New Script Synopsis Reveals What ‘Happiness’ (& ‘Dollhouse’) Characters Are Transposed Onto Todd Solondz’s ‘Life During Wartime’

We could have easily done this via the script that we’ve had for months, but this seemed just a lot easier (and that was a lot of hard work). Earlier today we revealed some first look photos of Todd Solondz’s “Life During Wartime,” a weird sort-of sequel to “Happiness,” where some of the same characters return, but none are played by the original actor in the 1998 film. A brand new synopsis has been revealed which basically (easily) tells us who is who.

– Ciarán Hinds plays Bill Maplewood, the pedophile dad originally played by, Dylan Baker.
– Allison Janney plays Trish Maplewood, his wife, originally played by Cynthia Stevenson.
– Shirley Henderson plays Joy Jordan, the naive, directionless and depressed struggling musician originally played (brilliantly we might add) by Jane Adams.
– Michael Kenneth Williams (Omar from “The Wire”) plays Allen, the perverted, creepy character played by Philip Seymour Hoffman who is now married to Joy. Inspired casting move Solondz! We can’t wait to see how this plays out.
Details in the script not unveiled in this synopsis include (there’s essentially a character legend at the top of the script):
– Paul Reubens playing Andy, the loser schlub character played by Jon Lovitz.
– Ally Sheedy plays Helen, the ice queen played by Lara Flynn Boyle.
– Kristina originally played by Camryn Manheim is in the ‘Wartime’ script, but it’s unclear what new actress plays her. Could Paris Hilton be genius reverse casting?
– The character Harvey now played by Michael Lerner is actually Mr. Weiner (Bill Buell), the father of Dawn Weiner in “Welcome To The Dollhouse” (the original actor was Bill Buell).
– Mark Wiener’s Dawn’s nerdy older brother (originally played by Matthew Faber) also returns and this time he’s played by relative unknown Rich Pecci.
– Lastly (and sick), the molested little boy Billy Maplewood (played by Rufus Read originally) is now grown up and is played by Chris Marquette (the cancer guy in “Fanboys”).

Here’s the official synopsis:

Separated from her incarcerated husband Bill (Ciarán Hinds), Trish (Allison Janney) is about to be married again. Bill is a pedophile, so Trish couldn’t be more excited to have Harvey (Michael Lerner), a “normal” father figure for her two sons. But when Bill is released from prison and the boys finally meet their future stepdad, the family is forced to decide whether to forgive or to forget.

Trish’s sister, the virginal, angelic Joy (Shirley Henderson), is also haunted by ghosts of lovers past. On leave from her degenerate husband, Allen (Michael Kenneth Williams), and her job at a New Jersey correctional facility, Joy unwittingly leaves behind a trail of shame and exposed secrets wherever she goes. In one of the film’s most stylized sequences, the image of Joy walking the dark streets of Miami in her nightgown maintains her innocence against a backdrop of self-affliction and desire.

Whether it’s viewed as a late-coming sequel to Happiness or a resurrection of its characters with different actors, Life During Wartime is classic Solondz storytelling. The cast play their roles with subtlety and measure from a screenplay wrought with both sadness and humour. For the uninitiated, Life During Wartime is funny and morbid in its realism. For long-time fans of the cult filmmaker, it speaks to the sense of play and the strength of one of the most original voices in American filmmaking.

[TIFF] Here’s the “Happiness” trailer to jog your memory.