10 Things to Know About 'The Woman in Red' (1984)

10 Things to Know About The Woman in Red

10 Gilda Radner Loved Working With Gene Wilder

Speaking about getting to co-star with her beloved, Gene Wilder, while filming The Woman in Red, Gilda Radner said that she found working with Wilder “Inspiring.”

The two were dating at the time and fans were bombarding newspapers for updates on the two as they kept their relationship relatively low key. Their relationship and fan curiosity about it was an unintentional marketing campaign for the movie.

9 Based on a 1976 French Comedy

The Woman in Red was a remake of a 1976 French comedy, Pardon Mon Affaire, starring Jean Rochefort and directed by Yves Robert.

“Etienne (Jean Rochefort) experiences a life-altering moment on a typical day when he spots a stunning woman (Anny Duperey) wearing a flowing red dress. Even after she vanishes, her image remains fixed in his thoughts. Despite his status as a contentedly married man, Etienne becomes consumed by the desire to pursue her. To assist him in his quest for this mysterious woman, he enlists three clumsy friends, including Bouly (Victor Lanoux), who possesses personal experience with unfaithfulness.”

Pardon Mon Affaire was so popular in France that it inspired a sequel and was still popping up in French theaters throughout the early 1980s as it was a popular revival.

8 Dionne Warwick

Dionne Warwick is known for many things, hit songs, Grammy’s, sold out concerts, and running her very own Psychic Friends Network. One thing you might not know about Dionne Warwick however is her role as Music Coordinator for The Woman in Red. Though Warwick’s music has appeared on numerous soundtracks, this is the only time she consulted on a soundtrack and film score for a feature film.

7 Stevie Wonder

How did Dionne Warwick become part of The Woman in Red? That’s What Friends Are For. Dionne’s friend Stevie Wonder made The Woman in Red his debut as a film soundtrack composer. Steve provided the full soundtrack for The Woman in Red and the entire soundtrack was released in July of 1984 as a Stevie Wonder record.

6 “I Just Called to Say I Love You”

Stevie Wonder scored the biggest single hit of his illustrious career with the song “I Just Called to Say I Love You.” The song went to number 1 in 28 countries including becoming Wonder’s first number 1 song in Britain and the biggest selling American single in British history.

5 The Soundtrack Almost Didn’t Finish in Time

According to Gene Wilder, speaking to reporters in June of 1984, the soundtrack for The Woman in Red was a race to the finish. Wonder delivered the first four songs in early June in between a tour of Europe and recording sessions in English. On June 26th, Wonder had two more songs in transit to Wilder to mix into the film and two more songs were yet to be recorded.

The reason for the rush, a directors guild strike was approaching and if Wilder didn’t get the songs before the strike was called, he wouldn’t be able to touch them during the strike. Thankfully, the songs arrived and the soundtrack arrived in stores by the end of July 1984, two weeks ahead of the film’s theatrical debut.

4 Barbara Stanwyck

Wilder’s The Woman in Red was not the first movie to use this title. In 1935, Barbara Stanwyck starred in a movie that was also called The Woman in Red. Directed by Robert Florey, the film starred Stanwyck as a woman who becomes the center of a murder trial in the high end world of polo. The two films have nothing else in common beyond the title.

3 A Wonderful Atmosphere

So many times when we work on something for Movies of the 80s, we have to dig through trashy behind the scenes tales and people not getting along, backbiting, and harassment. So, it was very nice to read nothing but great things about the set of The Woman in Red. Kelly LeBrock, who made her film debut as the woman of the title, told the Atlanta Journal Constitution in August of 1984 that the set of the film was wonderful.

According to LeBrock, everyone got along and became as close as family. Her husband, Victor Drai was a producer on the film, and a chief financial backer which caused some eyebrows to be raised over Kelly’s casting but the movie more than justifies the choice to cast LeBrock as the ultimate embodiment of male desire.

LeBrock confirmed that Wilder was a wonderful director, very easy to work with, sensitive and patient. It’s just nice to be able to write about a legend living up to his legend.

2 Positive Gay Character portrayal?

Charles Grodin plays Buddy, the best friend of Wilder’s Teddy and a gay man. Grodin doesn’t lean into stereotypes, his character’s sexuality is mentioned and not used as a punchline. Gay representation in movies in the mid-1980s had a rather low bar for being called ‘Positive,’ but Buddy fits the bill with his non-stereotypical portrayal and Grodin’s typically ingenious comic instincts.

1 One Minor Controversy

It is a Movie of the 80s so there has to be one controversy around The Woman in Red. It came when Stevie Wonder’s I Just Called to Say I Love You entered the Oscar race for Best Original Song. In an interview with the Knight-Ridder news organization, Stevie admitted that the bare bones of I Just Called to Say I Love You were written 8 years earlier.

This would violate Academy Music Branch rules as Original Songs are supposed to have been written specifically for the movie soundtrack. Wonder however, in the same Knight-Ridder interview stated that the lyrics were newly written which satisfied the members of the Academy, if not those who were competing against one of the greatest songwriters of all time for an Academy Award.