Why ‘9 to 5’ Is Still Radical Today
With movements like Fight for $15 and Raise the Wage, these workplace equality issues are part of the national political conversation. Recently there’s been a focus not just on sexism in U.S. workplaces, but also in Hollywood, as actresses speak out about equal pay and advocates point to the opportunity gap for women working behind the lens.
With all that in mind, Rolling Stone spoke to Patricia Resnick, who wrote 9 to 5‘s original screenplay – it was subsequently revised by the film’s late director, Colin Higgins – about her original plans for the female characters in the film, being a woman in Hollywood, and clueless male journalists.
You did background research for 9 to 5 by spending time with office workers at Fox Studios’ insurance company. Do you recall any specific people who inspired the stories in the film?
This is actually the genesis of Doralee, the Dolly Parton character. There was the head guy’s secretary. I had spent some time with some of the other secretaries first before talking to her, and nobody liked her. Everybody had a bunch of awful things to say about her, and they said she got to be his secretary because she was sleeping with him, and on and on. I finally went out to lunch with her one day, and she had a couple of martinis and her tongue got pretty loose and she started telling me about her life, and she started crying. She was a really nice woman, she was living with her mom and taking care of her, and she knew everybody thought she was sleeping with the boss, and she said she wasn’t. That gave me the idea for that character.
Did you already know that role would be played by Dolly Parton?
We had Jane for sure, because it was her idea to do the film and it was her production company. It was written for Dolly and Lily, but we did not have them under contract. We really wanted them, but we did have some backup ideas in case they turned us down.
For Lily, it was Carol Burnett, and for Dolly, it was Ann-Margret. But I had Dolly, Lily and Jane in my head the whole time, and we were really hoping that’s who it was going to be.