Heavy is a 1995 American drama film written and directed by James Mangold, in his directorial debut. It stars Liv Tyler, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Shelley Winters, and Deborah Harry. The plot focuses on an unhappy overweight cook (Vince) whose life is changed after an enchanting college drop-out (Tyler) begins working as a waitress at his and his mother's roadside tavern. The film explores themes of loneliness, false hope, unrequited love, and self-worth. Mangold wrote the screenplay for Heavy while attending filmmaking seminars at Columbia University, and partly based it on real people he knew while growing up in upstate New York. Filming took place on location in and around Barryville and Hyde Park, New York in 1993; some scenes were filmed at the Culinary Institute of America's campus there. The film features an original soundtrack by Thurston Moore, as well as songs by Evan Dando of The Lemonheads, who also has a minor role in the film. Heavy premiered at the Sundance Film Festival where it won the Special Jury Prize and was later screened at Cannes where it competed for the Caméra d'Or. The film received a theatrical release in the United Kingdom on December 29, 1995, and later had a limited release in the United States on June 5, 1996. Plot In rural upstate New York, thirty-something-year-old Victor Modino works as a cook at Pete and Dolly's, a small roadhouse founded by and named after his now-deceased father and elderly mother. Dolly, who is in poor health, spends her days sitting in a chair in the back of the kitchen, reminiscing about her late husband Pete and antagonizing Delores, a cynical longtime employee who once had an affair with him. The daily rhythm of the restaurant is disrupted when Dolly hires a new waitress, Callie, a soft-spoken young woman who has just dropped out of college in Syracuse. Callie immediately catches the eye of the painfully shy, overweight Victor. Delores takes Dolly's hiring of the beautiful but inexperienced Callie as a personal slight to herself, and treats Callie coldly. During working hours, Callie is impervious to Victor's debilitating shyness and attempts to get to know him better. Impressed by Victor's cooking skills, Callie suggests he attend the nearby Culinary Institute of America, which is considered by Victor but swiftly dismissed by both Dolly and Delores. Victor quickly becomes enamored of Callie, and begins dieting and subtly trying to