On DVD 12 OCTOBER 2015
Featuring a dazzling stellar cast, a stunning soundtrack and Martin Scorsese as executive producer, Grace Of My Heart hits all the right notes as it charts the inspirational story of a female singer-songwriter’s struggle to make her mark in the dynamic American music scene of the 1960s and 1970s and comes to UK DVD for the first time ever.
Inspired by the life of Carole King this wonderfully nostalgic and exuberant 1996 feature film runs in parallel to King’s life and career and is released on DVD on 12 October 2015, courtesy of Odyssey and coincides with the Broadway hit Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, currently showing in London’s West End.
Set at the time when prodigiously talented singer-songwriters were fighting for recognition in a tough, male-dominated music industry, Grace Of My Heart traces the ‘long and winding road’ to stardom of Denise Waverly (Illeana Douglas – Six Feet Under), whose songs bring fame to other people – until she finds her own voice.
A singing talent-show win takes Denise to late 1950s New York where she encounters eccentric record producer Joel Milner (John Turturro - Barton Fink). Dreaming of stardom she enters legendary ‘hit’ factory, the Brill Building, and writes songs in collaboration with Howard Caszatt (Eric Stoltz - Mask), her first husband. But Denise is destined to be a music pioneer. She doesn’t write hits for the guys: she writes them for the girls, sparking the craze for girl groups such as The Luminaries as well as solo singers like the enigmatic Kelly Porter (Bridget Fonda - Single White Female).
Confined to composing and overlooked as an artist she’s forced into an uneasy song-writing partnership with new British creative talent Cheryl Steed (Patsy Kensit - Holby City). Infidelity wrecks Denise’s marriage and she leaves everything behind, starting a new life with surf-rocker Jay Phillips (Matt Dillon - Crash) in California. However Jay’s tragic death inspires the breakthrough that propels Denise towards stardom once again as both singer and songwriter with the release of her debut solo album, Grace of My Heart.
Written and directed by Allison Anders, this influential story based on real life events also stars Jennifer Leigh Warren (The Crossing Guard), Richard Schiff (The West Wing), Bruce Davison (X-Men), actor and singer Chris Isaak (Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me), David Clennon (Gone Girl), Christina Pickles (St. Elsewhere) and the voice of Peter Fonda (Easy Rider).
Grace Of My Heart – the story of one remarkable woman striving to find her own in a male-dominated industry.
