went into the garden to talk to Jim.
‘I said, “Look Jim, we’re within a hair’s-breadth of tying this all up. Listen to what she’s saying. She’s not saying she doesn’t want to do it. She’s just saying when she’s available. And if she’s available for thirty days spread out over these weeks, we can schedule it. It can be done.”
‘“Okay, we’ll see what she says when we go back in.”’
Brendan had saved the day. He’d calmed the star and the co-producer. He had his movie with the best possible lead.
Or so he thought.
‘When we sat down, Jim turned to Rosie and said, “Okay. We’ll up your money.”
‘Rosie said, incredulously, “What?”
‘“Yes, I know what this is about. We’ll give you two million.”
‘At this point Rosie stood up and yelled, “You’ll up my money? You’ll up my money! Let me tell you something. I do a hundred shows a year for Fox, I’m paid extremely well for them, and I’m contracted for five years. You cannot UP my money.”
‘And at that she threw everyone out of the house.’
Jim Sheridan’s rewind on that scene doesn’t play out the same way as Brendan’s. He maintains Rosie began walking backwards the moment Bette Midler was named. Regardless, the Rosie O’Donnell dream was over. Brendan’s heart sank. He knew how much he’d lost. But who would play Agnes now that Rosie had walked? Or was Agnes Browne being killed off before the script had even been completed?