Heavy (1995) on Netflix
Victor Modino cooks at the roadhouse his mother Dolly runs in Upstate New York. Dolly hires Callie, who has left college, as a waitress, and the shy Victor is drawn to her.
- Netflix3.8/5
- IMDb6.7/106,366 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes86%
Plot summary
Victor Modino, in his thirties, cooks at Pete and Dolly's, the roadhouse in rural Upstate New York that his father Pete founded and his mother Dolly runs. Dolly, whose health is poor, passes the time in a chair behind the kitchen, remembering her husband and provoking Delores, the longtime waitress who once had an affair with Pete. Their routine changes when Dolly takes on Callie, who has dropped out of college in Syracuse. Callie tries to get to know Victor and, impressed by his cooking, urges him to attend the nearby Culinary Institute of America, a thought Dolly and Delores dismiss. Victor, painfully shy and overweight, begins dieting to catch her attention and learns she has a steady boyfriend.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Heavy (1995)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- To make Pruitt Taylor Vince look the part of the overweight cook Victor in his directorial debut, James Mangold and the crew fed the actor doughnuts and Kentucky Fried Chicken so he would rapidly gain weight before filming began.
- Pixies frontman Black Francis was originally meant to play Victor in Heavy, but did not take the part because he felt it was not right for a debut acting role.
- James Mangold tracked down Shelley Winters' Manhattan address and sent her the script with a letter praising her work; she replied within two days and was cast as the elderly Dolly.
- Liv Tyler was sixteen, with little acting history and a background in modeling, when James Mangold cast her as the waitress Callie after a brief video audition.
- Mangold based Heavy on a classmate from his Upstate New York childhood who was overweight and whose mother owned a local diner, with the father dead and mother and son running the restaurant themselves.
- Evan Dando of The Lemonheads was cast as Callie's guitarist boyfriend both out of Mangold's admiration for his music and to bring some star attention to the low-budget production.
