The archangel Michael is the most popular of all the angels, having made
miraculous appearances throughout history. He is most often described as
being young, handsome, strong and sporting the most prodigious set of wings
an angel can bare.
Known as the commander-in-chief of the celestial army, Michael is most often
invoked in battles. It was Michael who delivered Daniel from the Lion's
den. It was Michael who purportedly gave Joan of Arc the power to battle
against all odds. It was Michael who appeared to a doomed division of French
soldiers on the World War II battlefield. It was Michael who Pope Pius
XII declared to be the patron saint of all embattled policemen.
me and fortune will follow. But Michael is an angel, not a saint, and he
has another agenda in mind.
For Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron, Michael represented a chance to create
a modern yet magical comedy set in America's heartland - something the sisters
had long talked about. When they came across a script written by National
Enquirer veteran Jim Quinlan and award-winning journalist and National Book
Award Winner Pete Dexter about a tabloid reporter on the trail of an earthbound
archangel, the sisters were intrigued.
"One of the things that drew me in the first place is that I had never
quite seen anything like this," says Nora Ephron. "I loved the
idea of two tabloid reporters going out to get an angel."
The sisters, who previously teamed on a number of films including Sleepless
in Seattle, immediately delved into angel research, exploring not only the
history of winged guardians, but the contemporary angel craze in which celestial
spirits carry out such mundane missions as helping people find parking spaces
as well as fall in love. "It was clearly a subject tinged with everyday
magic and we were very interested in that," says Nora Ephron.
Adds Delia: "The powerful thing about believing in angels is that
there is a sense that things can change in your favor at any moment. In
this story, you have two people who have really given up on love, who are
stuck in a rut, but the adventure of finding an angel opens them up and
changes their lives."
Both women were also fascinated with the concept of bringing the iconic
Michael, heaven's most famous warrior, to life as a contemporary flesh-and-blood
character. Contrary to popular belief, escorting an angel through the middle
of America turns out to be rough and dirty work - especially when it becomes
clear that the angel is intent on experiencing every earthly sensation to
its most glorious extreme.
"The archangel Michael is one of the world's great fighters. So every
chance he has, he gets into trouble. He is also irresistible to women,"
explains Delia. "He turns out to be quite a handful."
Michael was shot in the winter and spring of 1996, in Austin, Texas and
Chicago - with Austin's heartland-style fields and bars standing in for
Iowa. Capturing a little of the enchantment of both country and city was
paramount in Nora Ephron's game plan. She worked closely with production
designer Dan Davis and cinematographer John Lindley to create a very special
look for the film, one that would be both true to the American landscape
but add a dash of unexpected magic.
"I wanted to work with John because he did Field of Dreams, and he
was able to create the feeling where you are absolutely in reality and
the next minute you're not. And the only thing that changed is what you
were seeing," explains Nora.
She continues: "I knew he had a great feeling for this kind of material
and he's also done a lot of comedies and action pictures, which was a great
help. For example, there's a bar fight in this movie, and it may not surprise
you to hear that I'm not an expert in bar fights. It was a great comfort
to be working with someone who had done quite a few and knew how to make
a bar fight work."
Adds Delia Ephron: "John Lindley has given us a look that is both
beautiful and a little eerie. Nora had this wonderful idea that the movie
should feel a little like heaven, with lots of shades of white. That's
the feeling we wanted in the palate of the movie. And John, Dan and everyone
on the film has done an incredible job. There's the feeling of magic hovering
all the time."
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