he was inspired by a real-life classmate of his who was overweight, and whose mother owned a local diner; like in the film, the father had died, leaving the mother and son to run the restaurant themselves. In directing his first feature, Mangold aspired to make a film stripped of "a certain Hollywood aesthetic," that followed a character who seemed a "most unlikely centerpiece of a motion picture." Mangold wrote the script for the film in 1991, while attending filmmaking seminars at Columbia University under the instruction of director Miloš Forman. In making the movie, Mangold was very focused on expression versus dialogue, especially in the character of Victor; Mangold stated that he was striving to create a "silent film, with sound." Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show (1971) and Martin Ritt's Hud (1963) served as specific influences. Casting Mangold met Liv Tyler when she was sixteen years old; Tyler had little to no acting history, but expressed great interest in it. She had been doing modeling work at the time, and was cast in the film "without hesitation" after a brief video audition with Mangold. Through Tyler, Mangold got in touch with Deborah Harry, who was well-acquainted with young Tyler through the "rock and roll" scene in New York (Tyler being the daughter of Aerosmith front-man Steven Tyler); this resulted in Harry's casting as the part of the weathered, back-mouthing Delores. Evan Dando of The Lemonheads was cast as Tyler's guitarist boyfriend because of Mangold's admiration for his music, and in hope of bringing some star attention to the low-budget production. Pixies frontman Black Francis was originally meant to be cast as the role of Victor, but did not feel it was right for a debut acting role. In casting the part of Dolly, Mangold sought golden age Hollywood actress Shelley Winters, who was in her mid-70s at the time. Mangold tracked down her address to her Manhattan apartment, and sent her the film's script along with a letter stating his admiration of her work. Within two days, Winters returned Mangold's contact and was subsequently cast. The last person to be cast was Pruitt Taylor Vince, as Mangold had been having trouble finding an actor to portray the "centerpiece" character. An associate producer/friend of Mangold, who had been shooting Nobody's Fool (1994) with Vince alongside Paul Newman, suggested him. After Vince was cast, Mangold and the crew began feeding