Wishin' and Hopin' (2014)

 ●  English ● 1 hr 27 mins

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In 1964 Connecticut, a substitute teacher (Molly Ringwald) and a new Russian student ensure that Mouseketeer Annette Funicello's less-famous cousin (Wyatt Ralff) has a Christmas he'll never forget.
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Did you know? Molly Ringwald speaks fluent Parisian French and learned her French Canadian accent for the film. Siobhan Cohen also learned her Russian and her Russian accent for the film. Read More
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as Adult Felix
as Madame Frechette
as Mother Filomena
as Simone Funicello
as Sister Dymphna
as Sister Agrippina
as Pa
as Mrs. Twerski
as Chino
as Annette Funicello
as Monsignor Muldoon
as Rosalie Twerski
as Frances Funicello

Direction

Director

Distribution

Writers

Screenplay Writer
Story Writer

Camera and Electrical

Director of Photography
Still Photographer
Key Grip

Music

Music Director

Sound

Sound Re-recording Mixer
Boom Operator

Art

Production Designer
Set Decorator
Set Dresser

Casting

Casting Director

Costume and Wardrobe

Costume Designer

Editorial

Editor

Makeup and Hair

Makeup Artist

Visual Effects

Visual Effects Artist
Film Type:
Feature
Language:
English
Colour Info:
Color
Frame Rate:
24 fps
Aspect Ratio:
2.35:1
Stereoscopy:
No
Trivia:
This is the first adaptation of a Wally Lamb novel for the screen and was made with his full cooperation and close collaboration with the crew, through the entire production.

The epilogue is slightly different than it was in the novel. Wally Lamb contributed a lot of new ideas for the characters and includes nods to cast and crew in the altered stories. Felix becoming a professor at Wesleyan University is a reference to director Colin Theys and cinematographer Catherine Goldschmidt, who both attended Wesleyan.

Based on a novella by Wally Lamb, many of the movie's scenes are filmed at Norwich Free Academy in Norwich, CT, a high school at which Lamb used to teach.

Ranger Andy was a real program airing on WFSB in Hartford. WFSB allowed the film to use the show and actual clips from the real program appear inter-cut with footage shot for the film.

No Catholic church was available for filming, with St. Patrick's Cathedral falling through during the shoot, so Christ Episcopal Church was made to look like a Catholic church and the confessional scene filmed on the stage later used for the pageant. Christ Episcopal was very friendly to the production.

The location for the Funicello home was a house that Wally Lamb rented for years as his office. He wrote the novel in the room that appears as Ma and Pa's bedroom. The home contains numerous references to "Bunny", the owner and landlady, who passed away before filming began.

Not a lot of boys were available to shoot the Junior Midshipmen photo, so a group of girls from the hallway scenes tied their hair back and pretended to be boys for the photo.

Special makeup was applied to Meat Loaf's teeth to make him look like a chain smoker.

Molly Ringwald speaks fluent Parisian French and learned her French Canadian accent for the film. Siobhan Cohen also learned her Russian and her Russian accent for the film.

Wally Lamb makes a cameo as the janitor on the ladder in the opening scene. He is not very handy and picked this cameo as a joke.

This movie is based on the New York Times best-selling novel by award winning author Wally Lamb.