Touchstone Plus-Or-Minus: The Good Mother

Leonard Nimoy really did not want to be Spock anymore. After laying the character to rest (albeit temporarily) in Star Trek II, Nimoy moved behind the camera. The success of Treks III and IV allowed him to move away from the franchise entirely and surprise everyone with Three Men And A Baby, the highest-grossing film of 1987. A hit of that magnitude presumably gave Nimoy a lot of choices when selecting a follow-up. Would it be another family comedy? Perhaps a return to Star Trek or maybe a different science fiction adventure? Nope, Nimoy decided to chase Serious Filmmaker status by directing a would-be prestige drama practically oozing with Oscar aspirations.

The Good Mother was based on the 1986 novel by Sue Miller. This was her first published novel. She’d later release the short story collection Inventing The Abbotts, which would also spawn a film adaptation, and the Oprah’s Book Club selection While I Was Gone. The book had racked up enough pre-release buzz that producer Arne Glimcher snapped up the movie rights before it even hit stores. Glimcher was an art dealer who counted a number of Hollywood movers and shakers among his clients. He was able to parlay those connections into moving into producing and, eventually, directing, making his debut with The Mambo Kings in 1993.

Glimcher set the film up at Disney, who clearly felt the book had A-list potential. Names like Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand were bandied about as potential directors and/or stars. Michael Bortman was hired to write the screenplay. Bortman didn’t have any feature credits at the time but he’d written a lot of acclaimed TV-movies like …And Your Name Is Jonah and Who Will Love My Children? When Disney offered the script to Leonard Nimoy, he leapt at the chance to work on something even further removed from Star Trek.