She said she was always told the best stories are true.
“I feel selfish taking the credit. I was just the stenographer. I wrote down what my grandmother told me. She really was the author. It’s really her story in her words.”
They’re the words of an author who dreamed of telling her grandmother’s story as seen through her own little eyes as she grew up and soaked up the stories of a wife, mother and grandmother who braved the climate and rose above the limitations of womanhood in the early part of the 20th century.
Nola “Maude” Clayborne Foley didn’t invent anything. She didn’t cure anything. She never marched for women’s rights. And she likely never imagined that her story would become a best-selling biography let alone a movie. She did change the life of one young girl, though. Donna Foley Mabry would go on to pen Foley’s life story and at the same time encourage millions of woman and girls to face their own challenges nearly a century later.
Mabry’s 2014 book “Maude”—that not only spent 16 weeks on the “Wall Street Journal’s Top-10″ list, but held the title at one time of being the #1 bestselling Indie-published nonfiction book ever on Amazon—is being turned into a movie. And it’s being done by another member of the “family”—one with no blood ties to Maude, but a familial history nevertheless—an actor, writer and director who was simply inspired by her aunt’s telling of the story of a strong and decent woman whom she never even knew.
Shana Gagnon, who plays the role of Maude in the teaser-trailer, launched an Indiegogo grassroots campaign on June 4th to raise funds for a full-length feature film of the same name. With only 11 days to go, the campaign has reached some 33% of its $50,000 goal. Gagnon wrote, directed, starred in and co-produced the teaser-trailer which has won awards in a number of categories in over 20 film festivals throughout the United States. There is no executive producer on the film yet.
“I hated this trip. I hated The Depression,” Gagnon says playing Maude as the trailer begins and scenes shift back and forth between the Maude Foley of 1936 and her granddaughter visiting her grave in 2019. “I hated George for letting this happen. I hated the Detroit I hadn’t even seen yet. And now, I hated my hair.”
Gagnon emphatically draws the audience into Maude’s story in the teaser, and in an instant, the viewer is right there with Maude, or in many ways is Maude, as Gagnon portrays a seemingly hopeless depression-era wife and mother who has resorted to cutting her own hair on a hellish trip from Kennett, Missouri to Detroit, Michigan in 1936. She shears her long, black hair because it has become too matted and dirty to brush anymore. She appears to be giving up, her frustration and despondency building, as George informs her that she will have to walk the rest of the way to Detroit because the car no longer works.
As she emerges from the broken-down vehicle, she sees a mirage of her first husband. Mabry said her marriage to George lacked the true love over her first marriage to James, “the baseball player” (played by Jonathan Gillman).
Gagnon described Maude Foley as a “survivor who never lost faith in God. She just kept going”—and like most mothers, she just “had these tiny windows to feel grief and despair.”
It’s not difficult for me to imagine what she must have been feeling in that moment. The rage, the anguish, the grief for her past life and youth, and the pure frustration she must have felt over the lack of control she had over her own life,” Gagnon said. “I have had mothers come to me after watching that scene because they relate to Maude. My friend Angela Fitzgerald said it best: ‘That’s what it’s like to be a mom. You must be strong all the time for other people. You have to hide your pain and keep going. You must set an example for your children of what it is to be a strong woman.’ To me, that’s what that moment is for Maude. She gets to scream silently for a quick moment, and then pull herself together. But you can see from her face, she is changed after she cuts her hair. She is saying goodbye to the life she once knew. She is a changed person after that moment. Her innocence is entirely gone. So is the optimism that comes from being young.”
Gagnon said “Maude” and her role in it are more to her than a chance at making a movie. She said she simply had to pull out her best performance “because Maude deserves it.”
“As an actor, it is my job, my responsibility, to do that person I am portraying justice, especially if it is based on a true story. Maude was a real woman who survived tremendous loss and hardship throughout her life,” Gagnon said.
And Maude was more than a character in a book to Mabry. “She was her first example of unconditional love,” Gagnon said. “Donna once said to me, ‘When I was with her, she made me feel important. I mattered.’ So my thought was – I better bring it as an actor, director and writer because my aunt is giving me the opportunity of a lifetime to tell the story of the most influential woman in her life. Donna always says ‘If your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough.’ Well, Aunt Donna, here we are. Time to jump. Thank you for believing in me.”
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Gagnon and Mabry own the rights to “Maude.” “That’s always the first question Hollywood asks. And yes, I can handle acting and directing at the same time. Our cinematographer, Andria [Chamberlin] and I are going to do this. And we are going to do it well. And the right people, who want to work with two female filmmakers who mean serious business, are going to join us. I am humble and modest, but I am at the stage of my career where it’s do or die.
Originally from Rochester Hills, Michigan, Gagnon attended Western Michigan University (WMU) on a performance scholarship. She moved to Hollywood, California in her junior year of college and ultimately graduated from California State University, Northridge (CSUN). Gagnon has performed in over 50 theatre productions and written, directed and co-produced several independent films, including “Secret,” which took home film festival awards in nearly every category including Grand Jury Prize – Best Short, Best Drama Short, Best Actress, Best Filmmaker and Best Cinematography.
Gagnon also worked as an acting coach during her 15-year-stay in Los Angeles, California, where she said she was able to book her actors on such notable shows such as “Criminal Minds,” “Awkward,” “Intelligence,” “True Detective” and “Grimm.”
While still living in LA, Shana flew home to film “Secret” in Rochester Hills and Oxford, Michigan. “The fall colors and plush green summers of the Mitten State resonated really well on the big screen with film festival audiences everywhere,” she said. “A lot people have no idea how beautiful it is in greater Metro Detroit. I’m on mission to show this to people through my films. Michiganders had a taste of the film and television industry a few years back during the tax incentives. It was really becoming the Hollywood of the Midwest. But when the incentives were pulled, the industry went with it.”
Gagnon has returned to Michigan, at least for the time being, given, she says, that “Maude is a true Detroit story. Both My Parents are from Detroit. Maude was brought to Detroit through The Great Depression. Donna Foley Mabry is from Detroit.”
Five years after the release of the Mabry’s book, she and Gagnon still hear how the woman’s life resonates with mothers around the globe. “There is just something about this true story and Donna’s brilliant writing, that resonates with people around the world, especially women,” Gagnon said. “It’s not about glamor or Hollywood. It’s about strength of character, survival and guts, and a time where people were not listening to women. Donna’s book invites us into Maude’s mind, her prayers, her highest highs and lowest lows.”
Gagnon said if she had her druthers, she would want Jeff Daniels and Eminem to work on the project and to be part of her “Maude Squad,” as she calls it. “These men are masters in their field. They have chosen to remain living in their home state of Michigan when they could live anyway in the world. Jeff is one of the best actors out there. He married is high-school sweetheart, and he remains involved with his theater company in Michigan, The Purple Rose. Eminem is not only an incredible rapper, he is also a fantastic actor. I loved his performance in 8 Mile. And against all odds, he is one of the most successful people in the world in his chosen craft. That really inspires me. Given that ‘Maude’ is a true Detroit story, who is more Detroit than Em?”
Maude Teaser-Trailer – Indiegogo link: https://igg.me/at/maudemovie/x/20389539#/
Website: maudethemovie.com
Maude Teaser-Trailer (Vimeo Link) – https://vimeo.com/340303357
SECRET – Short Film 60 second trailer – https://vimeo.com/306571339
