Adrienne

Grandma. Grandma.

Hey, Soph.

Sophie. Over here.

- What? - Hi.

Hi.

Hi.

Sophie's favorite is definitely "Twist and Shout."

Every horrible day in history

has a much happier day before it.

Wow.

This was ours.

Halloween, 2006.

- Go on, Soph. - It's okay.

I went to bed that night the luckiest guy alive.

By the next night, I was living

the worst nightmare imaginable.

Police in Manhattan tonight are investigating

the mysterious death of a 40-year-old actress.

Adrienne Shelly was found dead

in her West Village office last night.

It was Shelly's husband, Andy Ostroy, who found her.

The actress, found hanging in a bathroom

of her Manhattan office, likely committed suicide.

Shelly leaves behind a three-year-old daughter.

Oh, my God. Look at you.

You look drunk. Did you drink?

There was no way Adrienne killed herself.

Daddy!

Suicide simply wasn't possible.

She was the happiest I'd ever seen her.

I set out on a journey to find out

what really happened that day

and to make sure Adrienne would never be forgotten,

especially for Sophie.

Sometimes I still see her

My mother, the dreamer

She'd say, "Nothing's impossible"

Child"

Cut!

And know that you need them

When your breaking point's all that you have

A dream is a soft place

To land

Sugar, butter

Flour

So this whole area, when you come here,

it just feels like "Waitress" headquarters.

I love the success of it and what it means for her

and her legacy.

But then I'm just immediately transported to,

she's not here to see it,

she's not here to experience it.

I'm making a documentary about Adrienne Shelly.

Do you know who she is?

Uh, I can see her name right there.

Uh, it's based upon the mo... Yes, that's all I know.

If I did that, do you know who she is?

- No, I don't. - Do you know who she is?

I do not.

- No? - Um... no.

Many people who come to see the show don't...

Just don't know who Adrienne is.

How she created this story that has this life,

this amazing life on Broadway, 12 years later,

and they don't know who she is.

That to me is... is... Is profoundly sad.

I wrote "Waitress" when I was

about eight months pregnant with Sophie.

And I was really scared about having a baby.

I just couldn't imagine what my life was gonna be

after I had a baby; I thought it was gonna change

so drastically that I wasn't even

gonna recognize myself anymore.

I was terrified.

The actual fear of how your life is going to change

is not spoken about,

so I... I wanted to write a movie about those fears

and, you know, give those fears a voice.

- I seem to be pregnant. - Good.

Good for you. Congratulations.

Thanks, but I'm not so happy about it

like everybody else might be.

I'm having the baby, and that's that.

But I also knew that, you know,

when you actually have the child

that this other kind of love probably kicks in

that you can't even imagine, which is true.

It's a complete, utter, unconditional kind of love,

and it does change your life in a... in a beautiful way.

And it's... it is a love letter to my... to my baby.

The first page or two was the opening sequence,

making the pies and bread sequence.

And I was like, "Yeah, you got me."

I loved it.

"Earl murders me 'cause I'm havin' an affair" pie.

You smash blackberries and raspberries

into a chocolate crust.

"I can't have no affair, because it's wrong

"and I don't want Earl to kill me" pie.

Vanilla custard with banana.

Hold the banana.

I loved her sense of humor, her sensibility.

For me to root for this adulterous affair

throughout this entire script is such a feat.

I'm married. You're married.

I'm pregnant. You're my doctor.

Maybe we could have a coffee or something...

I can't have coffee.

It's on the bad food list you gave me.

What kind of doctor are you?

That balance is so tricky, because...

- Sure. - You shouldn't...

You shouldn't kind of... You shouldn't want...

- Banging your gynecologist. - These people to be

doing this... right I mean, it's like,

there's nothing good about this,

except it works.

- Mark it. - Mark.

I loved the script immediately.

I mean, it's so fun and irreverent

and true all at once.

Dawn, you're beautiful.

Your skin looks like a normal person's.

Thank you.

I thought she was really smart.

I thought she was really pretty.

She was super ambitious, I felt,

super clear about what she wanted.

She strikes me as a woman who was ahead of her time

in terms of the kind of art she wanted to do

and the kind of subject matter she wanted to cover.

She's a real feminist icon to me.

I really think of her that way, as being a real maverick.

I remember her in her wedding gown

and, like, being in the scene

and then going behind the monitors

and then going back out in the scene,

holding up her skirt when she ran.

I mean, I think it's challenging anyway

to be in something that you're directing.

But also being a new mom is pretty crazy.

You know, Adrienne was this small person

walking around the set

but quietly powerful,

because she knew exactly what she wanted,

this was her project, and you listened.

I'm fine, Cal. We'll be right out!

I wasn't surprised when I saw "Waitress"

for the first time.

It just confirmed

what I already knew to be true,

and that was, she was a great director.

I would've liked to have seen where that career went.

I would've liked to have heard and seen more stories from...

her vision.

If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands

If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands

In hindsight, November 1st started out

in... in a really fortunate way.

I got to spend a lot of time with her that morning

in a way that I normally wouldn't have.

And I was really happy that day.

So we were together, uh, in the apartment

till about, um...

Till about 9:15.

And I was gonna drop her at her office

on Abingdon Square.

I remember watching her get out of the car

and go into the building,

and I just watched her walk away into the building,

you know, and that was the last time I ever saw her,

you know.

I went to my office. I was working all day.

I had clients in from out of town.

All day long, it was just radio silence.

I couldn't get ahold of her through email,

cell phone, landline.

The nanny hadn't heard from her.

Nobody was in contact with her,

and that was incredibly atypical.

There's an intuition

that something really awful has happened.

A friend of mine and I were going to do an event together,

and I said to him, you know, "We got to go downtown

"and check on Adrienne, because I haven't heard

"from her all day, and I... I just...

There's something that's just not right."

You were definitely...

wound a little tight on the way over...

On the drive over from the office.

And I was trying to calm you down,

you know, trying to think of different scenarios

or reasons why you wouldn't have heard from her.

And then we pulled in front of the bus stop,

and I said, "Just leave the car running.

I'll wait here."

She wasn't answering the intercom.

Went up to the fourth floor, banged on the door,

calling her name... nothing.

And I try the door, and it just popped open.