The Party’s Over

Two of Hollywood’s most famous actresses attended the 1956 Academy Awards, and Skyler Sulby’s short film The Party’s Over wonders what they might have said to each other.

The Academy Awards broadcast is in full swing. Grace Kelly (Jessica Brydon) is standing at the podium when host Jerry Lewis (Justin Park) stops the proceedings to wish her luck and a happy life in her next big role as the Princess of Monaco. With the applause still ringing, Grace heads offstage toward the dressing room. There she finds Audrey Hepburn (Leah Morgan) getting ready for her turn to present. The two biggest stars in Hollywood exchange pleasantries and polite smiles, and the room temperature drops a little. Audrey breaks the ice by asking what it’s like working with Hitchcock.

Jerry Lewis (Justin Park) wishes Grace Kelly (Jessica Brydon) well onstage at the 1956 Oscars in The Party’s Over.

“That’s when Audrey lets her guard down and confesses she’s been thinking about stepping away soon, too.”

Then Audrey asks the question everyone in town wants answered. Is Grace really walking away from Hollywood by choice, or at the prince’s request? Grace admits the prince wanted it this way. That’s when Audrey lets her guard down and confesses she’s been thinking about stepping away soon, too. But again, by choice?

The Party’s Over sheds light on what it’s like when Hollywood royalty starts to age out at the tail end of the Golden Age. The conversation centers on choice. Whose choice is it to retire from one’s craft, and how unfair is it that women have to end their careers far sooner than their male co-stars?

We weren’t in the room. Were they even in the room together? But Skyler Sulby, Leah Morgan, and Jessica Brydon’s tale of “what if” feels completely plausible and authentic. Morgan and Brydon may not be the real Hepburn and Kelly, but they capture the beauty and grace of both icons. Today, actresses still face the same predicament. We may have come a long way, but some things never change.