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EMMA'S WISH
SYNOPSIS & ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
1963 Flashback Emma Bridges (Joanna Kerns) and her family are celebrating her 40th birthday on the board Present Day Estranged from her family at the Heavenly Days Retirement
Home, Emma, now 75, feels alone and abandoned. Mona (Della Reese), her man-hungry roommate, tries to fill the void, but something is lacking.
On her 75th birthday, Emma makes a wish to be reunited with her daughter Joy (Harley Jane Kozak) and her two grandchildren, Danny (named after Joy's brother) and his sister. As she blows out the candles on her birthday
cake, an eerie wind sweeps th
When she wakes the following morning, she finds herself 35 years younger. Now being a young woman, along with the knowledge and experience of her 75 years, she has the opportunity to change her life. Emma is determined
to make her wish come true and befriend her daughter Joy. In the tradition of Mrs. Doubtfire, Emma poses as a nanny and goes to work
for Joy. Emma learns Joy is on the verge of a divorce, separated from her husband Bryan (William Moses) because of a brief indiscretion. Joy's life is a struggle as Emma, with the time limit on her wish ticking away,
can only hope to delay authorities long enough to mend her family. During her transformation, Emma is given the opportunity to see and understand her daughter in a new light. Her wish is a chance to use
the wisdom of hindsight to help a daughter through a difficult time. Emma is convinced that Bryan still genuinely loves her daughter. He will do anything to get Joy back and Emma must risk everything to reunite them.
EMMA'S WISH stars Joanna Kerns ("Growing Pains") and Della Reese ("Touched By An Angel"). EMMA'S WISH is produced by Citadel Entertainment, LLC, an Alliance
Atlantis Company, in association with The Kaufman Company. Teleplay by Cynthia Whitcomb, story by Paul A. Kaufman and Cynthia Whitcomb. Mike Robe directs and Michael 0. Gallant produces. Paul A. Kaufman is the
executive producer. Alliance Atlantis will distribute worldwide except in the United States.
walk. Emma is happier than ever because she's surrounded by her husband and children. Her son Danny is at the shooting gallery where he has won a prize. Emma joins him as the Carney pulls out a
tray of metal rings attempting to convince him that a wish ring (of Crackerjack quality) is more valuable than the big stuffed bear he has his eye on. After much consideration, Danny chooses the ring and gives it to
his mother as a birthday present. The Carney tells Danny that the wish you desire will only last a month. Emma holds off on wishing because right now, she has everything that she could possibly desire. They walk
towards the end of the pier to join her husband and daughter, where a photographer snaps a happy family picture.
rough the dining room. As Emma stares at
her son's wish ring from 1963, it feels warm on her aged hand. It reminds her of her 40th birthday on the boardwalk when her family was together. Since then, her son Danny has passed away and her
marriage, so happy 35 years ago, has ended in a painful divorce. Although she cannot change the past, she would give anything to be a part of her daughter's life again.
she tries to juggle a new business as well as care for her two children. In Emma's new capacity as Joy's contemporary, she tries to reconnect her family's past
with the present. In doing so, she'll rediscover herself and her daughter's perspective on life, love and parenting. Meanwhile, Mona tries to cover Emma's absence at the retirement home by telling a series of
outlandish stories. Consequently, officials are investigating the possibility that Emma has been a victim of foul play.
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION Have you ever wondered what your parents were like in their 20s and 30s? Take it one step further and imagine them the same age as yourself.
The genesis of Emma's Wish originated when executive producer Paul A. Kaufman's father passed away whi
From Kaufman's fantasy evolved the idea to do a story about a senior citizen that gets the chance to become thirty-five years younger to help reunite her troubled family. Continues Kaufman, "I think if given
the chance, anyone would jump at the opportunity to be able to do that." Because of the obvious age difference, parents and children will always be on different planes, which often results in
misunderstandings and estrangement. "If parents and children could be on the same playing field and talk it out, many issues could be solved and old
wounds could be healed," says Kaufman. "That's what I hope people will get from Emma's Wish." Says Joanna Kerns, "I think there is a universal wish that we remain close
to our children to have an understanding and a connection with them. What's wonderful about this story is by Emma going back to fix her family, she sees that she's part of the problem and is able to change and grow
herself." "Many people have family situations similar to this," says producer Michael 0. Gallant (who had previously worked with Kaufman on APromise to Carolyn).
"I was estranged from my mother for a few years. We have since reestablished a relationship and I feel lucky because my children will now know their grandmother and vice versa. I believe that this movie will bring
out the importance of forgiveness and the fact that it's futile to remain bitter. Most people never have a second chance and if you get one, it's important not to let it slip away."
"The atmosphere on the set is something I haven't experienced on any other set," says Kaufman. "Joanna is wo Comments Kerns, "When I first started acting, I appeared in a film where makeup artist Michael Westmore made me look like a man. That was my first
experience with extensive makeup. However, being made to look older was much more painstaking. You have to be very detail oriented in order to make it look real. Todd took a cast of my entire head and sculpted the old Emma on
that bust. Each day I would come to the set and see how my 'head' had aged. Each part of the face was built in pieces so I could move my face underneath. The costume designer also built a special outfit for me that
would add inches and change my posture. I also had to be aware of my mannerisms, movements and voice. For that, I had a good teacher I studied my mother, who incidentally, got to appear in the film. In my
makeup, we both looked the same age it was quite poignant." The part of Mona was written with Della Reese in mind. Says Kaufman,
"What can you say about Della? She's been on stage and screen with the best. We were so lucky with our timing because she was on hiatus from Touched by an Angel. Della's wisecracking, man-hungry Mona is played by
her with abandon, and her outfits are really outrageous." Harley Jane Kozak plays Joy, Emma's daughter. "When Harley auditioned as Joy, you really thought that she and Joanna were mother and daughter at
the same age," says Kaufman. "It was nice to realize that our script was going to work on that level." Rounding out the cast is William Moses as Bryan, Joy's estranged husband.
Moses starred recently on Fame L.A., Melrose Place, and costarred in the updated Perry Mason series starring the late Raymond Burr. Veteran Academy Award nominated actor Seymour Cassel plays Harry Filming began at the famed Santa Monica Pier for the opening scene that takes place in 1963. The crew
returned to the Pier for scenes that featured a transformed Emma and her estranged family. The Kensington Retirement Home in Alhambra (in the San Gabriel Valley) was home to
Emma and Mona. With the money the retirement home received from the production's location fee, the administration bought a bus for their residents and named it EMMA'S WISH.
Other locations included the Studio City Recreation Center in Studio City, the Sherman Oaks Galleria, a nursery in Calabasas, a house in Woodland Hills and a fair in Canoga Park.
Summing up the production, Gallant remarks, "It's nice to work on something that has heart, human drama and a Capraesque fantasy feeling to it."
Continues Kaufman, "There's something magical about this story. When the script was first being drafted, the name Elkan was used as one of the partners in the law firm. Elkan just happened to be my father's first name,
unbeknownst to the writer. It was very surreal since my father was my inspiration for this story. To top it off, my daughter Emma was born the day we got the go-ahead from CBS to make this movie. So I think there's a
mystical power watching over this production."
le Paul was in his 20s. "I often wondered what it would have been like to have a beer with my father not as the authoritarian figure that he was, but as a peer who was my age," says Kaufman.
nderful because she's Emma on so many different levels. She can relate to her character because she herself has a twenty year-old daughter. She's definitely a trooper because the makeup process
transforming her to the 75 year old Emma takes approximately five and a half hours to apply and ninety minutes to take off. With the skills of makeup wizard Todd Masters, he masterfully turns Joanna into a
realistically looking senior citizen and that's no small task."
, Emma's exhusband. "Seymour's scenes reminded me of Terms of Endearment," says Gallant. "One
minute you're laughing and the next, tears are welling up in your eyes. It's a rollercoaster of emotion."
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