I, Tonya

[bardtoob]

http://www.nbcolympics.com/news/how-many-these-figure-skating-movies-have-you-seen

Ice Castles - Best shots of skaters in their underwear . . . Best supporting actress goes to the motor mouth skater friend, Diane Rielly . . .

Blades of Glory - Best comedy staring Johnny Weir and Evan Lysacek

I, Tonya - Best version of the wack

 

[bardtoob]

I might not be here if it weren't for those movies. Sonja Henie was my mom's idol when she was a kid. She still has a collection of Sonja Henie stuff, including a doll. So Sonja was Mom's "gateway drug" into this fine sport and the rest of the family got hooked along the way.

Team Belita . . . Just kidding.

 

[Vagabond]

Blades of Glory - Best comedy staring Johnny Weir and Evan Lysacek

The script was much better than their improv work.

 

[berthesghost]

Tonya has never said anything in any interview I've seen or read that indicates she paid much attention to Hamil. She has specifically (and consistently) said that she saw people skating, tried it, and fell in love with it and that's how she got into skating.


Again, I've never seen any evidence that she was even aware of Sumner's existence. She probably was but not enough to talk about her in public. There may have been some local news where she was directly asked about Sumner but nothing on the National level that I've seen.

I don't think people who follow skating realize how many kids there are out there who skate but don't really follow anything but the local scene. There are even coaches who have no idea what's going on internationally or even just on the other side of the country. Before I started skating, I had this idea that skaters sat around gossiping about the National and International stars and I was quite surprised to find out how little most of them were interested in that.

While I get that Tonya has a proud ignorance of history and the very reverence that the sport holds for its icons that would make ru paul’s wig catch fire, when Tonya goes on and on about all the $$$ she gonna make from winning, are we still sure she has no idea who hamil and sumners are? I get that unlike Kristi she’s not naming hamil as an inspiration in interviews but when she says she see $$ i her eyes, it’s not a picture of a fur cloaked hamil rushing from the paparazzi with her celebrity husband?

 

[cmk]

While I get that Tonya has a proud ignorance of history and the very reverence that the sport holds for its icons that would make ru paul’s wig catch fire, when Tonya goes on and on about all the $$$ she gonna make from winning, are we still sure she has no idea who hamil and sumners are? I get that unlike Kristi she’s not naming hamil as an inspiration in interviews but when she says she see $$ i her eyes, it’s not a picture of a fur cloaked hamil rushing from the paparazzi with her celebrity husband?

She definitely knew who Hamill and Fleming were. Roz and Tonya had the same choreographer (Flowers) for a while as will. She saw skating as the best way out of her lower working class environmnent. Scott and Nancy were upper middle middle class ( Scott's adoptive parents were teachers/professors, and Nancy's dad was a welder ( a good paying job for most people but with kids in expensive sports like skating and hockey (her brothers) it wasn't quite enough.
Tonya has always spoken highly of Midori when asked about her. There is an interview from Japanese tv (they covered a benefit show she skated in in 95 (I can't find the whole video). She also skated a pairs routine with a guy named Patrick, and they did manage to get a throw 3sal before he had to stop (financial reasons)

 

[meggonzo]

While I get that Tonya has a proud ignorance of history and the very reverence that the sport holds for its icons that would make ru paul’s wig catch fire, when Tonya goes on and on about all the $$$ she gonna make from winning, are we still sure she has no idea who hamil and sumners are? I get that unlike Kristi she’s not naming hamil as an inspiration in interviews but when she says she see $$ i her eyes, it’s not a picture of a fur cloaked hamil rushing from the paparazzi with her celebrity husband?

Why does it even matter if Tonya referenced Roz or Dorothy?

It's a 2 hour movie about Tonya. They don't have time to reference every skater.

 

[SmallFairy]

Good of you to remember Gawd Aweful Sonia Henie movies!

" Sun Valley serenade" is not bad all, but of course it got worse later.

 

[MacMadame]

Why does it even matter if Tonya referenced Roz or Dorothy?

It's a 2 hour movie about Tonya. They don't have time to reference every skater.

Not to mention I'm not sure not paying much attention equals "had no idea who she was"?

 

[cmk]

There is a new interview with Tonya from KATU tv station. There is a video link on the webpage, and on and off ice photos of Tonya, Steve Dunn, and Dody Teachman. It looks like she has lost a little more weight. She looks much better than she did on the abc special.

 

[cmk]

I was going to share the link but didn't want to post it to facebook or twitter. I simply searched her name , and the new interview with Steve Dunn (he's really tall) will show up. There is also a nice article as well.

 

[skatesindreams]

I might not be here if it weren't for those movies. Sonja Henie was my mom's idol when she was a kid.

You aren't alone!
I have mentioned my father's mother's "relationship" with Sonja before.
The initial reason for my being here.

 

[Inessence]

I was going to share the link but didn't want to post it to facebook or twitter. I simply searched her name , and the new interview with Steve Dunn (he's really tall) will show up. There is also a nice article as well.

Here's the link:
http://katu.com/news/local/steve-dunns-exclusive-one-on-one-interview-with-tonya-harding

 

[Karen-W]

Here's the link:
http://katu.com/news/local/steve-dunns-exclusive-one-on-one-interview-with-tonya-harding

I saw the teaser clip of the interview last night on their 11 o'clock news but hadn't had a chance to go look for the full interview yet (busy day at work), so thank you!

 

[Finnice]

Saw it yesterday with a couple of figure skating friends. I had no high hopes after reading this thread and some reviews, so I was not that disappointed.
It still was too long and repetitive, and I was sad not to hear more about the other skaters of the era, like many here.

What I liked was that the characters really were natural,not too pretty or handsome, and the whole "plan" was so unplanned. It sounded pretty convincing.
I have no opinion if it tells the truth or not. Hey, it is a movie, not a document.

 

[Nadya]

She definitely knew who Hamill and Fleming were. Roz and Tonya had the same choreographer (Flowers) for a while as will. She saw skating as the best way out of her lower working class environmnent. Scott and Nancy were upper middle middle class ( Scott's adoptive parents were teachers/professors, and Nancy's dad was a welder ( a good paying job for most people but with kids in expensive sports like skating and hockey (her brothers) it wasn't quite enough.
Tonya has always spoken highly of Midori when asked about her. There is an interview from Japanese tv (they covered a benefit show she skated in in 95 (I can't find the whole video). She also skated a pairs routine with a guy named Patrick, and they did manage to get a throw 3sal before he had to stop (financial reasons)

What? I don't know what class structure you grew up with, but welders were never considered UMC. Like, never. Even if the job paid well, there is more to class hierarchy than income.

 

[bardtoob]

'Average Andy' with Tonya Harding

Hilarious!

 

[Deleted member 53443]

I watched the movie last night, I loved it. I don't care what is factual, really, just as I ignore that the movie Amadeus is completely made up in regards to Mozart's character (I love that movie anyway). I want good acting, an interesting story, and a meaningful way of telling it. It really delivered.

What I appreciated was that it makes you (well, me at least) think about how we are as human beings, and how the sport can be uppity and judgemental. When the judge is telling Tonya they think her dress is ugly, everybody with a heart thinks it's awful but well... I could be wrong, and I don't want to point fingers, I probably delivered a few comments about costumes myself in here. But in junior worlds, should we really make mean comments about the dresses on 15-year old girls trying to become elite athletes?

I also find it interesting to think about the tribes we create in society. When a "member" is unwanted is it because they are just different or is it because they actually are obnoxious? That is sometimes a fine line. How much is it OK to bend and adjust to decorum?

To finish I loved how they portrait a figure skater as an anti-princess, for the whole world to watch. A woman telling a snotty judge "you can bleep my bleep". I talked to one of my hockey coaches today, he watched the movie and loved it. And in the next breath, started to talk about how tough the girls are at freestyle to just get up every time they fall. My wife was like "man, the figure skating world looks terrible in this". Maybe, but the skaters are portrayed like warriors. I personally like that.

 

[berthesghost]

^Your wife is right, as the “script” is nothing more than a poison pen letter to the sport that dared to oust her.

Art is subjective, so we won’t get into Amadeus being more like Picasso and I, Tonya being more like Margaret Keane. But I don’t recall people going around in the 80s saying “isn’t baroque music just awful! I won’t listen to it anymore!”. It hurts my heart to hear skating fans watch 2 hrs of lies and be ok with it... starting with the fact that she was a frickin world medalist and Olympian getting paid to skate when people were telling her to stop wearing ugly cheap homemade dresses, not a little girl on SNAP

 

[Deleted member 53443]

^Your wife is right, as the “script” is nothing more than a poison pen letter to the sport that dared to oust her.

Art is subjective, so we won’t get into Amadeus being more like Picasso and I, Tonya being more like Margaret Keane. But I don’t recall people going around in the 80s saying “isn’t baroque music just awful! I won’t listen to it anymore!”. It hurts my heart to hear skating fans watch 2 hrs of lies and be ok with it... starting with the fact that she was a frickin world medalist and Olympian getting paid to skate when people were telling her to stop wearing ugly cheap homemade dresses, not a little girl on SNAP

Mozart never wrote any baroque music, so idk how to read that. Maybe I'm misunderstanding. Amadeus is total fiction and a great movie. He never got poisoned by Salieri. He was not a child-like naive adult, when you read his letters you see that he had an incredibly sharp intellect. The list could go on and on. Still one of my favorite movies.

This movie is not having people walking around hating figure skating.

I have no interest in the venom against Harding. It's too long ago I simply don't care. She got a chance to tell her version, big deal. I just want to watch a good movie and I did.

 

[berthesghost]

Mozart never wrote any baroque music, so idk how to read that.

”your son was just bitten by the neighbor’s pit bull! I think we should go to the hospital!” “Huh? My neighbor has a Rottweiler. I really have no idea what you’re trying to tell me” my ignorance of music history aside, I think you understood me perfectly but couldnt resist the temptation.

I have no interest in the venom against Harding.

so don’t. This thread is about the movie. My comments were about the movie.

I have a friend who loves Gidget movies. Enjoys them immensely. Yet she doesn’t claim they’re great cinema, nor does she compare them to “the ice storm” as both being scuewed views of suburban American middle class life.

 

[trouble77]

Honestly some people in this forum should really take some Valium before posting.

@ Per
I also thought the movie was really good. I wasn't bored once. I also enjoyed reading your review.

 

[pixie cut]

This thread is about the movie. My comments were about the movie.

Nearly 2,400 posts in, this thread has been about WAY more than just the movie I, Tonya. It's a little late for that statement.

Next, a comparison to Amadeus is poorly conceived. That film came out nearly 200 years after Mozart's death. Whereas, virtually all the people in I, Tonya -- except notably Shawn Eckhardt -- are still alive. How should Nancy Kerrigan feel about a movie that mocks her and tells a slanted version of the story of someone who may have been involved in the assault on Kerrigan? And what of Eckhardt's family? We all know he was a buffoon, but in I, Tonya pretty much sole responsibility for the attack on Kerrigan is put on him.

The film glorified Harding and not only exaggerated things that went on, but took away credit from all the people who were Harding's advocates.

 

[berthesghost]

Let me clarify: my comments in post #2,358 were about the movie, ie: just because they chose to base the script on Harding’s fictional account she tried to pass off as memoire, doesn’t mean the movie isn’t also poorly written, poor researched, and poorly developed. It’s a pretty crappy movie and that’s not tonya’s fault, she didn’t make it. She just endorsed it because it’s tonya and she once more had $ in her eyes.

 

[VGThuy]

It’s honestly one of the worst movies I saw last year.

 

[Yazmeen]

Nearly 2,400 posts in, this thread has been about WAY more than just the movie I, Tonya. It's a little late for that statement.

Next, a comparison to Amadeus is poorly conceived. That film came out nearly 200 years after Mozart's death. Whereas, virtually all the people in I, Tonya -- except notably Shawn Eckhardt -- are still alive. How should Nancy Kerrigan feel about a movie that mocks her and tells a slanted version of the story of someone who may have been involved in the assault on Kerrigan? And what of Eckhardt's family? We all know he was a buffoon, but in I, Tonya pretty much sole responsibility for the attack on Kerrigan is put on him.

The film glorified Harding and not only exaggerated things that went on, but took away credit from all the people who were Harding's advocates.

THIS. I saw the movie; I liked it, the acting was excellent, but this is what frosts me about it and what almost ruined it for me. The story of the plot against Kerrigan was a gigantic fabrication where it was portrayed that Edkhardt (conveniently dead before filming so his version could not be told) was the SOLE person who hatched the plot to injure Nancy; Jeff and Tonya only wanted to "scare" her with "letters." After seeing those scenes, honestly, the first thought that came into my head was wondering if the real Tonya and Jeff got together and came up with this new story to focus all of the blame on Shawn since each likely knew the other was being interviewed - hey, why not, Tonya changed her story nearly every time a camera was stuck in her face. Now is that possibly ridiculous? Yes, but no more ridiculous than the "story" of how the plot came about in this film.

I get that it wasn't a straight biography; I get artistic license. But that simply went too far. I imagine that just helped the film makers portray Tonya as a bigger victim while conveniently furthering the image of the real victim as the snotty beeyotch who really wasn't hurt that badly, ad nauseum, and who was ungrateful for only winning silver. Bleah.

 

[Vagabond]

Does anyone boycott Henry IV, Part 2 because it isn't altogether factual?

 

[Deleted member 53443]

The movie starts with the text:

"Based on irony free,
wildly contradictory,
totally true interviews
with Tonya Harding and Jeff Gillooly"

It's Tonya's version, and sure, it's possible she is making things up. I could agree with two things, and that is that it could emphasise this more, also that Kerrigan gets a raw deal.

Outside of skating fans, I have still to meet anyone that did not like the hell out of this movie. Though obviously I have not met every person in the world.

My point is that if you get too many hang-ups about what is true or not, there is a strong chance you will miss what it's about. Tonya Harding and the story are just means to make a movie. And she is a great interview, btw.

I understand if people who lived through the time are upset, but unlike with O.J. Simpson, people did not get murdered. I just can't find the fact that Harding gets lucky at this stage of her life upsetting, guilty or not. Maybe I'm just too soft.

Nearly 2,400 posts in, this thread has been about WAY more than just the movie I, Tonya. It's a little late for that statement.

Next, a comparison to Amadeus is poorly conceived. That film came out nearly 200 years after Mozart's death. Whereas, virtually all the people in I, Tonya -- except notably Shawn Eckhardt -- are still alive. How should Nancy Kerrigan feel about a movie that mocks her and tells a slanted version of the story of someone who may have been involved in the assault on Kerrigan? And what of Eckhardt's family? We all know he was a buffoon, but in I, Tonya pretty much sole responsibility for the attack on Kerrigan is put on him.

I don't think just because Salieri is dead, making a movie which completely makes up a story (well, the play it's based on did that) that has a whole world thinking that he killed one of the greatest geniuses that ever lived is THAT different, actually. It's a pretty big deal to have on someone's resume, even post-life. The example of accepting storytelling that is not true (and here there is not even a debate about truth) to catch a movie's message is pretty much the same. If somebody said to you now, "hey, in 200 years there will be a movie which will be seen by everybody, and it will make them believe you killed ...... (fill in whatever name that is one of the greatest on our planet) can you sign here"? Would you sign?

 

[MacMadame]

I have no interest in the venom against Harding. It's too long ago I simply don't care. She got a chance to tell her version, big deal. I just want to watch a good movie and I did.

That's pretty much where I am. I do still have disgust towards Harding though because I think trying to take out a competitor is the lowest of the low in sports. You beat them on the field, period.

But I don't really understand why some people seem upset just that the movie was made at all. It's like absolutely nothing good is allowed to happen to Tonya Harding forever and ever even if the "good" thing is that she got some interviews, a tiny amount of cash, and got to go to a movie premiere. Which is pretty mild in the greater scheme of things. It's not like she's going to tour with SOI and getting million dollar endorsements out of this.

Does anyone boycott Henry IV, Part 2 because it isn't altogether factual?

Are people boycotting I, Tonya? I missed that. It seems a bit extreme.

 

[Vagabond]

Are people boycotting I, Tonya? I missed that. It seems a bit extreme.

We are the ironic. Lower your shields and prepare to be assimilated. Resistance is futile.

 

[Inessence]

The story of the "sending mean letters" was told specifically by Jeff Gillooly. I imagined it was the story he floated to family and friends over the years while letting the public believe whatever it wanted, especially in regard to Tonya. Not sure why he agreed to speak to the screenwriter. Ego, I suppose. He (the writer) is a big Hollywood scriptor notable for his rom-com movies. The only ingredient needed to blow his story out of the water is for Shane Stant or Derrick Smith to come forward and state Gillooly himself was AT the meetings where they specifically talked of injuring Nancy. They don't need Shawn, the delusional twit.