Penny Marshall Didn't See 'A League of Their Own' as LGBTQ Film

Though 'A League of Their Own' is understood for having delicate queer undertones, the director didn't need it to be a gay film, says Rosie O'Donnell.

There's one thing inherently queer about a lady enjoying baseball. Just kidding. (If you're a instantly woman who performs baseball, we still settle for you.) And this is obvious in Prime Video's newest sports activities drama A League of Their Own. From creators Will Graham and Abbi Jacobson (Broad City), and in line with Penny Marshall's 1992 film of the same title, A League of Their Own follows the journey of the Rockford Peaches women's baseball group of the the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League within the 1940s.

Article continues underneath commercial

"In 1943, Carson Shaw travels to Chicago to try out for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League," the synopsis reads. "There, she meets other women who also dream of playing pro baseball and makes connections that open up her world. Rockford local Max Chapman also comes to the tryouts but is turned away. With the support of her best friend Clance, she must forge a new path to pursue her dream."

Both Carson and Max are queer ladies, however they face other hindrances alongside their personal personal quests for fulfillment.

Featuring commentary on the LGBTQ enjoy, lesbianism, sexism, and racism in WWII-era America, the brand new Amazon sequence is way more sociopolitical than its Nineties predecessor. Well, Rosie O'Donnell (The Rosie O'Donnell Show) — who starred within the original — made some comments at the topic, specifically about Penny Marshall's perspectives on gay content material.

Article continues beneath commercial

Rosie O'Donnell opened up about Penny Marshall being against 'A League of Their Own' portraying homosexual scenes and/or undertones.

While appearing at the If These Ovaries Could Talk podcast in 2020, Rosie mentioned what it was once like operating with director Penny Marshall on A League of Their Own.

"Penny was very adverse to the gay stuff in it," she said of the film, later including: "[Penny Marshall] was really kind of thrown by the concept. You know, when I had that big scene where I say, you know, 'Before I came here I felt like a weird girl, not even a girl. But I think we're all right.' That is so a coming out scene!"

Article continues beneath commercial

Rosie jokingly imitated Penny on the podcast, who apparently had her do the scene that includes the nature of Doris Murphy about 4 occasions to make it appear less like a coming out scene.

"This is about her being gay, this is about Doris Murphy coming to understand that she has people her own age like her and that she's not alone," Rosie stated of the scene. Amazingly she refused to act the scene differently. "That is what I was doing in my character."

Good on Rosie O'Donnell for refusing to make Doris a heteronormative personality.

Article continues below advertisement

In the Prime Video adaptation of A League of Their Own, Rosie makes a cameo as a lesbian speakeasy proprietor named Vi. Co-creator and star Abbi Jacobson spoke on the iconic cameo with Entertainment Tonight.

“We had been making an attempt to not do so much of cameos on the display to in reality differentiate it from the film, however as a result of we are telling so much of those queer tales and Rosie is like, an enormous phase of queer history, of American history, it just felt so special to have her not simplest approve of the show but wanna be in it and truly wanna play a personality that’s so different from the one that she is in the film,” she stated.

The cameo truly is a deliciously queer deal with.

Season 1 of A League of Their Own is currently streaming on Prime Video.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pbXSramam6Ses7p6wqikaKhfpbKvuthmpJqqo52urbiMmmSlnZGcwqZ5zp9kraCVnr9uu9an