Trivia
The Great Lillian Hall
Directed by Michael Cristofer · starring Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates and Lily Rabe
- 13 facts
- 2024
The Great Lillian Hall: trivia
All 13 facts
- 1
Meryl Streep was going to be Lillian
The project was announced in 2021 as 'Places, Please', with Meryl Streep in the lead and a shoot planned for New York. In the end the part went to Jessica Lange and 'The Great Lillian Hall' was filmed in Georgia.
- 2
The director has been in 'The Cherry Orchard' himself
In 1977 Michael Cristofer played the student Trofimov in Andrei Serban's production of 'The Cherry Orchard' at Lincoln Center in New York. Meryl Streep was in the cast too, as the maid Dunyasha, and Irene Worth played Ranevskaya, the part Lillian rehearses in the film.
- 3
A niece behind the script
Screenwriter Elisabeth Seldes Annacone is the niece of the actress Marian Seldes, who loosely inspired 'The Great Lillian Hall'. The heroine's surname also matches the maiden name of Marian's mother, Alice Wadhams Hall.
- 4
The film stops at the brink, on purpose
Jessica Lange told TheWrap that the story takes Lillian's dementia "just up to a certain point". It was Michael Cristofer who "decided not to go there", into the later stages of the illness, and she called it "a great decision".
- 5
It was meant for cinemas
'The Great Lillian Hall' was first lined up for a cinema release, but HBO bought it at the last minute and premiered it on 31 May 2024, the day before the cutoff for that year's Emmys.
- 6
1,809 performances without missing one
Lillian is proud of never having missed a show, and so was Marian Seldes, who played all 1,809 Broadway performances of 'Deathtrap'. The run got her into the Guinness Book of Records as the "most durable actress".
- 7
Lillian's documentary has a real counterpart
In 'The Great Lillian Hall' a film crew is making a documentary about Lillian. Marian Seldes herself was the subject of 'Marian' (2017), a short documentary about her last years that was heavily criticised for the way it showed her.
- 8
A Broadway star on Broadway
When HBO premiered 'The Great Lillian Hall', Lange was on stage at the Hayes Theater in Paula Vogel's 'Mother Play', a part that earned her a Tony nomination for best actress that same season.
- 9
An 'American Horror Story' reunion
Kathy Bates and Lily Rabe had both worked with Lange on 'American Horror Story'. Lange said her friendship with Bates goes "way, way back" and called Rabe "a jewel" she loves working with. Lange and Bates are also among the film's executive producers.
- 10
Broadway, in Georgia
The Broadway of 'The Great Lillian Hall' was shot in Atlanta and Marietta, Georgia, between May and the end of June 2023. The Strand Theatre, just off Marietta's square, was one of the locations.
- 11
Cristofer back at HBO
Michael Cristofer made his TV directing debut with 'Gia' (1998), the HBO biopic starring Angelina Jolie, and 'The Great Lillian Hall' is another film for the same channel 26 years later. As an actor, many know him as Phillip Price, the CEO of E Corp in 'Mr. Robot'.
- 12
Not Lange's hardest role
Asked about her most challenging parts, Lange didn't mention Lillian. She named Frances Farmer in 'Frances', Big Edie Beale in 'Grey Gardens', Patsy Cline in 'Sweet Dreams' and Joan Crawford in 'Feud'. Her favourite ever, she said, is Mary Tyrone in 'Long Day's Journey into Night'.
- 13
An award for the niece
Elisabeth Seldes Annacone won the 2025 Writers Guild of America award for TV and new media films with her script for 'The Great Lillian Hall'.
