Editing Amy Heckerling (section)

====1980s====
Heckerling's first feature was ''[[Fast Times at Ridgemont High]]'' (1982), based on the non-fiction account of a year in the life of California high school students as observed by undercover ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' journalist [[Cameron Crowe]]. When Heckerling first signed on to do a feature for Universal, she read a lot of scripts, but it was Crowe's script for ''Fast Times at Ridgemont High'' that stood out to her. Although she loved the script, she felt that it bore the marks of excessive studio interference, so she read the novel, determined which parts were strongest, and sat down with Crowe to rework the script. The film helped launch the careers of numerous stars including [[Jennifer Jason Leigh]], [[Judge Reinhold]] and [[Phoebe Cates]].

In addition, it marks early appearances by several actors who later became stars, including [[Nicolas Cage]], [[Forest Whitaker]], [[Eric Stoltz]], and [[Anthony Edwards (actor)|Anthony Edwards]]. Most notable, however, is the appearance of [[Sean Penn]] as Jeff Spicoli, who was launched into stardom by his performance. Heckerling describes casting Penn, whom she first met while he was sitting on the floor outside of the casting office, as a feeling of being overwhelmed by his intensity, even though all he had done was look up at her. She knew that this was her Spicoli, even though they had seen other people who had read better for the role. [[Ally Sheedy]] read for the role of Leigh's character Stacy Hamilton, but Heckerling decided that she wanted someone that seemed younger and more fragile (though Jennifer Jason Leigh is more than four months older than Ally Sheedy).

Heckerling was discriminating about the film's soundtrack. Originally, the film was supposed to have music in it by bands like the [[Eagles (band)|Eagles]].<ref name="autogenerated2001"/> "I guess a lot of people like that stuff, but being young as I was at the time, I really wanted a new edgy eighties music soundtrack. I wanted [[Fear (band)|Fear]], [[Oingo Boingo]], [[The Go-Gos]], [[Talking Heads]], and the [[Dead Kennedys]]. I was one of those obnoxious teenagers that thought that the music I liked was great and everything else sucked. Getting that Oingo Boingo song in the film was a big fight. But I had to make some compromises and put in some songs that I didn't like at all."<ref name="autogenerated2001"/>

The studio was unsure of how to market the film, and Heckerling guesses that they did not think that anyone would want to watch it. The studio decided to just open it in a few hundred or so theaters on the [[West Coast of the United States|west coast]] without any advertisement. Once the film opened, it was a huge success so the studio quickly opened it at theaters around the country.<ref name="autogenerated2001"/> It became an instant hit right out of the gate, eventually going on to become a pop culture touchstone. The film earned $27,092,880 at the box office in the USA.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl726894081/weekend/|title=Fast Times at Ridgemont High|website=Box Office Mojo}}</ref> It also spawned a short-lived series on [[CBS]] called ''[[Fast Times]]'', with Heckerling writing, directing and producing.

After doing ''Fast Times at Ridgemont High'', Heckerling was bombarded with similar but lesser scripts. It was hard for her to find anything that wasn't about high school, [[preppy]] kids, or story about a girl losing her virginity. Eventually she found her next film. ''[[Johnny Dangerously]]'' (1984), with [[Michael Keaton]], [[Joe Piscopo]], [[Danny DeVito]], [[Dom DeLuise]], and [[Peter Boyle]], was an ''[[Airplane!]]''-style spoof of gangster movies, but it failed to catch fire at the box office upon its initial release. Heckerling attributes the film's failure to the public's lack of familiarity with the gangster movies that the film was poking fun at. "It was pure satire of something nobody remembers. I think that was the main problem, because all the actors and writers did great jobs. But we were definitely satirizing something ... I mean, unless you watch 1930s movies on TV at night, people don't remember. Somebody told me that during a screening they were sitting next to [[Brian De Palma]], who had just done ''[[Scarface (1983 film)|Scarface]]'', and he was in hysterics. If you studied those movies, you know what we were doing."<ref name="autogenerated1998"/> In subsequent years, however, it has garnered a substantial cult audience.

The following year, she directed ''[[National Lampoon's European Vacation]]'' (1985) with [[Chevy Chase]] and [[Beverly D'Angelo]], a sequel to the popular ''[[National Lampoon's Vacation]]''. With it, Heckerling scored her second solid hit, earning $74,964,621 at the box office. The film, like many of Heckerling's films, received poor reviews from critics but proved to be very popular with audiences. Heckerling, despite being well educated and loving the work of such intellectual writers as [[Franz Kafka]],<ref name="theuncool1"/> has admitted that she loves "silly things," which has proven to make her commercially successful in the comedy genre.<ref name="charlierose1">{{cite web|url=http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/5856 |title=An interview with Amy Heckerling |publisher=Charlie Rose |date=November 13, 1996 |access-date=November 21, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131022013822/http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/5856 |archive-date=October 22, 2013 }}</ref>

In 1989, Heckerling had her biggest success with ''[[Look Who's Talking]]'', starring [[John Travolta]], [[Kirstie Alley]] and a baby voiced by [[Bruce Willis]]. Heckerling got the idea for the film while she was pregnant with her daughter and developed it into a feature. Heckerling says that she loves to write comedies, such as ''Look Who's Talking'', because she notes that when a film is made, everyone working on it puts more than a year of their lives into making it, so she wants that year to be happy and fun. Heckerling, who loved Travolta, was ecstatic to work with him, though many people consider the film's release to be during the end of a low point in Travolta's career.<ref name="charlierose1"/> The film has been Heckerling's highest-grossing film to date, earning $296,999,813.<ref name="mojo">{{mojo title|lookwhostalking|Look Who's Talking}}</ref> After the film's release, Heckerling was able to cross off the second of two goals that she had set for herself in college, the first being to make a studio feature, which she did with ''Fast Times at Ridgemont High'', and the second being: "I wanted to have hits the way boys had hits, not like a 'girl hit' that made 50 million, but a boy hit that made 100s of million."<ref name="charlierose1"/>