Annie

**Annie** is a 1999 American live-action film directed by Rob Marshall. It is a remake of the 1982 film of the same name.

It focuses on a little orphan girl who catches the attention of a kind man named Mr. Warbucks, who wants to adopt her, but the cruel, strict orphanage owner has a scheme to keep Annie and her reward money.

The film was released on November 7, 1999.

## Plot

In 1933, during the Great Depression, 11-year-old orphan Annie Bennett was left on her own at the Hudson Street Home For Girls when she was an infant. The only two things that she received from her family was half a heart-shaped locket with a key hole, and a note from her parents saying that they would come back for her. The orphanage is run by the tyrannical Miss Hannigan, who starves the orphans, and forces them to do slave labour. In the middle of the night, after getting tired of waiting for her parents, Annie tries to escape to find them, but is caught by Miss Hannigan in the process. When Miss Hannigan gets distracted, Annie hides in the dirty laundry bin and she finally succeeds in running away.

While out on her own, Annie befriends a dog, whom she names Sandy. But police officer Lt. Ward catches her and returns her to the orphanage. When billionaire Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks decides to take in an orphan for Christmas, his secretary Grace Farrell chooses Annie. Annie and Sandy are brought to his wealthy estate and bathe in a grand life.

Although at first uncomfortable with Annie, Daddy Warbucks is soon charmed by her. He desperately wants to adopt Annie, but Annie still wants to find her real parents, so he announces on the radio a $50,000 reward for anybody who can prove they are her biological parents. The orphans accidentally tell Miss Hannigan, and her younger con artist brother Rooster, and his dim-witted girlfriend Lily St. Regis cook up a scheme to get the reward by posing as Ralph and Shirley Mudge (Annie's "so called" parents).

Lily is left with the orphans after Miss Hannigan and Rooster leave, but Lily accidentally tells the secret. The orphans make her tell them what is going on, and she realizes that Rooster could leave her hanging as he has done before in the past. She and the orphans come to Warbucks' mansion where Lily demands her part in the cut while the orphans reveal the scheme. While fleeing from the orphans, Miss Hannigan and Rooster are intercepted upon the arrival of President Franklin D. Roosevelt along with his Secret Service. President Roosevelt reads the papers that identify Miss Hannigan, Rooster, and Lily leading to Rooster and Lily getting arrested by the Secret Service. This enrages Miss Hannigan, who rants about all she did and the thanks she got for it. She is then carted off to a psychiatric hospital as she foresaw what would happen to her.

President Roosevelt then presents the evidence to Annie that her real parents are actually David and Margaret Bennett, but sadly they both had died several years earlier which explains why they never returned for her. Although Annie is saddened that her real parents are dead, she is cheered up when Daddy Warbucks officially adopts her and Molly. President Roosevelt ensures a happy ending for all as he promises that each of the other orphans will be adopted by a stable and happy family. Daddy Warbucks and Grace become engaged, and Annie and Molly live happily with their new parents and Sandy.

## Cast and Characters

* Victor Garber as Mr. Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks
* Alicia Morton as Annie Bennett Warbucks
* Audra McDonald as Miss Grace Farrell
* Kathy Bates as Miss Agatha Hannigan / Mrs. Shirley Mudge
* Alan Cumming as Daniel Francis "Rooster" Hannigan / Danny the Dip / Mr. Ralph Mudge
* Kristin Chenoweth as Lily St. Regis / Sadie Algonquin / Phyllis the Filcher
* Erin Adams as Tessie
* Sarah Hyland as Molly
* Lalaine as Katherine "Kate"
* Nanea Miyata as July
* Marissa Rago as Pepper
* Danielle Wilson as Duffy
* Andrea McArdle as Star-To-Be
* Dennis Howard as Franklin D. Roosevelt
* Douglas Fisher as Drake
* Kurt Knudson as Justice Brandeis
* Ernie Sabella as Mr. Bundles
* Chester and Chip as Sandy
* Vic Polizos as Lt. Ward

## Music

See Also: Annie (Soundtrack)

The film's soundtrack was released on November 2, 1999, by Walt Disney Records.

The songs in this version reflect those of the original 1977 production, but does not include "We'd Like to Thank You, Herbert Hoover", "Tomorrow (Cabinet Reprise)", "Annie", or "New Deal for Christmas". However, it does include a reprise of "N.Y.C." and of "Little Girls" that takes place at the end of the film, rather than after the song itself.

## Production

ABC began work on the film following the success of Cinderella. Although the stage musical Annie had already been adapted as a film in 1982, the film was considered to be a critical and commercial failure. Zadan and Meron saw remaking the musical as an opportunity to rectify the previous adaptation's errors. They enlisted Cinderella's choreographer Rob Marshall to direct and making the orphans ethnically diverse. Zadan and Meron were both so impressed by Rob's work throughout Cinderella (saying he acted like a director), that when The Wonderful World of Disney came to them about doing a TV version of Annie, they both went to Marshall to direct and choreograph. At first, he turned it down, saying "I'm not a director, I'm a choreographer. I don't know why you're even offering me this movie. I don't know anything about film." When Rob Marshall finally agreed to direct it, Disney executives didn’t want him to do the film. They said "Annie is too valuable a property. We're not gonna give it to a guy who's never directed a movie." Yet, because Zadan and Meron both really believed in him, they told the executives in response "Then we won’t produce it." They knew at the time that since Cinderella was so huge, the last thing Disney wanted to do was another musical not produced by them. So they kept calling saying "Let's go over a list of directors", but Zadan and Meron said no because they really wanted Rob Marshall to do it. So Disney eventually conceded and allowed him to direct and choreograph. Filming began in June 1999, and took place entirely on location in Los Angeles.

When it came to casting Lily St. Regis, the network wanted Ginger Spice to play that part. Yet, it was Rob Marshall who successfully fought for Kristin Chenoweth despite her mainly being a Broadway name at the time. McDonald recalled in a 2017 interview that there was a reshoot of the final scene that showed her character, a black woman, getting engaged to Daddy Warbucks; she suggested the reason for the reshoots was Disney and ABC were "a little uncomfortable" having a black woman being engaged to the white man. However, the other members of the cast and crew were not happy about having to do the reshoot, and Garber intentionally performed the scene badly so that it couldn't make it into the final cut.

The dancers' costumes and the stage set of the Broadway section of "N.Y.C." are taken directly from the "Broadway Melody" ballet in Singin' in the Rain.

This was the second time Kathy Bates and Victor Garber starred alongside each other in a film. They had previously appeared in James Cameron's 1997 disaster epic film Titanic.

## Release

Annie premiered as part of The Wonderful World of Disney on ABC on November 7, 1999. After its premiere on ABC, the film aired on cable channels such as ABC Family, Starz, and the Hallmark Channel.

### Home Media

Annie was released on VHS on December 14, 1999 and on DVD on January 24, 2000 by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. The film has not been released on Blu-ray but was available to stream on Disney+ for a limited time.

## Reception

The program proved to be popular during its initial airing, with an estimated 26.3 million viewers, making it the second-most-watched Disney movie ever to air on ABC behind Cinderella (1997). This film was praised for its casting and for being closer to the stage production than the 1982 film.