All Hell Broke Loose on Steel Magnolia’s Set

File this one under “truth is stranger than fiction.”  You hear rumors throughout the years about famous people on movie sets. How do you know what to believe? But this story, about how mean director Herbert Ross was to Julia Roberts and Dolly Parton may be the stuff great rock operas on made on – somewhere in here is the truer story, the All About Eve story that we’ll probably never know – either way, oh the irony at Roberts getting her first Oscar nomination anyway:

“Herb Ross was basically a choreographer,” said MacLaine, who played twice-widowed salon patron Ouiser. “That means he could be sometimes very stern and sometimes very harsh. My deepest memories of the film were how we bonded together after he told one of us or all of us we couldn’t act.”

Field — who played who played Roberts’ character’s mother, M’Lynn — said that the late filmmaker “did pick on one of us severely. He never told me I couldn’t act. . . He went after Julia with a vengeance. This was pretty much her first big film.” (Ross died of heart failure in October 2001.)

According to MacLaine, 79, Roberts “would come to my house every night and say, ‘I think I’m terrible. What am I doing?’ and she really was in tears. I remember the day Herb said to Dolly Parton, ‘Why don’t you take some acting lessons?'”

“You don’t say that to Dolly Parton!” Field exclaimed. “Dolly Parton is absolutely the funniest, wittiest and filthiest, and she will cut you to ribbons.”

Several veteran actresses often stood up for Roberts when Ross’ directives got out of control. “Our keenest memory was how hard it was to work with our director. We hated him and we would go after him,” Field recalled. “The stronger ones of the group who were just older and had been there longer would go after him. That meant Shirley and Dolly.” According to Field, Ross even asked Roberts “to cut off some little wart or mole she had under her eye.”

Despite their off-camera drama, the stars still look at the film fondly. “For me, it is the story about the power of friendship,” Field said. MacLaine added, “And we stayed friends after the movie. We never went to the director’s funeral, but. . .”