Maid in Manhattan
Encyclopedia
Maid in Manhattan is a 2002 romantic comedy film
directed by Wayne Wang
about a hotel maid
and a high profile politician who fall in love starring Jennifer Lopez
, Ralph Fiennes
, and Natasha Richardson
. It is based on a story by John Hughes who is credited using a pseudonym
. The original music score is composed by Alan Silvestri
. The film was released on December 13, 2002.
) is a single mother trying to get by with her young son Ty (Tyler Posey
) by working as a maid for a classy hotel set in the heart of Manhattan. When not in school Ty spends time among Marisa’s fellow hotel workers who think she is capable of being promoted to management.
While Marisa and fellow maid Stephanie (Marissa Matrone) are cleaning the room of a socialite, Stephanie convinces Marisa to try on a coat. The guest, Caroline Lane (Natasha Richardson
), had previously asked for it to be returned to the store and Stephanie argues that it “technically” doesn’t belong to anyone at the moment. Elsewhere in the hotel Ty befriends hotel guest and senatorial candidate Christopher Marshall (Ralph Fiennes
), whom Christopher learns has an interest in Richard Nixon
, the subject of his school presentation. Ty wants to go with Chris to walk his dog and the pair go to Caroline Lane’s room to ask Marisa for permission. Chris meets Marisa who is wearing the designer coat, and is instantly smitten with her. Of course, he assumes that she is Caroline Lane. The trio spend some time together in the park. Though Marisa and Chris are attracted to each other, Marisa is terrified that management will find out about the ruse and makes it a point to avoid Chris afterwards.
Chris asks the hotel’s head butler Lionel Bloch (Bob Hoskins
) to invite “Caroline Lane” to lunch but he is confused when the real Caroline shows up instead of Marisa. Ironically Marisa was present when she received the invitation and even offered Caroline some advice on what to wear for their “Lunch à deux”. However when the real Caroline shows up, Chris asks his assistant Jerry Siegal (Stanley Tucci
) to find “the other Caroline Lane” promising that he will attend an important dinner and wishes her go with him. Jerry asks Lionel to find her. Lionel, who has figured out that Marisa is the woman Chris has been looking for, tells her to go to the dinner and end the affair swiftly if she wants to keep her possible future in hotel management. He and the hotel staff assist her in preparing for the evening by styling her hair, loaning her an expensive dress and a spectacular necklace.
However, Marisa is unable to end the affair, and she spends the night in Chris's hotel room. The next morning, Marisa is spotted by the real Caroline Lane and her friend leaving Chris' room. Caroline blurts out the truth to the hotel management and Marisa is fired in front of Chris in Lane’s hotel suite. Both Marisa and Chris spend some time apart with him still thinking about her and Marisa hounded by the press and her disapproving classist mother Veronica (Priscilla Lopez
).
Some time later, Marisa has obtained another job as a maid at another hotel. Chris is giving a press conference in the same hotel and Ty attends it and asks Chris whether people should be forgiven if they make mistakes referencing former President
Richard Nixon
. Ty leads him to the staff–room where Marisa is having her break. Chris and Marisa are reunited and the film ends with images of publications showing that Chris has been elected, he and Marisa are still together after one year, Marisa has started her own hospitality business, and Marisa’s maid friends have been promoted to management.
and the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
.
which is what Marion Davies
's character is called in Page Miss Glory.
's "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard
" in the opening credits, "Train On A Track
" sung by Kelly Rowland
, "Come Away With Me" and "Don't Know Why" sung by Norah Jones,"Fall Again
" sung by Glenn Lewis
, and "I'm Coming Out" sung by Diana Ross .
announced in August 2008 that it would be adapting the film to a television series, with Jennifer Lopez producing. As of March 2010, the IMDb
still listed "Maid in Manhattan (2009)" as in production with Chad Hodge as script writer, but a 2009 Sony Pictures Television press release only shows it as a put pilot. ABC Television has yet to release or air any version of the pilot project. As of 11/25/2011, IMDB has removed the page and the pilot was rejected.
and Sony Pictures Television
are co-producing a telenovela based on the movie called Una Maid en Manhattan, starring Litzy and Eugenio Siller
. As of November 29, 2011, the telenovela is airing in Telemundo weeknights at 8pm/7pm central.
Romantic comedy film
Romantic comedy films are films with light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as that true love is able to surmount most obstacles. One dictionary definition is "a funny movie, play, or television program about a love story that ends happily"...
directed by Wayne Wang
Wayne Wang
Wayne Wang is a Chinese American film director.-Biography:Wang was born and raised in Hong Kong, and named after his father's favorite movie star, John Wayne...
about a hotel maid
Maid
A maidservant or in current usage housemaid or maid is a female employed in domestic service.-Description:Once part of an elaborate hierarchy in great houses, today a single maid may be the only domestic worker that upper and even middle-income households can afford, as was historically the case...
and a high profile politician who fall in love starring Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...
, Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes is an English actor and film director. He has appeared in such films as The English Patient, In Bruges, The Constant Gardener, Strange Days, The Duchess and Schindler's List....
, and Natasha Richardson
Natasha Richardson
Natasha Jane Richardson was an English actress of stage and screen. A member of the Redgrave family, she was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and the granddaughter of Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson...
. It is based on a story by John Hughes who is credited using a pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
. The original music score is composed by Alan Silvestri
Alan Silvestri
Alan Anthony Silvestri is an American film composer and conductor.-Career:Silvestri is best known for his collaborations with director Robert Zemeckis, having scored Romancing the Stone , the Back to the Future trilogy , Who Framed Roger Rabbit , Death Becomes Her , Forrest Gump , Contact ,...
. The film was released on December 13, 2002.
Synopsis
Marisa Ventura (Jennifer LopezJennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...
) is a single mother trying to get by with her young son Ty (Tyler Posey
Tyler Posey
Tyler Garcia Posey is an American actor and musician. Tyler is best known for his role as Scott McCall in MTV's show Teen Wolf.-Career:...
) by working as a maid for a classy hotel set in the heart of Manhattan. When not in school Ty spends time among Marisa’s fellow hotel workers who think she is capable of being promoted to management.
While Marisa and fellow maid Stephanie (Marissa Matrone) are cleaning the room of a socialite, Stephanie convinces Marisa to try on a coat. The guest, Caroline Lane (Natasha Richardson
Natasha Richardson
Natasha Jane Richardson was an English actress of stage and screen. A member of the Redgrave family, she was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and the granddaughter of Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson...
), had previously asked for it to be returned to the store and Stephanie argues that it “technically” doesn’t belong to anyone at the moment. Elsewhere in the hotel Ty befriends hotel guest and senatorial candidate Christopher Marshall (Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes is an English actor and film director. He has appeared in such films as The English Patient, In Bruges, The Constant Gardener, Strange Days, The Duchess and Schindler's List....
), whom Christopher learns has an interest in Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
, the subject of his school presentation. Ty wants to go with Chris to walk his dog and the pair go to Caroline Lane’s room to ask Marisa for permission. Chris meets Marisa who is wearing the designer coat, and is instantly smitten with her. Of course, he assumes that she is Caroline Lane. The trio spend some time together in the park. Though Marisa and Chris are attracted to each other, Marisa is terrified that management will find out about the ruse and makes it a point to avoid Chris afterwards.
Chris asks the hotel’s head butler Lionel Bloch (Bob Hoskins
Bob Hoskins
Robert William "Bob" Hoskins, Jr. is an English actor known for playing Cockney rough diamonds, psychopaths and gangsters, in films such as The Long Good Friday , and Mona Lisa , and lighter roles in family films such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Hook .- Early life :Hoskins was born in Bury St...
) to invite “Caroline Lane” to lunch but he is confused when the real Caroline shows up instead of Marisa. Ironically Marisa was present when she received the invitation and even offered Caroline some advice on what to wear for their “Lunch à deux”. However when the real Caroline shows up, Chris asks his assistant Jerry Siegal (Stanley Tucci
Stanley Tucci
Stanley Tucci is an American actor, writer, film producer and film director. He has been nominated for several notable film awards, including an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his performance in The Lovely Bones...
) to find “the other Caroline Lane” promising that he will attend an important dinner and wishes her go with him. Jerry asks Lionel to find her. Lionel, who has figured out that Marisa is the woman Chris has been looking for, tells her to go to the dinner and end the affair swiftly if she wants to keep her possible future in hotel management. He and the hotel staff assist her in preparing for the evening by styling her hair, loaning her an expensive dress and a spectacular necklace.
However, Marisa is unable to end the affair, and she spends the night in Chris's hotel room. The next morning, Marisa is spotted by the real Caroline Lane and her friend leaving Chris' room. Caroline blurts out the truth to the hotel management and Marisa is fired in front of Chris in Lane’s hotel suite. Both Marisa and Chris spend some time apart with him still thinking about her and Marisa hounded by the press and her disapproving classist mother Veronica (Priscilla Lopez
Priscilla Lopez
Priscilla Lopez is an American singer, dancer, and actress.-Early life:Lopez was born in the Bronx, New York to Francisco Lopez, a hotel banquet foreman and Laura , who were moved to New York from their native Puerto Rico...
).
Some time later, Marisa has obtained another job as a maid at another hotel. Chris is giving a press conference in the same hotel and Ty attends it and asks Chris whether people should be forgiven if they make mistakes referencing former President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
. Ty leads him to the staff–room where Marisa is having her break. Chris and Marisa are reunited and the film ends with images of publications showing that Chris has been elected, he and Marisa are still together after one year, Marisa has started her own hospitality business, and Marisa’s maid friends have been promoted to management.
Production notes
Filming was carried out at both New York's Roosevelt HotelRoosevelt Hotel (New York)
The Roosevelt Hotel is at Madison Avenue and 45th Street in midtown Manhattan, named in honor of President Theodore Roosevelt. The New York City hotel opened on September 22, 1924. The hotel closed in 1995 and reopened in 1997 after a $65-million extensive renovation.-Guest rooms:There are a total...
and the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
The Waldorf-Astoria is a luxury hotel in New York. It has been housed in two historic landmark buildings in New York City. The first, designed by architect Henry J. Hardenbergh, was on the Fifth Avenue site of the Empire State Building. The present building at 301 Park Avenue in Manhattan is a...
.
Similarity to 1935 film
Although never cited in the onscreen credits or in any supplemental material by the producers or writers, the basic premise of a luxury hotel maid being mistaken for a famous hotel guest after being seen wearing clothes that were meant for someone else was explored earlier in the 1935 Warner Bros. comedy, Page Miss Glory. Maid in Manhattans writer John Hughes' original title for the story was The Chambermaid,which is what Marion Davies
Marion Davies
Marion Davies was an American film actress. Davies is best remembered for her relationship with newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, as her high-profile social life often obscured her professional career....
's character is called in Page Miss Glory.
Cast
- Jennifer LopezJennifer LopezJennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...
- Marisa Ventura - Ralph FiennesRalph FiennesRalph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes is an English actor and film director. He has appeared in such films as The English Patient, In Bruges, The Constant Gardener, Strange Days, The Duchess and Schindler's List....
- Christopher Marshall - Natasha RichardsonNatasha RichardsonNatasha Jane Richardson was an English actress of stage and screen. A member of the Redgrave family, she was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and the granddaughter of Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson...
- Caroline Lane - Stanley TucciStanley TucciStanley Tucci is an American actor, writer, film producer and film director. He has been nominated for several notable film awards, including an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his performance in The Lovely Bones...
- Jerry Siegal - Tyler PoseyTyler PoseyTyler Garcia Posey is an American actor and musician. Tyler is best known for his role as Scott McCall in MTV's show Teen Wolf.-Career:...
- Ty Ventura - Frances ConroyFrances ConroyFrances Conroy is an American actress. She is best known for playing Ruth, the matriarch of the Fisher family, on Six Feet Under, which earned her a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award.-Early life:...
- Paula Burns - Chris EigemanChris EigemanChris Eigeman is an American actor best known for roles in the Whit Stillman films Metropolitan, Barcelona, and The Last Days of Disco....
- John Bextrum - Amy SedarisAmy SedarisAmy Louise Sedaris is an American actress, author, and comedian. She is known for playing the character Jerri Blank in the Comedy Central television series Strangers with Candy. Sedaris regularly collaborates with her older brother, humorist and author David Sedaris...
- Rachel Hoffman - Marissa Matrone - Stephanie Kehoe
- Priscilla LopezPriscilla LopezPriscilla Lopez is an American singer, dancer, and actress.-Early life:Lopez was born in the Bronx, New York to Francisco Lopez, a hotel banquet foreman and Laura , who were moved to New York from their native Puerto Rico...
- Veronica Ventura - Bob HoskinsBob HoskinsRobert William "Bob" Hoskins, Jr. is an English actor known for playing Cockney rough diamonds, psychopaths and gangsters, in films such as The Long Good Friday , and Mona Lisa , and lighter roles in family films such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Hook .- Early life :Hoskins was born in Bury St...
- Lionel Bloch - Lisa Roberts GillanLisa Roberts GillanLisa Roberts Gillan is an American actress. She is the sister of actors Eric Roberts and Julia Roberts, and the aunt of actress Emma Roberts.-Early life:Roberts was born in Decatur, Georgia. Her mother, Betty Lou...
- Cora - Maddie CormanMaddie CormanMaddie Corman is an American television and film actress.-Career:Born Madeleine Cornman in New York City, New York, she began her career as a child actress in the 1980s...
- Leezette - Sharon WilkinsSharon WilkinsSharon Wilkins is an American actress.Wilkins hails from Newburgh, New York and makes her home on the Upper Westside of Manhattan. She has had a number of roles on Broadway and in film and does some commercial work. She is currently appearing in the National Tour of Xanadu The Musical...
- Clarice - Di Quon - Lily Kim
Box office
The film earned $18,711,407 domestically in its opening weekend, the film was #1 at the box office playing in 2,838 theaters. The film grossed a total of $94,011,225 domestically and $60,895,468 internationally.Soundtrack
The film features Paul SimonPaul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
's "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard
Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard
"Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" is a song by American singer-songwriter Paul Simon from his 1972 self-titled album.-Lyrical subject:The song is about two boys who have broken a law, although the exact law that has been broken is not stated in the song and has become a matter of some debate...
" in the opening credits, "Train On A Track
Train on a Track
"Train on a Track" is a pop/R&B song written by American producer Rob Fusari, Tiaa Wells, Balewa Muhammad and Sylvester Jordan for Kelly Rowland's solo debut album Simply Deep . It also was co-produced by Fusari and received a generally positive reception from music critics...
" sung by Kelly Rowland
Kelly Rowland
Kelendria Trene "Kelly" Rowland is an American singer, songwriter, actress, dancer, and television personality. She rose to fame as one of the founding members of the American girl group Destiny's Child...
, "Come Away With Me" and "Don't Know Why" sung by Norah Jones,"Fall Again
Fall Again
"Fall Again" is an single by American Smooth jazz saxophonist Kenny G, from his 2010 studio album Heart and Soul which was released on June 29, 2010....
" sung by Glenn Lewis
Glenn Lewis
Glenn Lewis is a Canadian R&B and neo soul singer-songwriter. Originally planning to pursue a career in animation as a teenager, Lewis instead decided to focus on music. His father was a member of the musical group Crack of Dawn...
, and "I'm Coming Out" sung by Diana Ross .
Spin-off
ABCAmerican Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
announced in August 2008 that it would be adapting the film to a television series, with Jennifer Lopez producing. As of March 2010, the IMDb
Internet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
still listed "Maid in Manhattan (2009)" as in production with Chad Hodge as script writer, but a 2009 Sony Pictures Television press release only shows it as a put pilot. ABC Television has yet to release or air any version of the pilot project. As of 11/25/2011, IMDB has removed the page and the pilot was rejected.
Telenovela Version
TelemundoTelemundo
Telemundo is an American television network that broadcasts in Spanish. The network is the second-largest Spanish-language content producer in the world, and the second-largest Spanish-language network in the United States, behind Univision....
and Sony Pictures Television
Sony Pictures Television
Sony Pictures Television, Inc. is an American and global television production/distribution subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment. In turn, the latter is part of the Japanese conglomerate Sony.-Background:...
are co-producing a telenovela based on the movie called Una Maid en Manhattan, starring Litzy and Eugenio Siller
Eugenio Siller
Eugenio Santiago Siller Rodríguez is a Mexican actor, singer, and model who is best known for starring in Rebelde, Código Postal, Al Diablo con los Guapos, Mi Pecado, Aurora and Una Maid en Manhattan.-Biography:In 1998, Siller became part of a singing group called Klishé, along with his older...
. As of November 29, 2011, the telenovela is airing in Telemundo weeknights at 8pm/7pm central.