Character: 
Ronnie Cammareri

Director:
Norman Jewison

Producers: 
Norman Jewison
Patrick Palmer

Writer: 
John Patrick Shanley

Co-stars:
Cher
Olympia Dukakis
Vincent Gardenia
Danny Aiello

Movie Synopsis:

Moonstruck is a unique and quirky classic romantic comedy about an Italian family living in Brooklyn, the tangled web of their relationships and the battle between head and heart, life and death.
Loretta is a widowed bookkeeper making a pragmatic decision to marry her long term man friend Johnny Cammareri before she gets ‘too old’. Convinced her first marriage was cursed because the wedding was in the village hall, Loretta wants everything about this wedding to be right. Her dreams are thrown into chaos when Johnny is called away to be by his dying Mother’s bedside and Loretta has to find Johnny’s estranged brother and invite him to the wedding. Cue Ronnie, the opera loving baker with a broken heart and a wooden hand, who explodes as he tells Loretta about how he lost his hand and the ‘bad blood’ between the two brothers. What proceeds is a story of unbridled passion, exquisite romance, complication and comedy, described by some as worthy of opera itself!

Trailer

Nicolas Cage Movie Quote:

“I almost got fired for trying to play my character
– scripted as a young, romantic Italian guy -
as the monster from Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast.”

Interesting Facts:

Cher was so taken with Nicolas Cage’s quirky and at the time somewhat  contoversial performance in Peggy Sue Got Married, that she fought for the young actor in the role of the romantic lead in Moonstruck.

The original name of the script by Shanley was ‘The Bride And The Wolf’ but the producers said it sounded too much like a horror movie, so the name was changed to ‘Moonglow’. Several more name changes later and the name Moonstruck was agreed upon.

Awards:

Moonstruck was nominated for six oscars at the 60th Academy Awards, winning three for best actress (Cher) best supporting actress (Olympic Dukakis) and Best original screenplay (John Patrick Shanley) and for six Golden Globes including Nicolas Cage for Best Actor, winning two for best actress and best supporting actress.

DVD Info:

The Moonstruck DVD contains an audio commentary with writer John Shanley, Director Norman Jewison and Cher.

Read transcripted excerpts here