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Heathers is a 1988 American teen black comedy film written by Daniel Waters and directed by Michael Lehmann, in both of their respective film debuts. The film stars Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Shannen Doherty, Lisanne Falk, Kim Walker, and Penelope Milford. Its plot portrays four teenage girls—three of whom are named Heather—in a clique at an Ohio high school, one of whose lives is disrupted by the arrival of a misanthrope intent on murdering the popular students and staging their deaths as suicides. Waters wrote Heathers as a spec script and originally wanted Stanley Kubrick to direct the film, out of admiration for Kubrick's own black comedy film Dr. Strangelove. Waters intended the film to contrast the optimistic teen movies of the era, particularly those written by John Hughes, by presenting a cynical depiction of high school imbued with dark satire. Filmed in Los Angeles from February to March of 1988, Heathers premiered in Milan, Italy, in the fall of 1988 before making its way to the Sundance Film Festival on January 21, 1989, then New World Pictures theatrically released the film in the United States on March 31, 1989. It went on to win the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature, and for his screenplay, Waters received the Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay. It has since become popular and is regarded in polls as one of the greatest coming-of-age films of all time. Heathers has since been adapted into a musical and a television reboot. Plot At Westerburg High School in Sherwood, Ohio, Veronica Sawyer becomes part of a popular-but-feared clique that includes three wealthy and beautiful girls with the same first name: Heather Duke, Heather McNamara, and the ruthless queen bee, Heather Chandler. Tired of the clique abusing its power, Veronica longs for her old life with her kinder but less popular friends. She becomes fascinated with new student Jason "J.D." Dean after he pulls out a gun and fires blanks to scare football-player bullies, Kurt and Ram. Outsider J.D, whose mother committed suicide, has a strained relationship with his explosives-obsessed demolition mogul father. Veronica goes with Chandler to a frat party, where she refuses to have sex with one member, unlike Chandler, who was coerced to perform oral sex. When Veronica drunkenly vomits on Chandler, Chandler vows to destroy Veronica's reputation as retaliation. Later, J.D. shows up at Veronica's house, and they have sex outside. They express to each other their mutual hatred of Chandler's tyranny. The next morning, Veronica and J.D. break into Chandler's house, planning revenge by using a fake hangover cure to make Chandler vomit. J.D. pours drain cleaner into a mug, but Veronica dismisses him, thinking he is making a mean joke. She mixes orange juice and milk together. Veronica accidentally brings the wrong mug to Chandler's room. J.D. notices this but says nothing. He serves Chandler the drain cleaner, killing her. Veronica panics, and J.D. urges her to forge a dramatic suicide note in Chandler's handwriting. The community regards Chandler's apparent suicide as a tragic decision made by a troubled teenager, making her even more worshipped in death than in life. Duke uses the attention surrounding Chandler's death to gain popularity, becoming the clique's new leader. McNamara convinces Veronica to go with her, Kurt, and Ram on a double date. J.D. finds the four teens that evening in a field, and Veronica leaves with him as Kurt passes out, while Ram has sex with McNamara. The boys spread a false rumor about Veronica performing oral sex on them, ruining her reputation. J.D. proposes that he and Veronica lure the boys into the woods, shoot them with tranquilizers, and humiliate them by staging the scene to look like they were lovers participating in a suicide pact. In the forest, J.D. shoots Ram, but Veronica's shot misses Kurt, who runs away. J.D. chases Kurt back toward Veronica, who, realizing that the bullets are in fact lethal, fatally shoots him in a panic. At their funeral, the boys are made into martyrs to homophobia. Disturbed by J.D.'s behavior, Veronica breaks up with him. J.D. blackmails Duke into getting every student to sign a petition that, unbeknownst to her, is intended to act as a mass suicide note. He then gives her a red scrunchie that Chandler wore, symbolizing her power over the school. Martha, a large girl who is a frequent target of bullying, attempts to kill herself by walking into traffic. She survives but is badly injured and mocked by her peers for attempting to copy the popular kids. McNamara calls a radio show to discuss her depression. Duke tells the entire school about the radio call, and McNamara is bullied. McNamara attempts suicide by overdosing in the girls' bathroom, but Veronica intervenes. Veronica returns home, and her parents say that J.D. stopped by to tell them that he is worried she will attempt suicide. Realizing that J.D. plans to kill her, she fakes her own suicide by hanging. J.D. finds her and, assuming she is dead, gives a monologue revealing his plan to blow up the school pep rally and make it look like a mass suicide. Veronica confronts J.D. in the school's boiler room as he plants dynamite. She shoots him, and using his switchblade cuts the wires to the detonator. Veronica goes outside, and J.D. follows her with a bomb strapped to his chest. He offers a personal eulogy and detonates the bomb, killing himself. As students and faculty rush to see what happened, Veronica walks back inside, disheveled from the explosion. She approaches Duke, takes the red scrunchie, and asserts that Duke is no longer in charge. Veronica invites Martha to spend prom night watching movies together. Cast Source: Production Development Daniel Waters began writing the screenplay in spring of 1986, while he was working at a video store. Waters wanted the film to be directed by Stanley Kubrick, not only out of admiration for him, but also from a perception that "Kubrick was the only person that could get away with a three-hour film". The cafeteria scene near the start of Heathers was written as a homage to the barracks scene which opens Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket. After a number of failed attempts to get the script to Kubrick, Waters approached director Michael Lehmann, who he met through a mutual friend. Lehmann agreed to helm the film with producer Denise Di Novi. In the original version of the script, J.D. successfully blows up Westerburg High, and the final scene features a surreal prom gathering of all the students in heaven. Executives at New World Pictures agreed to finance the film, but they disliked the dark ending and insisted that it be changed. Some reviewers have discussed similarities between Heathers and Massacre at Central High, a low-budget 1976 film. Daniel Waters has stated that he had not seen Massacre at Central High at the time he wrote Heathers but that he had read a review of it in a Danny Peary book about cult movies.... Discover the Heather Dixon popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Heather Dixon books.