The Last Movie Stars

Episode 1

Chapter One: Cosmic Orphans

62 mins

After Ethan Hawke introduces the project and the actors who will provide the primary voices, this first installment on the lives of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward covers the 1950s from the time of their meeting as understudies in a Broadway production of "Picnic" (Newman who would go on to assume the lead) in 1953 to early movie stardom by the end of the decade for both. The underlying sexual nature of their rehearsals in the wings of the theater would transfer into their real life in what would be the beginning of a five year affair - Newman already married with children - until their own marriage at the end of the decade. Both members of the Actors Studio, the hub of method acting which was taking the Hollywood acting community by storm, Woodward, considered the more natural actor of the two, would emerge with the earlier movie acclaim and stardom, winning an Oscar for the early film role in The Three Faces of Eve (1957). Newman, however would languish in the shadow of fellow Actors Studio members James Dean, but most specifically Marlon Brando, he relegated to roles that the others could not do due to other commitments or had turned down. The most notable role that Newman was considered for but that ultimately went to Dean is the lead in East of Eden (1955). It wouldn't be until after Dean's premature death that Newman would emerge from the shadow for his first truly acclaimed lead role in Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) and true movie stardom by the end of the decade.