Recap/Review: "9 to 5" 4K Restoration Premieres at the El Capitan With Producer Bruce Gilbert
From October 9th through 15th, theatergoers can tumble out of bed, drink their cup of ambition, get out on the street where the traffic’s jumpin’, and head to their local movie theater to celebrate the life and legacy of Dolly Parton with Disney’s new 4K restoration of 9 to 5, her feature film debut. D23 members got the first screening of the new restoration on Sunday, October 4th, at Disney’s historic El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, with a few added surprises. 9 to 5 producer Bruce Gilbert joined D23 Vice President Michael Vargo for a behind-the-scenes conversation, and animator Nicholas Eliopoulos’ personal collection of cels from the project was on display, plus a vacuform 3D version of the film’s theatrical poster.
Q&A Recap
During the Q&A, Bruce Gilbert recalled how Karen Nussbaum, co-founder of 9to5: Organization for Women Office Workers, sent IPC Films, the production company he ran with Jane Fonda, a pile of research. The research showed a big change in the workforce. People still pictured blue-collar workers as men in factories, but most workers were now in offices; most of them were women, and they weren't organized. Gilbert admits he had no idea how to turn the facts and figures into a story, and the material sat on a shelf for a while.
The idea for the film came from screenings that director Hal Ashby, who made Coming Home with Gilbert, held for friends. Ashby showed Preston Sturges films, which were ensemble comedies with a serious theme underneath and a regular group of character actors. Gilbert says the answer came to him like a bolt out of the blue while he was driving on the freeway. He drove straight to Fonda's house to pitch a Sturges-style comedy. She knew Sturges's work because he directed her father in The Lady Eve. Gilbert asked how she'd feel about not being the only star. "She said, 'No problem,'" he recalled.
Fonda and Gilbert started listing "the wildest cast that we could possibly put together." Dolly Parton and Lily Tomlin were on it, and so were Diahann Carroll and Diana Rigg, who were left out when the concept was whittled down from five secretaries to three. An early draft made Fonda's character a studio executive who goes undercover in a secretarial pool to research a film. In that version, she learns someone is trying to kill the boss, and when they do, the film would’ve followed the characters through the trial. Gilbert credited writer-director Colin Higgins with the storyline that made it to the screen, and says the film still feels relevant today largely because of him.
Casting the boss was a real problem, Gilbert said. The actor had to play the character so audiences didn't simply hate him, or the whole film would land differently. When Dabney Coleman read, Gilbert and Higgins knew right away that he was the one. But 20th Century Fox executives wanted a big male star for the role, suggesting Richard Dreyfuss or Steve Martin to balance the three women. Gilbert argued that the three stars were the heart of the movie, and in the end, the filmmakers won.
Recalling the atmosphere on set, Gilbert shared that Fonda, Tomlin, and Parton didn’t know each other well beforehand, but bonded right away. He retold the famous story of Dolly Parton memorizing the whole script because she assumed they'd shoot it in order from page one, and how surprised she was to learn the schedule followed sets and costumes instead. He praised her work ethic and said she was the most fun person to be around: always cheerful, "but not in an obsequious way." "She was the genuine article," he said. "Never met anybody like her before or since."
Lily Tomlin agreed to the film, then decided not to do it when it came time to sign the contract. Gilbert and Higgins flew to New York to meet Gilda Radner as a replacement, but Radner canceled the Sunday meeting because she was worn out from a week of Saturday Night Live, so they flew home without signing her. Back in Los Angeles, Tomlin's partner Jane Wagner heard about it and told her she was crazy to pass. So did Sandy Gallin, Tomlin's new manager, who also managed Parton, and that’s how Tomlin came back in.
Then came the first day of shooting. They filmed the animated sequences first because the hand-drawn cels took so long to make, so Tomlin started out in what Gilbert calls the "demented Snow White" fantasy, acting to empty space. After that first day, Tomlin told Gilbert she had to quit, believing she was bad at the role. Once his heart started again, he asked her to sleep on it, and she stayed. Gilbert says he learned that Tomlin's first take on things isn't always her best. "She's always great," he said, "she's just not the greatest judge of her own work."
As a segue into the screening, Gilbert thanked Disney for the new restoration. Because it's a 4K digital print, the film will look great for years to come and allow for modern theatrical exhibition, like the upcoming week-long release. "I hope you enjoy it," he said, "because we really had the best time making this movie."
4K Restoration Review
Led by Disney’s award-winning restoration team, the 9 to 5 4K restoration will be a treat for cinephiles. Fox’s HD version of the film (currently streaming on most major platforms, including Disney+, Netflix, and Prime) was released in 2016 as a limited-edition Twilight Time Blu-ray, which is long sold out and fetching exorbitant prices on the secondary market. While it was a big step up from DVD versions, it had room for improvement.
Film purists will be pleased with the grain left intact in every frame, including the animated portions, while negative black space has been smoothed out, as in the previous restoration. The film's cinematography is generally soft-focused, which remains faithful in this 4K scan, but it adds detail and clarity that couldn’t be seen before. For example, the first time Judy (Fonda), Violet (Tomlin), and Doralee (Parton) go out for drinks, Dolly is wearing a coat with swirly rhinestone accents. In the HD version, the stones blend together on the collar, while in the new restoration, you can see them individually.
The film shows no evidence of artificial sharpening. The three fantasy sequences show this most clearly. Judy’s black-and-white noir chase features a few moments where Hart (Coleman) is still but out of focus, likely an unintentional mistake that could be corrected with modern technology, but the restoration is faithful to how a film from 1980 should look. Film grain is also more present in these sequences, and while the blend of animation and live-action is not of Disney’s quality, the “demented Snow White” moment is a standout of the new restoration.
Whether a function of the new restoration or simply seeing the film for the first time on the big screen, I noticed a lot of new details in this classic during the El Capitan premiere. Disney fans should look for a Mad Hatter cookie jar in Hart’s kitchen and appreciate the details of Lily Tomlin’s Snow White costume when they see the new restoration in theaters.
The soundtrack is the original stereo mix, accurate for 1980, but modern audiences will likely notice the lack of surround sound. That’s the one area where this release falls a little flat. Imagine how amazing the opening and end-credit versions of “9 to 5” would be if the instruments and chorus were spread throughout the theater. If I could change one thing about the new release, it would be this.
For those who can’t make it to a screening during the week-long release, which benefits Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, Bruce Gilbert teased that the 4K restoration will be coming to Disney+. As a physical media fan who missed the rare Blu-ray release, I’m hoping Disney also makes the new restoration available on both 4K Ultra-HD and Blu-ray, ideally with Twilight Time’s exclusive bonus features that have never been released elsewhere.
See the new 4K restoration of 9 to 5 on the big screen October 9th through 15th. Click here to find tickets at a theater near you.